Bass Player Mag.....Is It a Mag....

Jim Campbell · #1 03-06-2010, 03:55 AM

i cannot believe they want money for this....just had a quick look at the january 2010 issue......

76 pages counting inside and outside covers ( as the first inside page is page 3)

27 full page ads not counting covers (3 of which are full page ads)

12 pages where ads occupy at least half the page

the bass player live feature seems to be nothing more than pictures of guys standing in front of gear displays at a trade show which i won't count as ads but what else are they really.......

a few pages on andrew gouche,a transcription,goldsby's woodshed,a gear review or 2 and precious little else......

Slaine01 · #2 03-06-2010, 03:58 AM

Needs to go online as a subscription PDF at a way lower price ($20 here in Australia)

VSR · #3 03-06-2010, 04:15 AM

That's sad. Bass Player it used to be a nice magazine. Because of the economy crisis many other magazines do the same. 10 euros in europe BTW (I think there is another thread about this)

Jim Campbell · #4 03-06-2010, 04:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VSR

That's sad. Bass Player it used to be a nice magazine. Because of the economy crisis many other magazines do the same. 10 euros in europe BTW (I think there is another thread about this)

about 8 bucks cdn with taxes here....i have not seen the other thread.....i understand the economy thing,but i think they have gone past the tipping point.......i don't know if it's just me but i like mags to have something in them to read....

varunkapahi · #5 03-06-2010, 04:50 AM

yeah i once got my hands on a issue and i was like totally sad, there was hardly any content in it and way too much of advertisement so much that it looked like a trade journal or something but you had to pay a thick lot for it!

bassphase · #6 03-06-2010, 04:55 AM

Magazines are having a pretty rough go of it now, like a lot of other people and businesses. I subscribe or get comped issues to 7 or 8 different music mags. They all seem to be about 1/4 to 1/2 as thick as they used to be. Mix magazine used to be almost a half inch thick --now it looks like a travel brochure. Most of those missing pages are lost ad revenue. If they can't sell ads, they can't have as many articles. It's very expensive to produce a magazine especially a specialty magazine with a limited audience. The subscription/per issue price does NOT cover the expense of creating the magazine--the ad revenue is essential.

bob

Jim Campbell · #7 03-06-2010, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassphase

Magazines are having a pretty rough go of it now, like a lot of other people and businesses. I subscribe or get comped issues to 7 or 8 different music mags. They all seem to be about 1/4 to 1/2 as thick as they used to be. Mix magazine used to be almost a half inch thick --now it looks like a travel brochure. Most of those missing pages are lost ad revenue. If they can't sell ads, they can't have as many articles. It's very expensive to produce a magazine especially a specialty magazine with a limited audience. The subscription/per issue price does NOT cover the expense of creating the magazine--the ad revenue is essential.

bob

i get that but if you add the ads and the gear stuff ,which is really ads anyway what's left......the newspaper i get here every day has tons more content,far less advertising and costs a buck.....glossy pix of guys standing in front of gear displays is not content,it's just advertising dressed up as content.....don't get me wrong,i'd like to see the mag survive,thrive even.....but if this is all it's going to be i cant see people spending their hard earned dough on it.....

cnltb · #8 03-06-2010, 05:22 AM

I stopped buying it a couple years ago and really haven't missed it...for the reasons stated above, by others.
But there are a few other bass related magazines out there ,all of them better IMO , that BP.

Slaine01 · #9 03-06-2010, 05:23 AM

Bass Gear mag do it awesomely as a digital PDF ( free digital "flipbook") so I cant figure why Bass Player Mag doesnt do it this way as well on a subscription type deal.
No physical printing and freight costs = must be a bonus for keeping costs down.

http://www.bassgearmag.com/web/

Yango · #10 03-06-2010, 05:24 AM

It is sad. I used to be a staunch supporter/subscriber-- I was there from day 1 when they were an insert in Guitar Player Mag.

But it's really not worth it any more. I recently looked at a copy of BP when I went to buy my January issue of Bass Guitar Magazine. There's nothing there. No content, no quality and no pride.

I predict that they'll fold in the near future if they don't pull their heads out.

Check out Bass Guitar Magazine. It's a European import, so it's a little pricey, but it's worth it.

BluesWalker · #11 03-06-2010, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnltb

I stopped buying it a couple years ago and really haven't missed it...for the reasons stated above, by others.
But there are a few other bass related magazines out there ,all of them better IMO , that BP.

Same here. I take a look at it once in awhile when I in Borders but I never buy.

Our local newspapers have gone in a similar manner. One of them folded and was replaced by a web-based paper that produces a print version twice a week. The Detoit newspapers are primarily web based with print versions a on Thursday and Sunday.

Slaine01 · #12 03-06-2010, 05:33 AM

*sniff - I must be getting old, its all about "Kindle" and the e-book generation now.
I remember 2000AD, Beano and Commando comics...............................

phall2112 · #13 03-06-2010, 05:43 AM

It is a joke, I am not going to renew this year. especially since they put out an electronic news letter that has basically all the same stuff in it. The only prob is. I cant read the news letter in the................well you know.

Jim Campbell · #14 03-06-2010, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phall2112

It is a joke, I am not going to renew this year. especially since they put out an electronic news letter that has basically all the same stuff in it. The only prob is. I cant read the news letter in the................well you know.

is there enough in there to last thru a trip to the head.....by comparison my aug 01 issue has 110
pages and the covers are not counted as pages.....i stopped counting at 45 full pages of ads.....even so 36/76 compared to 45/110 as full page ad/page ratio still left room for some content

Buslady7803 · #15 03-06-2010, 05:32 PM

with all the ads you'd think they'd pay for the magazine..should be free to us...if it's worth picking up. i wasn't too impressed

phall2112 · #16 03-06-2010, 07:01 PM

Just got this months issue in the mail today. and the cover is a cartoon looking dude. Are you kidding me? every other page is a full page ad. and the cover of the mag is about 'metal bass moshpit" I dont spend my money on this mag for Metal bass.

JimK · #17 03-07-2010, 09:02 AM

...yes, I just received the new one. I thought it was a comic book.
I'm a diehard so I'm hanging in there.

Bigjohn · #18 03-07-2010, 06:10 PM

I've given up on that magazine.
I bought an issue a while back with Squire on the cover and the interview was basically nothing. With all he's done that could have been great but it was basically nothing. I mean you have his attention, ask him some good questions. I can only assume the interviewer wasn't into Yes. It was a rip off.
The last good interview in that magazine that I noticed was Justin Chancellor a few years back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Campbell

i cannot believe they want money for this....just had a quick look at the january 2010 issue......

76 pages counting inside and outside covers ( as the first inside page is page 3)

27 full page ads not counting covers (3 of which are full page ads)

12 pages where ads occupy at least half the page

the bass player live feature seems to be nothing more than pictures of guys standing in front of gear displays at a trade show which i won't count as ads but what else are they really.......

a few pages on andrew gouche,a transcription,goldsby's woodshed,a gear review or 2 and precious little else......

trunkshope6 · #19 03-07-2010, 06:33 PM

dang thats sad how the magazine turned out

burk48237 · #20 03-07-2010, 07:19 PM

The problem is it's a vicious circle. When Subscribers drop due to a bad economy, the magazine has to sell more adds (usually at a lower rate) to make up for the revenue decline. Then people get mad about a higher percentage of ads and drop their subscriptions so the magazine has to sell more ads (usually at a lower rate) to make up for the revenue decline. Then people get mad about the higher percentage of ads................................