Home Recording mag calls it quits

[hollywood_steve]

It barely lasted 5 years and now it joins all of those other dead and
gone audio publications. This one is hardly any great loss; its more
confusing than anything else. Anyone who spends 5 minutes in a
GuitarMart knows that $99 condenser mics and $299 all-in-one "Pro
Digital Studios" outsell real pro gear by a few thousand percent. So
you'd think that a rag that catered to the "what's the best mic for
$49?" crowd would be rolling in advertiser revenue. So what happened?
Do the owners of A.R.T. and Behringer products prefer to read about
$1/2 million SSL desks in Mix, so they avoid the magazine that's
directed toward them?

Maybe now there'll be room on the newstands for "Resolution" to be
distributed here in the states?

[Les Cargill]

hollywood_steve wrote:

> It barely lasted 5 years and now it joins all of those other dead and
> gone audio publications. This one is hardly any great loss; its more
> confusing than anything else. Anyone who spends 5 minutes in a
> GuitarMart knows that $99 condenser mics and $299 all-in-one "Pro
> Digital Studios" outsell real pro gear by a few thousand percent. So
> you'd think that a rag that catered to the "what's the best mic for
> $49?" crowd would be rolling in advertiser revenue. So what happened?

That market saturated.

> Do the owners of A.R.T. and Behringer products prefer to read about
> $1/2 million SSL desks in Mix, so they avoid the magazine that's
> directed toward them?
>
> Maybe now there'll be room on the newstands for "Resolution" to be
> distributed here in the states?

--
Les Cargill

[Les Cargill]

hollywood_steve wrote:

> It barely lasted 5 years and now it joins all of those other dead and
> gone audio publications. This one is hardly any great loss; its more
> confusing than anything else. Anyone who spends 5 minutes in a
> GuitarMart knows that $99 condenser mics and $299 all-in-one "Pro
> Digital Studios" outsell real pro gear by a few thousand percent. So
> you'd think that a rag that catered to the "what's the best mic for
> $49?" crowd would be rolling in advertiser revenue. So what happened?

That market saturated.

> Do the owners of A.R.T. and Behringer products prefer to read about
> $1/2 million SSL desks in Mix, so they avoid the magazine that's
> directed toward them?
>
> Maybe now there'll be room on the newstands for "Resolution" to be
> distributed here in the states?

--
Les Cargill

[David Morgan \(MAMS\)]

"hollywood_steve" > wrote in message ...

> Do the owners of A.R.T. and Behringer products prefer to read about
> $1/2 million SSL desks in Mix, so they avoid the magazine that's
> directed toward them?


Have you looked at the advertising base in Mix lately ?

DM

[David Morgan \(MAMS\)]

"hollywood_steve" > wrote in message ...

> Do the owners of A.R.T. and Behringer products prefer to read about
> $1/2 million SSL desks in Mix, so they avoid the magazine that's
> directed toward them?


Have you looked at the advertising base in Mix lately ?

DM

[Blind Joni]

>
>Have you looked at the advertising base in Mix lately ?
>
>DM

It's all the same.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

[Blind Joni]

>
>Have you looked at the advertising base in Mix lately ?
>
>DM

It's all the same.


John A. Chiara
SOS Recording Studio
Live Sound Inc.
Albany, NY
www.sosrecording.net
518-449-1637

[Gary]

Well, how many times do you think they can run the recording basics
articles over and over? I think it's one of the challenges of
recording or any other creative pursuit - you're only going to get so
much out of reading about it, and even the "pros" don't have a
cookbook approach for success.

[Gary]

Well, how many times do you think they can run the recording basics
articles over and over? I think it's one of the challenges of
recording or any other creative pursuit - you're only going to get so
much out of reading about it, and even the "pros" don't have a
cookbook approach for success.

[Scott Dorsey]

Gary > wrote:
>Well, how many times do you think they can run the recording basics
>articles over and over? I think it's one of the challenges of
>recording or any other creative pursuit - you're only going to get so
>much out of reading about it, and even the "pros" don't have a
>cookbook approach for success.

