The magazine death tips keep coming in...

The end of the year brings Secret Santa, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and a lot of dying magazine rumours. With Kirkus Review now down in the cold ground (E&P does not count because it moved from magazine to web a few years ago), it feels like others could be following soon. So let's sit by the fireplace and read these letters, shall we? No names please!

Please remember that these are just letters. We print all confirmations and denials, as you know!

RE: "Casino Player" and "Strictly Slots"

You might want to look into those. Websites down, all numbers constantly busy, no returned emails.

Yes, it does seem the web sites for these two magazines are out of commission. With the news today that 43 Las Vegas casino hotels with rooms for less than $40 a night, these magazines may have rolled their last dice.

MAGNET magazine is on hiatus and they do not know when they will be able to get another print edition out. 

RE: Motorcycle Magazines Near The Edge

Lots of bad news for several of the motorcycle magazines these days.  

Ads are WAY down, newsstand sales are in the dumps and the subscription rates keep dropping. If they get any lower they might pay you to subscribe!

Wonder how long a few of them have to ride?

I’d add a few to your watch list in this order of decline:

Walnecks

Barnett’s Cycle (just dropped from 10 issues a year to 4)

IronWorks

Street Chopper

2 Wheel Tuner

And I’d keep an eye on the once all-powerful Easyriders and V-Twin. They are now combining their circulation and passing it off as “real” to advertisers and not mentioning the blend.

Akin to the niche hot rod and performance car magazines which have been picked off in the past year, these titles are primo targets for El Reaper.

Comments

[Anonymous]

You missed Bonnier's Quad Off-Road magazine. They killed it a couple weeks ago.

[Paul Riddell]

I'm reminded of the old biker slogan "Chrome Won't Get You Home". That pretty much described most of the biker magazines: they weren't selling to serious riders. They were selling to all of the yuppies who ripped through home equity loans to buy some monstrous Harley that they'd only ride on Sundays. After the repo man came by, why the hell would the former readers torment themselves with reminders of how their penis replacements were taken from them?

A bit more seriously, such is always the situation with multiple magazines selling on perceived fads. Fifteen years ago, it was "Look at what's on the Internet" magazines. Now, it's biker magazines. In another five years, if efforts to legalize marijuana finally go through, expect the same thing for the current crop (no pun intended) of "grow your own" magazines. Five different titles on the local Barnes & Noble shelf, all pretty much running the same ads and the same articles? Good luck on that.

[Mercedes]

I have heard that Metro Pop and Anthem are dead. Perhaps Death and Taxes Magazine is as well.

[Jonquil]

You missed Kirkus Reviews and Editor & Publisher! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/business/media/11nielsen.html

[msbpodcast]

If their business model required them to have advertising to pay the bills, they're all going to close soon, regardless of whether they have any readers or not.

Its the advertisers that have gone to the internet and they aren't coming back.

N:M is capable of infinitely more than 1:M megaphone rental.

[Paul Riddell]

Jonquil, it's nice to see that you actually read the post. Or, as I like to put it, "YES, WE'VE GOT A VIDEO."

On more serious subjects, the hits keep coming. While it's survived several previous reorganizations, Dallas-based Envy magazine is declaring Chapter 11 and reorganizing, which probably means that contributors and advertisers are hosed. The magazine (if you can call it that: this was a freebie extolling the Beautiful People that somehow made D magazine look like real journalism, if that's even possible) expanded into Austin and Houston markets, but was dependent upon a succession of anorexia-encouraging modeling agencies and a plethora of high-end restaurants and "where the elite meet to eat reheated meaty treats" bars, both of which are notorious for skipping out when the advertising bills are due. The surprise wasn't that Envy bought it, but that it lasted as long as it did burning other people's money.

On sadder points, I just discovered that the Dallas music magazine Harder Beat died a couple of months back. It was a fun magazine, but it was dedicated mostly to metal acts, and the expansion of whiner rock in the late Nineties was pretty much what killed it. Combine that with its major advertisers shutting down due to lack of business, and fare thee well.

[PeriodicalsLibarian]

My library just received the latest copy of Strictly Slots.

[Edward C. Greenberg]

I just received my copy of the July 2010 Casino Player Magazine. I am also receiving Strictly Slots via hard copy and on the web. What is the basis for your report of their demise or imminent demise?

[Edward C. Greenberg]

We represent photographers who shoot for or whose work is licensed to any/every magazine available. We lecture and write on this issue (no pun intended) often.

We just compared the amount of advertising in (July) Casino Player magazine with the much thinner August 9th issue of Time Magazine. There is far more advertising in Casino Player. True - its not a completely fair comparison on several levels but noteworthy in many respects nonetheless.

We predicted the demise of Newsweek by June 2011. Unfortunately, we will likely be correct.

Edward C. Greenberg
Attorney