wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Tom from UWS July 07, 2009 - 02:11PM

  It's beginning to look like the future will be a world without publishing ephemera - no back issues, no framed covers, no eBay offerings of rare issues. Yesterday I was bidding on a fantastic gatefold Life magazine cover of Louis Armstrong.

  So how do you frame a blog entry and hang it on your wall?

  
  
• [2] Soundcheck producer Joel Meyer from New York, NY July 07, 2009 - 02:12PM

  Hey folks: Soundcheck will be reading and responding to your comments during the show today. Let us know if you still read print magazines to get your music fix. Why? What titles do you like or dislike?

  
  
• [3] bob from huntington July 07, 2009 - 02:17PM

  assuming we're talking about music magazines covering pop music: how about some comment on whether music writers have become outdated, or, in some cases, too old to be truly in touch with their audience. robert christgau is 67 years old, yet he's still offering commentary on music primarily directed at people in their teens and twenties.

  
  
• [4] Joyce Hanson from Brooklyn July 07, 2009 - 02:21PM

  Rolling Stone magazine is still relevant. That's why Adam Lambert decided to out himself as being gay to the magazine when he got his big cover story after nearly winning American Idol. "Right after the finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, 'I'm going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,' " he said. The blogosphere gave the RS story huge coverage.

  
  
• [5] Ken from Nutley, New Jersey July 07, 2009 - 02:21PM

  When I was a teenager in the 1970s, Rolling Stone was my lifeline to a world way beyond the small town where I suffered through high school and no one I knew cared about any music that wasn't in the Top 40. I pick up Rolling Stone only once in a while now, but I had a subscription to No Depression and often read Blender and Harp, and I miss them. However, one thing I like about online magazines and blogs is that I can often hear the music I'm reading about. That's progress.

  
  
• [6] Ronen Kauffman from NYC metro/Jersey City July 07, 2009 - 02:21PM

  Hi there -

  My name is Ronen Kauffman - I host and produce a popular independent music podcast called Issue Oriented. Upon listening to your guests discuss the ability of music journalists to be honest with their guests - it can be done, even if you are close with your interview subject. I refer you to my podcast, which is widely known in indie/punk/hardcore/metal circles as cutting through the crap, and taking music journalism to a much more substantive, honest place. My guests have included many noted indie culture icons - Mick Jones (The Clash), John Joseph (Cro-Mags), The Dillinger Escape Plan, The Gaslight Anthem, Anti-Flag, The Slits, and many more well-known individuals and acts.

  What's perhaps most interesting about the straight-forwardness of my interviews is that most guests thank me after the fact for providing an experience that's been called refreshing, compelling, and superior to most other interviews.

  As for the future of music advertising - Mora is dead on.

  Take care!

  Ronen Kauffman/Issue Oriented

  
  
• [7] Richard Bennett from Brooklyn July 07, 2009 - 02:28PM

  I am a professional musician/music collector and I have never paid any mind to "professional critics." I think that sites like rateyourmusic.com are far better resources than anything that is professionally run because they give you the ability to search out people with the same tastes and interests as you. I would much rather hear a critique from a friend than from someone who usually doesn't even listen to a cd all the way through.

  
  
• [8] Matthew from Brooklyn July 07, 2009 - 02:31PM

  What about quarterly magazines? I love Fretboard Journal. It isn't filled with reviews, but instead contains long interviews and articles that appeal to it's nitche audience.

  Part of their strategy is to be more like a a well design coffee table book, than a disposable rag.

  I think this is how magazines will survive, like LPs for music collectors.

  
  
• [9] elizabeth from Manhattan July 07, 2009 - 02:32PM

  I used to love the NME when I was a teenager and young woman before I moved to the US. Great writers like Paul Morley, Barney Hoskyns, Steven Wells, Julie Burchill et al. Now I would read Sasha Frere Jones in The New Yorker or Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone.

  It will be hard to ever replace Lester Bangs or Greil Marcus, ever. Or what about Hunter S. Thompson?

  It's still all about the writing. The magazine will sell if the writing is good.

  
  
• [10] Spotted Dog from Murray Hill July 07, 2009 - 02:35PM

  Classical magazines are still hanging on - Gramophone, BBC Music, Chamber Music, Symphony. Listen magazine just launched. The "niche" fields still have their devoted subscribers.

  
  
• [11] Kyla Fairchild from Seattle July 07, 2009 - 11:15PM

  I'm the publisher of No Depression and ironically we just launched our entire 75 issue archive online today after working on it for over a year. http://www.nodepression.com

  We folded the print pub in May 08 and launched an editorial site online in Sept. 08 and quickly learned that there was no online business model to support an editorial budget.

  After determining that wasn't a sustainable model we transitioned to a community based music site with crowd sourced blogs, photos, videos and forum discussions.

  It's a quickly changing world and the only way to survive is to be adaptable, flexible and willing to try out new ways of being. The old model is dead. Sad but true.

  As one of our writers said, "Music magazines are one failing industry covering another failing industry, what could possibly go wrong?"

  
  
• [12] will from austin July 09, 2009 - 02:11AM

  i tell you one thing: i miss the hell out of no depression.

  
  
• [13] Max from Köln, Germany July 10, 2009 - 12:47PM

  I think the long-form, in-depth pieces Maura mentioned will keep magazines in print...they better. That's the stuff that makes magazines worth reading in the first place.

  
  
• [14] Kyla Fairchild from Seattle July 13, 2009 - 05:05PM

  I posted this Soundcheck Smackdown debate on the No Depression web site and there is some interesting dialog brewing there if you're interested in joining the discussion.

  http://community.nodepression.com/forum/topics/music-magazines-elite-or

  In response to some of the comments above, it's not the lack of subscribers and readers for magazines that's causing the trouble it's the advertising drying up and the lack of a revenue source to replace that. We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg with that currently which will increasingly be causing the demise of print publications.