The problem is that there are constantly new people cycling in and out
of "recording as a hobby" and so there is a constant demand for the
same recording basics articles over and over. It seems to sell magazines
better than just about anything else.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Scott Dorsey]

Gary > wrote:
>Well, how many times do you think they can run the recording basics
>articles over and over? I think it's one of the challenges of
>recording or any other creative pursuit - you're only going to get so
>much out of reading about it, and even the "pros" don't have a
>cookbook approach for success.

The problem is that there are constantly new people cycling in and out
of "recording as a hobby" and so there is a constant demand for the
same recording basics articles over and over. It seems to sell magazines
better than just about anything else.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> The problem is that there are constantly new people cycling in and out
> of "recording as a hobby" and so there is a constant demand for the
> same recording basics articles over and over. It seems to sell magazines
> better than just about anything else.

I think I was at least the third person to write the "beginners"
series for Recording, and they're on the third one after me. I was
starting to run out of things to write about so I got out just in the
nick of time. The editor now occasionally askes me to write about
something I've written about before since the same questions seem to
come in from the readers.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> The problem is that there are constantly new people cycling in and out
> of "recording as a hobby" and so there is a constant demand for the
> same recording basics articles over and over. It seems to sell magazines
> better than just about anything else.

I think I was at least the third person to write the "beginners"
series for Recording, and they're on the third one after me. I was
starting to run out of things to write about so I got out just in the
nick of time. The editor now occasionally askes me to write about
something I've written about before since the same questions seem to
come in from the readers.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Uncle Russ]

My main business is publishing books and magazines. I can tell you the main
reason any magazine goes out of business is lack of sufficient advertising.
You can have a lot of readers. If you don't have the advertising, you are
sunk.

Any new magazine (and Home Recording, at five years old, is very new) is in
last place when seeking ads. Most advertisers figure they already are doing
fine if they are in the biggest (almost always the oldest) publication and
won't spend additional money. That is especially true in a soft market such
as now.

So, even if the magazine's substance in every issue were superb and crucial,
they'd still go bust unless the field were one where the could charge a
premium for topnotch photography and timeless information to make up for the
lack of sufficient ads. That's not really possible in the field of home
recording.

Wrong subject at the wrong time. Get it?

"Uncle Russ" Reinberg

WESTLAKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
www.finescalerr.com
WESTLAKE RECORDS
www.westlakerecords.com


"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> Gary > wrote:
> >Well, how many times do you think they can run the recording basics
> >articles over and over? I think it's one of the challenges of
> >recording or any other creative pursuit - you're only going to get so
> >much out of reading about it, and even the "pros" don't have a
> >cookbook approach for success.
>
> The problem is that there are constantly new people cycling in and out
> of "recording as a hobby" and so there is a constant demand for the
> same recording basics articles over and over. It seems to sell magazines
> better than just about anything else.
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Uncle Russ]

My main business is publishing books and magazines. I can tell you the main
reason any magazine goes out of business is lack of sufficient advertising.
You can have a lot of readers. If you don't have the advertising, you are
sunk.

Any new magazine (and Home Recording, at five years old, is very new) is in
last place when seeking ads. Most advertisers figure they already are doing
fine if they are in the biggest (almost always the oldest) publication and
won't spend additional money. That is especially true in a soft market such
as now.

So, even if the magazine's substance in every issue were superb and crucial,
they'd still go bust unless the field were one where the could charge a
premium for topnotch photography and timeless information to make up for the
lack of sufficient ads. That's not really possible in the field of home
recording.

Wrong subject at the wrong time. Get it?

"Uncle Russ" Reinberg

WESTLAKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
www.finescalerr.com
WESTLAKE RECORDS
www.westlakerecords.com


"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...
> Gary > wrote:
> >Well, how many times do you think they can run the recording basics
> >articles over and over? I think it's one of the challenges of
> >recording or any other creative pursuit - you're only going to get so
> >much out of reading about it, and even the "pros" don't have a
> >cookbook approach for success.
>
> The problem is that there are constantly new people cycling in and out
> of "recording as a hobby" and so there is a constant demand for the
> same recording basics articles over and over. It seems to sell magazines
> better than just about anything else.
> --scott
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Tony Thomas]

I've written for a number of magazines over the years, including Mix,
Electronic Musician, Recording and others.

The magazine business is pretty tough these days, especially when the
average price of a recording/music magazine is up in the $5-7 range at
the newsstand. There is less shelf space for magazines, too. Remember
how many computer and music magazines used to be on the store shelves?
Unless you are at Borders, you are hard pressed to find a music mag
other than one of the guitar monthlies.

