magazines

Certain Songs #606: The Hold Steady – “Magazines”

July 29, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Stay Positive
Year: 2009

I’ve seen The Hold Steady live five times in the past decade, which doesn’t seem like much, but considering that I don’t get out to see shows that much anymore, it’s a pretty fair amount.

And at least two of them were among the greatest shows I’ll ever see: opening for the Replacements in 2014, and of course, 2008’s rock ‘n’ roll lovefest with the Drive-by Truckers, which I wrote about totally hungover while sitting on the floor of the Virgin terminal at LAX waiting for an early flight to Seattle, where we were going to spend Thanksgiving.

Un-Spun

June 17, 2006 by Jim Connelly

I just want to take this opportunity to say goodbye to Spin, a magazine that I have read faithfully for two decades. My subscription lapses in a couple of months, and for the first time in probably that entire two decades, I have no interest in re-upping.

Not because I’ve rejected flesh-and-blood magazines for the pleasures of the online world, either: my life still has plenty of spaces for the physical reading experience, especially that of the magazine. It’s something else entirely. You see, Spin has reinvented itself . . . as Blender 2.0.

Sigh.

[Read more…] about Un-Spun

If At First You Don’t Succeed…

March 29, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

The Wall Street Journal dissects Time Inc’s attempts to stake out territory on the vast Internet. After more false steps and mistakes (Pathfinder, anyone?), the WSJ believes Time is now ready to get it right.

Or, if you will, the time has come for Time to change the way magazines work in the print world to accommodate the web world. Let us, for the moment, skip the irony of the WSJ writing about keeping content under lock and key — much better to focus on the fact that Time realizes that the web isn’t competition; it’s simply another distribution channel. One, if managed right, can be broader and less expensive, simultaneously. Win, win.

As a media critic, I find myself amused that it took until the year 2006 for Time to do stuff like demand “… that writers produce more copy for its Web sites.” Maybe it’s because I’ve been hearing those words every day for ten years. Now, I’m not saying anything, but I do hope Time’s strategy is more than Ana Marie Cox and Andrew Sullivan. Both are fine writers, but Time’s strength, indeed its potential for web domination, will come from innovation and long tail content, in addition to unique voices and attitude.