Music Magazine for Adults

Scratchy voiced Alan Light and John Rollins (Gothamist doesn't know anything about Rollins' voice, only Light's because he'dcomment on ANYTHING on VH1) bring a new music magazine offering with Tracks, oriented to more adult readers. The Times' David Carr looks at this venture, which seems to follow the music industry's realization that older consumers will buy, versus download, music, but the older consumers are simply not being spoken to. One doubtful industry expert, wondering if there are adults obsessive enough to shell out some change for a magazine about the music they like, says, "My experience has been that the people who like to listen to Bonnie Raitt and Phil Collins do not have music as a primary interest." Well, duh. If any magazine had a editorial mission to simply cover Phil Collins, it would only be good as a money laundering scheme. But this sounds just like the original business plan for VH1, so expect a couple issues down the road for it to be all about the 80s. Or the Fabulous Life of Sharon Osbourne.

Musicians acceptable to Tracks: Sting, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, The Strokes, Norah Jones, John Mayer, My Morning Jacket, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Cher, the Who

Musicians unacceptable to Track: The Rapture, Beyonce, Killing Joke, probably most rap and hip-hop

Gothamist: Will not hold its breath...and will just read British music magazines as usual

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Arts and Events on November 10, 2003 8:15 AM

Comments [rss]

Slim

I think the point of the Phil Collins/Bonnie Rait quote is that there are those people who live and die for their music and there are those who simply listen to what is fed to them--on average I think older people tend to fall into the latter group.

mang

I thought it was funny that Carr called Killing Joke an "of-the-moment" band. They've been around for, like, 20 years.

cashilini

Middle-aged people may buy lots of music, but they don't spend much time reading about it. They buy what they hear on the radio. This mag will last less than a year.

Ayelet

Cher is a musician?

Mase

have to agree on U.S. music mags. I stopped reading them long ago for "Q" (which I read almost exclusively).

Medicine

i'll only buy the mag when bob dylan is featured.

scotty the body

Oh Thank God! Just what Sting needs: another media outlet through which to whore himself. He's horribly under-exposed.

Jen

But Q would cover The Rapture.

Noo Noo

Isn't this just Q magazine all over again?

Coolfer

This is classic. The music industry has known for years, if not decades, that middle-aged people buy a lot of music, and it's acted upon that knowledge. It's always the media that acts shocked when an older musician hits the top ten.