R.I.P. MusicTech magazine (print version)

[danc]

After 17 years of MusicTech magazine print edition, they have decided to stop publishing and focus entirely on their digital edition. The next edition published on December 17th will be the last one.

https://bandlabtechnologies.com/press/9 ... -into-2021

Not sure if Covid killed MusicTech (they don't say), but having newsagents shut for super long periods of time couldn't have helped.

For me personally... I see it as a shame (probably because I'm an old fart), I really did like the idea of flicking through music magazines and was subscribed to this, along with FM, CM, and SOS. Anyway - we have to move ever on in life... RIP MusicTech.

[EdGrip]

I like the idea of magazines, and like to have a look if I'm passing the magazine shelf in the supermarket. But I never buy them. Not since I was much younger, anyway - I think I had a Total Guitar subscription at one point!

[motuscott]

I thoroughly enjoyed my SOS subscription when I had it. Living in the US, I get TapeOp print and digital. The paper copy lives in my shoulder bag for when I'm in line and such. I guess you kids do that with your phones...

[DaveyG]

Magazines have had their day, just like newspapers. By the time the mag is out we've read six online reviews and watched countless YouTubes of the latest thing that is the main review in the mag and the stuff in the news section is old news. And as the mags have declined, their budget, and thus the quality of their output, has also declined. Just how it is.

[bxbrkrz]

Now digital mags are getting killed by tech youtubers, aka "influencers". The phone is the de facto interface for this generation. Video and audio, not much time for reading in depth reviews on a small screen. Very sad.

[Heater]

I used to buy about £30 of magazines a month. Now it’s all internet and mostly forum groups and YouTube. The landscape has changed forever.

[diminished]

to be fair, those magazines consisted of 60% ads for synths and gear you could never afford. publishers deep in the pockets of the music industry. reviews were ads. they contained some interviews where you could extract exactly zero knowledge from. maybe a tutorial or two on certain production techniques - but that's about it.

15+ years ago it was more or less the only source of information regarding music production for the avarage joe, but what can I say, I'm glad these times are over. I'd take modern "influencers" over sketchy publishers any day of the week

[motuscott]

to be fair, those magazines consisted of 60% ads for synths and gear you could never afford. publishers deep in the pockets of the music industry. reviews were ads. they contained some interviews where you could extract exactly zero knowledge from. maybe a tutorial or two on certain production techniques - but that's about it.

15+ years ago it was more or less the only source of information regarding music production for the avarage joe, but what can I say, I'm glad these times are over. I'd take modern "influencers" over sketchy publishers any day of the week

Sir while I respect your position, I beg to differ

[PeterP]

Paper magazines have their magic, but I've switched to reading magazines on my iPad with a Readly subscription nowadays, it's just more convenient. It's a bit like Spotify for magazines and they do have MusicTech there.

They don't have everything though and some of the magazines miss features (e.g. embedded sounds and videos), so I still have separate (digital) CM and SOS subscriptions.

[willy_dinglefinger]

to be fair, those magazines consisted of 60% ads for synths and gear you could never afford. publishers deep in the pockets of the music industry. reviews were ads. they contained some interviews where you could extract exactly zero knowledge from. maybe a tutorial or two on certain production techniques - but that's about it.

15+ years ago it was more or less the only source of information regarding music production for the avarage joe, but what can I say, I'm glad these times are over. I'd take modern "influencers" over sketchy publishers any day of the week

Agreed, it's why I stopped buying SOS or Computer Music or any of the others. I just didn't like paying money to read hundreds of pages of advertisements and reviews that are also advertisements and interviews with Busted's recording engineer boasting about leaving studio windows open when recording vocals because 'we are rock and roll we do not care.'

Now I absolutely hate 'YouTube culture' (for lack of a better term), and because I hate social media I don't even know what an 'influencer' is (just a shill right?), but honestly it's so much quicker / cheaper / easier finding a quick thread on the KVR forums or Gear Slutz, or a quick YouTube video, when you want to learn about a specific thing. Forums often give a better overview too because people are not afraid to be critical or give an openly negative opinion... Whereas hell would freeze over before ever finding a negative review about anything in a magazine for obvious reasons).

[danc]

to be fair, those magazines consisted of 60% ads for synths and gear you could never afford. publishers deep in the pockets of the music industry. reviews were ads. they contained some interviews where you could extract exactly zero knowledge from. maybe a tutorial or two on certain production techniques - but that's about it.

15+ years ago it was more or less the only source of information regarding music production for the avarage joe, but what can I say, I'm glad these times are over. I'd take modern "influencers" over sketchy publishers any day of the week

Agreed, it's why I stopped buying SOS or Computer Music or any of the others. I just didn't like paying money to read hundreds of pages of advertisements and reviews that are also advertisements and interviews with Busted's recording engineer boasting about leaving studio windows open when recording vocals because 'we are rock and roll we do not care.'

