rince has declared the internet is over (see here) and has banned all distribution of his music through online channels. In fact his new album, which is said to be his best ever, is being released inside the UK newspaper, the Daily Mirror, in CD form… I think I’ll wait a while before selling my 8mm projector. While you’re waiting for the internet to end, look for Prince’s new music at your favourite pirate websites hope Prince has a similar deal with the Globe & Mail.
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h, the power of Positive Thinking. The magazine industry is full of it. Positive Thinking I mean. But it won’t do them any good… if I am any kind of canary in a coal mine, the magazine industry is about to suffer a major calamity.
I have been an ardent collector of magazines since 1978 – when I subscribed to a brand new magazine called American Photographer. I have every issue of American Photographer, plus every issue of American Photo, as they have been called since 1990. I have every issue of WIRED magazine since I discovered that they were not a drug magazine in 1994. I have most of the issues of Taunton’s Fine Woodworking since 1984, and good sized collections of many other magazines in various disciplines. I am loath to throw a magazine away, unless it is a 10 year old home decorating magazine, and have a compulsion to save anything that says “Anniversary Issue’ or ‘Special Collectors Edition’ or ‘Premier Issue’.
In recent years however I have found that my new issues are not being read. Editors have found that they can still have a large variety of content in a smaller space if they off-load much of the content to their website. The magazines are getting thinner, the cover prices are getting higher.
Subscriptions are rising, I believe, because of motivated pricing. I refused to subscribe to WIRED as long as the Canadian subscription price was within a dollar of the shelf price. I held out for years until WIRED offered me a subscription for $24. How could I refuse that? Now I receive in my mailbox a folded-in-half and sometimes ripped copy of WIRED every month, which I flip through for 10 minutes, then add to the giant stack of WIRED in my basement. Even that $24 is a waste of money. I can get all I want from WIRED on their website. Why am I doing this? Things have changed since I started subscribing to American Photographer in 1978, and started reading WIRED in 1994.
A lot has changed in fact. In 1994 the addition of a CD to a magazine was a wonderful alternative to searching for and downloading 20 MB programs on a 14400 baud modem. In 1978 the only way to get current information was through magazines and yearbooks. There was no internet, you had to write to companies and ask for literature on things you were interested in. Store employees were the experts. Not any more. Today Google and twitter are the experts. We consume data as fast as magazine editors do, and when we finally get the new magazines in the mail, the news is a month old.
So… I’ve had it. I’m purging my magazines. The only magazines I’ll buy will be through cheap subscriptions. If cheap subscriptions are not available I won’t buy the magazine. The subscription rates might increase, but don’t be fooled… off the shelf sales are falling, and there’s nothing the industry can do about it.
I need a way to embed jibjab video here, but until someone finds a way, you’ll have to click on the link… http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/view/Kh3puc6cjDlHXcjVEC4PQHM4
It’s worth it!
