Are Music Magazines Dying Out?

In this modern day of 2017, changes are being made in every aspect of the entertainment business in order to keep up with the high demands of the consumers, if they don't, they are caught behind and are surely doomed to fail. This is no different with magazines, especially music magazines, the changing times cause publishing companies to adapt to various forms of media in order to reach out to their target audience, the recent boom of Spotify, apple music, and platforms like YouTube and Amazon starting to adapt to the music consumer market, magazines like, NME, Mojo and Vibe are starting to become redundant and lag behind.

Jonah Weiner wrote about the reasons that he felt were killing the music magazine industry, in the article, "Spinning In The Grave". He stated three main ways in which this is happening, they are:-

• "There are fewer superstars, and the same musicians show up on every magazine cover"
• "Music mags have less to offer music lovers, and music lovers need them less than ever anyway"
• "Music magazines were an early version of social networking. But now there's this new thing called Social Networking"

1.  There are fewer superstars, and the same musicians show up on every magazine cover.

This point, basically states, thinking of nowadays music superstars like Kanye West or Beyoncé, if they released a new album, every big music magazine will want them on the cover of their next issue, and there lies the problem, its too saturated. Think about it, if you were to go into your local new agent, how many magazines would you find with the same cover star, probably a few, and what Jonah is saying, along with many other critics is that its getting too boring for music lovers and consumers too see the same star over and over again. You can of course say that not every consumer will read a magazine purely because of its cover star, and that's right, but how can you ignore how the majority are drawn in by the cover, and if all of them look the same, where is the appeal?

2. Music magazines have less to offer music lovers, and music lovers need them less than ever anyway

In similarity to the first point, this one looks at how little music magazines have to offer due to the over saturation of the market. If you really think about it, how much can a magazine actually offer you, yes a few articles on a few tracks or artists, maybe some suggestions, but with the changing time people want things there and then, they don't have time to wait, and they certainty do not need some critic playing the middle man and swaying their decisions, if they wants to listen to a song, they don't have to buy a whole album or single record to listen to it, they can simply stick it in on YouTube and listen to if for free. Many readers would prefer to listen to a track rather than read about it first, technology has well and truly leapfrogged over the printed word, no one can argue with that, and people want what's hot and new, and they want it now, who has the time anymore for an absolete form of media?


3. Music magazines were an early version of social networking. But now there's this new thing called "Social Networking"

Back in the day, music magazines offered a different view point on the music industry, it offered interviews, behind the scenes, and soundtracks you wouldn't of heard usually, basically all things you wouldn't of known about, unless you read that magazine. But now, you can get all of that and more online through websites and social media, so the question stands... Why pay for something when you can get it for free? In practical terms most people would go for the free option for obvious reasons, but you get that small minority of people, who like to buy magazines because they are "old fashioned" or "hipster", and there is the answer to the question really, for the small amount of people who buy magazines to call them "hipster", which in general terms means outdated or vintage, can show that magazines are dying out and there isn't much we can do about it, but that's life.