"Within twenty-five years a mere 10 percent of the paper-based magazine industry will remain, sustained by connoisseurs, aficionados, and aging Luddites. David Renard. (2006) The Last Magazine, New York: Universe Publishing.
Yes, another quote from The Last Magazine (see earlier post) but one I find worrying and reluctant to believe, no matter how much truth to it. The last thing I want to see is some of my favourite magazines bite the dust because of the virtual revolution. One which has already succumb to the statement is Grafik magazine, although the reasoning for this may not actually have much to do with the magazine itself and more to do with the publishers going into liquidation. It still surprised me as Grafik is/was one of the most popular Graphic Design magazines, always to be sure to have its rightful place on any designers or studios bookshelf.
But with magazines like Grafik, Computer Arts and Creative Review for example, it is key to have an online presence so they can communicate with the target audience through the website and social media platforms amongst others, but when they have blogs, articles and special reports on the website all for free, there seems to be little point in spending your hard earned money on the printed item which can be quite expensive (take Grafik for example... £9!) This is a tricky balance to achieve, with the website having to be interesting enough to visit it, but not have too much on it so that people stop buying the magazine. But the magazines who survive will have to find this balance and ultimately have a magazine which offers more than digital.
After this surprise, it makes you wonder what magazine will be next to go. Could the shift to online media finally catch up with some of the major players in the industry? Pop, Dazed and Confused, GQ, will they be able to survive in the future years?
No comments:
Post a Comment