Also, the failure rate of new magazines is very high. If you go back
five or ten years and see how many magazines have come and gone, it
would be enlightening.

Tony

[Tony Thomas]

I've written for a number of magazines over the years, including Mix,
Electronic Musician, Recording and others.

The magazine business is pretty tough these days, especially when the
average price of a recording/music magazine is up in the $5-7 range at
the newsstand. There is less shelf space for magazines, too. Remember
how many computer and music magazines used to be on the store shelves?
Unless you are at Borders, you are hard pressed to find a music mag
other than one of the guitar monthlies.

Also, the failure rate of new magazines is very high. If you go back
five or ten years and see how many magazines have come and gone, it
would be enlightening.

Tony

[Kelly Dueck]

"Uncle Russ" > wrote in message >...
> My main business is publishing books and magazines. I can tell you the main
> reason any magazine goes out of business is lack of sufficient advertising.
> You can have a lot of readers. If you don't have the advertising, you are
> sunk.
>

I, too, am in the Magazine business (circulation marketing manager at
an 8-title farm magazine publisher in Canada).

"Uncle Russ" is absolutely right. Home Recording bit the dust because
of a lack of advertising. Page counts were low and that led to thin
magazines that couldn't pass the "thunk test" with readers (ie. there
was so little content it didn't go "thunk" when you dropped it on a
table).

The main reason advertisers don't support magazines is a lack of
quality readership versus the competition. Mix attracts some industry
pros but also a lot of wannabes. Trust me, the home studio crowd
doesn't want to read articles about samson mixers, it wants to read
about ssl's and dream the impossible dream. Samsons? Heck ... you can
go play with them down at the Guitar Center anytime. SSL's, Neve's
etc. ... 99.9% of gear junkies will never get closer to one than an ad
in Mix ... and then they'll go out and buy the behringer digital mixer
cuz it's got the cool flying faders just like the big pro desks ...
and the next round of phantasizing will begin. This time instead of
buying that c12 they'll buy the green v67 ... instead of the brauner
they'll buy the C1 ...

Competition is also ferocious ... and now sound on sound is taking
advertising in its north american edition. I'll be curious to see how
ad pages develop in that title.

[Kelly Dueck]

"Uncle Russ" > wrote in message >...
> My main business is publishing books and magazines. I can tell you the main
> reason any magazine goes out of business is lack of sufficient advertising.
> You can have a lot of readers. If you don't have the advertising, you are
> sunk.
>

I, too, am in the Magazine business (circulation marketing manager at
an 8-title farm magazine publisher in Canada).

"Uncle Russ" is absolutely right. Home Recording bit the dust because
of a lack of advertising. Page counts were low and that led to thin
magazines that couldn't pass the "thunk test" with readers (ie. there
was so little content it didn't go "thunk" when you dropped it on a
table).

The main reason advertisers don't support magazines is a lack of
quality readership versus the competition. Mix attracts some industry
pros but also a lot of wannabes. Trust me, the home studio crowd
doesn't want to read articles about samson mixers, it wants to read
about ssl's and dream the impossible dream. Samsons? Heck ... you can
go play with them down at the Guitar Center anytime. SSL's, Neve's
etc. ... 99.9% of gear junkies will never get closer to one than an ad
in Mix ... and then they'll go out and buy the behringer digital mixer
cuz it's got the cool flying faders just like the big pro desks ...
and the next round of phantasizing will begin. This time instead of
buying that c12 they'll buy the green v67 ... instead of the brauner
they'll buy the C1 ...

Competition is also ferocious ... and now sound on sound is taking
advertising in its north american edition. I'll be curious to see how
ad pages develop in that title.

[Gary]

"Uncle Russ" > wrote in message >...

>
> Wrong subject at the wrong time. Get it?

Not any more, I canceled.

[Gary]

"Uncle Russ" > wrote in message >...

>
> Wrong subject at the wrong time. Get it?

Not any more, I canceled.

[Gary]

(Kelly Dueck) wrote in message >...
> Mix attracts some industry
> pros but also a lot of wannabes. Trust me, the home studio crowd
> doesn't want to read articles about samson mixers, it wants to read
> about ssl's and dream the impossible dream.

