Bass Player Magazine - Getting Desperate?

[Bass-Adrenaline]

I know there have been many, MANY threads on peoples opinions of bass player magazine. In the recent years their content (imo) has gone to **** and theres more advertisments and useless fillers than anything else. Well my subscription ended a while back they are getting on my nerves. Theyve sent offer after offer of low price re-subscription things and ive just tossed them out. Really, junk mail doesnt bother me much since i usually have a pile that has to get tossed. However, they now keep calling me over and over again at all times of the day asking if id like to subscribe. Apparently they have a company doing the calls for them and they claim its legal for them to do it since its not telemarketing. How is that so if they are trying to get me to re-subscribe when they call? Even after asking to be removed from their list a dozen times i get calls.

So, has anyone else had this problem with them? Is what they are doing wrong since they say its not telemarketing even though they are trying to get me to subscribe to their magazine?

Normally i wouldnt make a thread like this but theyve crossed a line with me at this point. Have they really gotten so desperate with their subscriptions that they have resorted to just annoying the **** out of poeple?

[kuys]

Print media is dying. No, ifs ands or butts. This is simply a last ditch effort to keep customers and revenue coming in. You can either get with the times or go extinct. Believe me I get these calls all the time from magazine vendors and the like after we've canceled. Hell, I've had them try to get me to sign back up 2 seconds after I canceled with a cheaper rate.

All this coming from a guy that heads his county's library IT department. We are making the transition to digital formats but we will still keep a large physical collection; simply because a lot of great books and resources will never be digitized. Other than that, you will see our collection and other libraries go from 98% physical - 2% digital to 60% digital and 40% physical over the next few decades.

[Bass-Adrenaline]

No doubt print is dying out, but really? Is it even legal for them to use a company who is only supposed to be used for survey/census info to try and sell subscriptions? Thats telemarketing, right? Cant they be reported and fined or something for that?

[JTE]

You've already established a business relationship with BP's company by having the subscription (and giving them your phone number apparently). These kinds of phone calls are legal because you have a relationship with them. The "Do Not Call" list only prevents companies with which you do not have a relationship from contacting you. If you give your phone number to the clerk at Gordman's, you've established that relationship and they can call you (which is why I won't give my phone number when they ask).

I don't think they're that desperate. They sent me an e-mail asking me to renew and my reply was that the chronic delivery issues that took months to resolve, the increasingly poorly written content (it seems they don't even use spell-check or basic MS Word grammar check any longer), and the pointless reviews (slagging an FX pedal because the logo used a type face they thought was silly?!?) that don't give you any comparisons, made the small size of the magazine not valued.

The autobot reply said they'd respond in 72 hours, but they never did.

John

[Bass-Adrenaline]

Any relationship i had with them ends with my subscription to them, especially after i tell them i do not wish to renew it. An exchange of contact information does not give anyone the right to call whenever they want and harass people. Unless you have something that states what youre saying is true i have to call BS. Not that i dont appreciate your input, it just doesnt make any sense at all. Furthermore, they are not only supposed to give the option to be removed from their call list (which they did) but they are supposed to honor it if you request to be removed. Right?

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by kuys

Print media is dying. No, ifs ands or butts.

Actually, magazines in particular are hanging in there. I think we haven't quite been able to duplicate the portability, interface, and images-words combination well enough to displace them yet. A couple iPad magazine editions I've seen are good; most seem to try to do too much.

I stopped reading Bass Player a year or two ago. I never found a critical review of anything - they seem to love everything they test, which makes me wonder about their objectivity. The issues were getting really thin, too.

We're a very narrow audience for a print publication.

[Bass-Adrenaline]

Yeah, i kinda have to retract what i said a bit. Print isnt dying out, crappy print is dying out. There are other magazines im still subscribed to or buy. They funny thing is they cost 2-3 times as much as BP and i dont have a problem at all paying for them.

[rockstarbassist]

I quit subb'ing probably 2~ years ago. If I go into GC and they have an issue with someone I actually care about on the cover I may pick it up. It's got mostly useless material in it nowadays.
Even Guitar World is getting bad. Already had 2 or 3 "100 Greatest...we couldn't find anyone to put on the cover lol n00b" pieces in 2011 alone. It's ridiculous. But at least they cover current artists I gotta keep up with.

[Funky Ghost]

The mag is certainly not what it was, and really I do 99% of my reading on the internet anyway. I've not bought magazines in ages. I still prefer printed books, however.