Now I absolutely hate 'YouTube culture' (for lack of a better term), and because I hate social media I don't even know what an 'influencer' is (just a shill right?), but honestly it's so much quicker / cheaper / easier finding a quick thread on the KVR forums or Gear Slutz, or a quick YouTube video, when you want to learn about a specific thing. Forums often give a better overview too because people are not afraid to be critical or give an openly negative opinion... Whereas hell would freeze over before ever finding a negative review about anything in a magazine for obvious reasons).

You know the tide has turned when these "influencers" are now being rated in the annual awards https://www.musicradar.com/news/the-bes ... for-by-you

Music magazines used to be the only source for quality reviews, news, tutorials and interviews etc., but when you get people like Loopop come along (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Loopop), with super in-depth 30-min reviews of the latest hardware synths, you realise seeing the synth in action, listening to its sounds as he explains every last feature, you know that YouTube has a positive reason to exist.

However... I still like reading music magazines: SOS takes you on a journey into making music that all the other (much thinner) magazines fail. It covers a much broader range of subjects. I intentionally read reviews on products I know I'd never buy or have need for - because there are many gems of ideas and wisdom that translates into the music I make.

And lastly... when you have family running around you and you have a little moment plonked on the sofa or sat in the garden, magazines (and books) excel. The last thing you want to be doing is gawping at a screen to read or learn something. For many people this isn't something they need to worry about - but even for those without kids and wives/husbands, I'd say paper based products help you unwind, where screens can't claim the same accolade.

[mcatalao]

I have had a SOS Sub sometime in my life, and the Portuguese Audio Profissional counterpart.

I've been a writer for a Hi-Fi magazine in my twenties and I know how their business is quite volatile, and so niche that something like covid might have been the last hit on an already very difficult business context.

I hope the online version is enough to make them trhough!

On a side note, I prefer SOS to MusicTech but i ditched the sub long time ago.

[mcatalao]

And lastly... when you have family running around you and you have a little moment plonked on the sofa or sat in the garden, magazines (and books) excel. The last thing you want to be doing is gawping at a screen to read or learn something. For many people this isn't something they need to worry about - but even for those without kids and wives/husbands, I'd say paper based products help you unwind, where screens can't claim the same accolade.

Completely agree with this! I'm so delayed with my books! The only thing I'm reading this day's is my newspaper sub between work, family and music making.

[motuscott]

Just finishing Moby Dick. Now I know a lot more about early 20th century whaling than I would have, though I am at a bit of a loss to find "The Great American Novel".
Praps because I'm a modern fella and all the questions about Fate and who controls all this have been answered.
A. The guys with the money, they control all this.

[motuscott]

Excepting certain central characters, Donny the Ahab, lookin' at you.

[bxbrkrz]

Hmm. I have no idea who that number 1 "influencer" is.
I am voting for Ricky Tinez. Great personality, and great director of photography.

[motuscott]

And I vote for you, bxbrkrz, for Secretary of the Underlayment

[motuscott]

Let's turn to our viewers for an answer,
Viewer A, yes
Viewer B, no
Motuscott, there you have it

[bxbrkrz]

Underlay may refer to flooring or roofing materials, bed padding, or a musical notation.



Edit: The magical universe of serendipity

[motuscott]

I got yer Magical Universe right here

[Faastwalker]

I haven't bought a physical magazine of any kind for some years now. I only ever buy magazines via an iPad App. Just makes more sense to me these days.

[willy_dinglefinger]

However... I still like reading music magazines: SOS takes you on a journey into making music that all the other (much thinner) magazines fail. It covers a much broader range of subjects. I intentionally read reviews on products I know I'd never buy or have need for - because there are many gems of ideas and wisdom that translates into the music I make.

And lastly... when you have family running around you and you have a little moment plonked on the sofa or sat in the garden, magazines (and books) excel. The last thing you want to be doing is gawping at a screen to read or learn something. For many people this isn't something they need to worry about - but even for those without kids and wives/husbands, I'd say paper based products help you unwind, where screens can't claim the same accolade.

Actually aye you make a very good point re: physicality. Since becoming a Dad 5 months ago, I feel like I've won the lottery when I have a wee moment to lie down and read a chapter of my book, or strum my acoustic or what have you...!

And you're right about SOS at least - thinking back, I used to really enjoy reading their Studio SOS articles and the regular columns from the dudes who did audio for TV (for example) etc. So aye even though the bulk of the content was advertising (disguised or otherwise), it was still generally entertaining and informative.

I guess there is still a viable market for mus-tech print media - shining examples here in this thread - otherwise the mags would have gone under long ago.

[jam-s]

Print is dead, it's just twitching a little, still.

[avasopht]

MusicTech had one of the best specials (think it was 100 mixing technique) way back in 2005/2006. Sadly someone took my copy from the studio.

I might still have one or two of their DVDs (and if not, it's in my backups).

[Re8et]

I bought it sometime, but it never ever got remotely close to Polyphony.
https://paia.com/polyphny/