Are magazine publishers making the same mistakes major labels did?

I subscribe to The Economist. A fantastic news magazine out of England. I then let my subscription lapse for a few months. But I still had access to the on-line content. The whole mag, there for the taking. Hmmm. It pointed out to me just how much of an afterthought the digital medium can be to some publishers.

I should have to pay or be locked out. It wasn't an oversight either. It was a decision they made. They've since announced they will not be doing that anymore.

But that misstep is telling. Digital content is still content. We pay for content, not paper. Just as we pay for music, not a little plastic disc.

BTW, I still love holding a fresh paper copy of whatever I'm reading in my hands. I do hope that never goes away.

I noticed that yesterday. The stuff older than about 6 months is available in full. The current stuff has a few paragraphs, and a subscribe now! form. That seems reasonable for a current events/technology type publication. A general interest title where the articles are more timeless than timely might need a different model.

I don't want paper to go away. But if it did, I won't stop reading of course. I suppose there is a chance that I'd warm to a new hand held electronic medium. I've never read a Kindle for instance so I don't know for sure... but at this point, if you asked if I prefer paper or screen, I'd go paper.

And yeah, the Sound On Sound paradigm seems right. It makes me want to subscribe everytime I hit the end of the preview. Smart.

There is an abundance of free content available (legally and otherwise), which creates several parallels:

The printed product seems (unfortunately) doomed, because drastic budget cuts and staff layoffs have meant that many publications are now a shadow of their former selves, and thus are becoming even less capable of maintaining a readership as time goes on...

Don't get me started.

I feel that most magazine publishers are unwilling or unable to take the bold steps that would allow them to thrive.

But in fairness, much of the problem can be traced back to the massive amount of media sales to large corporations that happened a few years back. The goal became squeezing out profits to make the bottom line look good, not re-investing in the publications.

A lot of very good people at these magazines have their hands tied by the money people holding the leashes - people who don't give a fig about the content, only about whether the magazines are "making their numbers."

This genie don't go back in that little bottle.

I think folks who think the magazine industry can continue to cling to the all or nothing for a year subscription model are fooling themselves.

But until we as an economic system finally have a practical and efficient micropayment system in place, the true nature of the wired economy will be stymied and stunted.

Only when you can have a payment efficiency that makes very small transactions/payments possible and viable will a truly efficient wired economy take shape.

Of course, the implications and consequences of such a system are utterly terrifying to many interests vested in today's ineffecient and turgid transactional models.

Absolutely!

There are three magazines that I have a long term love hate relationship with.

Keyboard Mag - I have subscribed to this magazine on and off since it started in the late 70's and I continue to subscribe because it can be purchased for $12 a year. I can afford 1 dollar per issue no matter how bad it gets. The issues vary greatly and what I consider usable content for me. But like I said, at that price I will continue to subscribe. By the way, I think you have to drop your current subscription and subscribe as a new customer to get it for $12 a year.

SOS - Though they have a handle on digital media the value of this magazine continues to decline in my case. I subscribed on and off for years. At one time I was paying $120 a year. The American version is cheaper and I got switched to that some time ago. I let my subscription drop in the past year. It is still expensive and I can find equivalent content by searching the web. Towards the end the only thing I was referencing was the Sonar column. I'll wait for Craig to put out another book.

Computer Music - I would really like to get this magazine because it is the most focused on what I need, but I'm not paying $120 a year. Why are European magazines so much better than US magazines? I subscribed for a year, and if I get in a free spending mood I may subscribe again.

I get quite a few magazines covering photography, remote control cars, Kentucky, etc

There is an abundance of free content available (legally and otherwise), which creates several parallels:

caught on the radio yesterday (don't know which show, but it was a national - sounded maybe like "On the Media") discussing the film , esp the American independent [i guess Mirimax is down to abt 50 people now, if F-ed Company was still up it'd probably have made it] and how it may be going through a music industry-like shakedown

with mags, I wonder if it maybe breaks into different segments

Sci-Am has really embraced the shift (they've had an audible version for like 8 years and the "digital Sci Am" subscription gives you an archive of abt a decade)

Academic jounrnal (like Nature Publishing Group, etc) I suppose are a different beast - while they are periodicals, they really aren't "off the shelf" type things and the subscriptions are usually institutional -- but they can tend to have on-line content

those two models are almost more of an "information service" model n some ways I suppose.

I suspect the "disposables", maybe the star, people-watching type magazines won't be able to leverage that as well

at least until e-readers become ubiquitous and point-of-sale moves away from your own computer

Absolutely!

Well, be careful what you wish for.

When such a system is finally in place (various micropayment-like systems are already in use in local economies in some parts of the world) and accessible to all, it will almost surely mean an end to much of the free content out there... as content providers vie to find new, sustainably viable market equilibria.

No Kindle for me.

Best,

Geoff

I suit got filed over the Kindle thing...the erasure took with it the annotations a high-school student was making on his Kindle for English class

That being said - I think phil was looking more to e-readers in general

the new gen e-readers don't use LCD like a laptop, so the look is a bit different and the battery life is waayyyyy extended (basically it requires power to reorganize the "epaper" pixels, but not to display them - so its days and days)

now the resolution is still at abt 800 x 600 and the greyscale is, I think abt 16 right now

FWIW - I'm not on the bandwagon yet

acquiring knowledge means work, and costs time and money

Magazines are certainly not in this category

.

I've been of that mind too, and I still don't want paper books to go away, BUT... the iPhone kind of tipped the balance for me. I have the Kindle app for the iPhone, plus I have several e-reader apps that have classic books and other public domain material. And I confess, I love it! It's convenient to take on a plane or to the park or wherever, since I have the iPhone with me anyway. How cool to have so much reading material without it taking up any space/weight in my suitcase or backpack! The screen is easy on the eyes (IMO). And reading in bed is easy - I can switch to any position and not worry about whether the light is positioned right, I can read under the covers, or whatever. Plus you can change the font, print size, page color, etc. to whatever you like.

Of course the other cool thing about the iPhone is that it's tied to the iTunes store, so mags can charge micro-payments and people can buy them right on their phone. I think if we're just talking about a few cents, and it can be paid for without having to go through the whole business of entering a credit card and creating an account and all that, more people will buy things on impulse. I know I do!

I don't know if other smartphones have similar arrangements where you can buy apps and content from multiple parties and have it all tied to one account. But I think that's definitely the way to go for magazines and newspapers, just as it is for music and movies. Some people will buy a dedicated e-reader like the Kindle and that's fine too, but the Kindle is pretty expensive, and IMO more people are apt to buy an iPhone, Blackberry Storm, etc. because they serve more purposes than just reading.