The best way to end telemarketing calls is a good ole airhorn. I've blasted these lecherous idiots out of their smug little chairs for years. It always works. It may take 1 or 2 times but it always works.

Be warned though, it will take lives away from your cat

[enricogaletta]

I don't think that printing media are going to die, or it will happen it won't be soon, I know different magazines that people keep buying regularly in Europe, the things about Bass Player is that they start to loose anything of real interesting in the magazine, I remember 8-9 years ago when I was buying more or less regularly that it was so interesting to read it, now is full of ads andthe contents are always THE SAME. Same artist, some music column, same gear reviews etc etc, for me it's just like read a dejavu magazine. I was in a book store the other day and for curiosity I just pick a copy, really nothing of intereting to read and this is the same for their online web.
Tons of ads and nothing of new. i think for this reason they are using external resources to get again readers but in that way I think they really will gloing to dye.
Cheers. Enrico
YouTube
WebSite

[Ebelow]

I am a good fifteen years subscriber for BassPlayer, but now really gets me bored with those (same) bunch of adds, way to many!

[steelbed45]

Originally posted by WJGreer - I stopped reading Bass Player a year or two ago. I never found a critical review of anything - they seem to love everything they test, which makes me wonder about their objectivity

Yeah, I remember when that wasn't the case. If something didn't sit right, they used to call it out and sometimes had the manufacturer's response. It seemed like an actual service to the community when Jim Roberts was running the ship.

[bassacechase]

Originally Posted by JTE

They sent me an e-mail asking me to renew and my reply was that the chronic delivery issues that took months to resolve, the increasingly poorly written content (it seems they don't even use spell-check or basic MS Word grammar check any longer), and the pointless reviews (slagging an FX pedal because the logo used a type face they thought was silly?!?) that don't give you any comparisons, made the small size of the magazine not valued.



John

I think this may be a run-on sentence...

[rockosocko]

It's sad, Bass Player was at one time a great resource, now it's hardly even a shadow of what it once was.

[BillyIVbass]

I'm a BP subscriber. Magazines are thinner, yet they are cheaper than they've ever been. $18 for 12 issues, heck yes I'll buy it. You can't get a private lesson with an instructor for $18, if I learn one thing out of all 12 issues it's worth it.

Advertisements? Sure they have a bunch of them, but that also keeps the reader up to date on what's out.

[rydin4lifebass]

I look at one on the shelf of my local music store every time I'm in and they get smaller and smaller..almost like a pamphlet now...just not worth it..

[Bass-Adrenaline]

Originally Posted by BillyIVbass

I'm a BP subscriber. Magazines are thinner, yet they are cheaper than they've ever been. $18 for 12 issues, heck yes I'll buy it. You can't get a private lesson with an instructor for $18, if I learn one thing out of all 12 issues it's worth it.

Advertisements? Sure they have a bunch of them, but that also keeps the reader up to date on what's out.

Not really, at least no more so than this website.

[PolkaHero]

Originally Posted by Bass-Adrenaline

I know there have been many, MANY threads on peoples opinions of bass player magazine. In the recent years their content (imo) has gone to **** and theres more advertisments and useless fillers than anything else. Well my subscription ended a while back they are getting on my nerves. Theyve sent offer after offer of low price re-subscription things and ive just tossed them out. Really, junk mail doesnt bother me much since i usually have a pile that has to get tossed. However, they now keep calling me over and over again at all times of the day asking if id like to subscribe. Apparently they have a company doing the calls for them and they claim its legal for them to do it since its not telemarketing. How is that so if they are trying to get me to re-subscribe when they call? Even after asking to be removed from their list a dozen times i get calls.

So, has anyone else had this problem with them? Is what they are doing wrong since they say its not telemarketing even though they are trying to get me to subscribe to their magazine?

Normally i wouldnt make a thread like this but theyve crossed a line with me at this point. Have they really gotten so desperate with their subscriptions that they have resorted to just annoying the **** out of poeple?

So how low are the renewal offers? My sub is coming up, I'm a 21-year subscriber and would like to renew but not at the current price. I agree, though, the mag isn't nearly what it used to be. I still have almost every issue!

[redhed]

I still like BP magazine, but I do like UK'S Bass guitar magazine too. I love everything BASS!!!!!!

[alec]

I subscribed about 15 years ago and it was a great mag. I started up again a couple of years ago but didn't renew - content is wafer thin.