Hey, wait, I'm a wannabe, and I uh.... emmm.... never mind.

[Gary]

(Kelly Dueck) wrote in message >...
> Mix attracts some industry
> pros but also a lot of wannabes. Trust me, the home studio crowd
> doesn't want to read articles about samson mixers, it wants to read
> about ssl's and dream the impossible dream.

Hey, wait, I'm a wannabe, and I uh.... emmm.... never mind.

[Tommy B]

But advertising always loves a winner, right?
So if the mag was selling and growing, that's one thing, but in this
instance, it seems that's not the case.
As quality dropped, so did readership, and then the advertisers jumped ship.
It's all about the numbers baby! I wish I knew how to put a cigar in one of
these ;-)

Tom






"Kelly Dueck" > wrote in message
om...
> "Uncle Russ" > wrote in message
>...
> > My main business is publishing books and magazines. I can tell you the
main
> > reason any magazine goes out of business is lack of sufficient
advertising.
> > You can have a lot of readers. If you don't have the advertising, you
are
> > sunk.
> >
>
> I, too, am in the Magazine business (circulation marketing manager at
> an 8-title farm magazine publisher in Canada).
>
> "Uncle Russ" is absolutely right. Home Recording bit the dust because
> of a lack of advertising. Page counts were low and that led to thin
> magazines that couldn't pass the "thunk test" with readers (ie. there
> was so little content it didn't go "thunk" when you dropped it on a
> table).
>
> The main reason advertisers don't support magazines is a lack of
> quality readership versus the competition. Mix attracts some industry
> pros but also a lot of wannabes. Trust me, the home studio crowd
> doesn't want to read articles about samson mixers, it wants to read
> about ssl's and dream the impossible dream. Samsons? Heck ... you can
> go play with them down at the Guitar Center anytime. SSL's, Neve's
> etc. ... 99.9% of gear junkies will never get closer to one than an ad
> in Mix ... and then they'll go out and buy the behringer digital mixer
> cuz it's got the cool flying faders just like the big pro desks ...
> and the next round of phantasizing will begin. This time instead of
> buying that c12 they'll buy the green v67 ... instead of the brauner
> they'll buy the C1 ...
>
> Competition is also ferocious ... and now sound on sound is taking
> advertising in its north american edition. I'll be curious to see how
> ad pages develop in that title.

[Tommy B]

But advertising always loves a winner, right?
So if the mag was selling and growing, that's one thing, but in this
instance, it seems that's not the case.
As quality dropped, so did readership, and then the advertisers jumped ship.
It's all about the numbers baby! I wish I knew how to put a cigar in one of
these ;-)

Tom






"Kelly Dueck" > wrote in message
om...
> "Uncle Russ" > wrote in message
>...
> > My main business is publishing books and magazines. I can tell you the
main
> > reason any magazine goes out of business is lack of sufficient
advertising.
> > You can have a lot of readers. If you don't have the advertising, you
are
> > sunk.
> >
>
> I, too, am in the Magazine business (circulation marketing manager at
> an 8-title farm magazine publisher in Canada).
>
> "Uncle Russ" is absolutely right. Home Recording bit the dust because
> of a lack of advertising. Page counts were low and that led to thin
> magazines that couldn't pass the "thunk test" with readers (ie. there
> was so little content it didn't go "thunk" when you dropped it on a
> table).
>
> The main reason advertisers don't support magazines is a lack of
> quality readership versus the competition. Mix attracts some industry
> pros but also a lot of wannabes. Trust me, the home studio crowd
> doesn't want to read articles about samson mixers, it wants to read
> about ssl's and dream the impossible dream. Samsons? Heck ... you can
> go play with them down at the Guitar Center anytime. SSL's, Neve's
> etc. ... 99.9% of gear junkies will never get closer to one than an ad
> in Mix ... and then they'll go out and buy the behringer digital mixer
> cuz it's got the cool flying faders just like the big pro desks ...
> and the next round of phantasizing will begin. This time instead of
> buying that c12 they'll buy the green v67 ... instead of the brauner
> they'll buy the C1 ...
>
> Competition is also ferocious ... and now sound on sound is taking
> advertising in its north american edition. I'll be curious to see how
> ad pages develop in that title.