(A piece I wrote roughly a year ago, but never posted. Slightly edited...)
Over the last 3 years we have seen a major decline in hard copy magazines from our shelves, both UK and US
We have seen the demise of TOUCH, King, HHC (Hip Hop Connection and The (ORIGINAL) Blues & Soul due to the recession and companies trimming the purse strings of their advertising because, no matter how annoying we all found it skipping through 30+ pages of ads and those little cards that would eventually be used as page markers, those were the things that actually kept the magazines in print and people in jobs. The only survivors of this urban/black magazine death has been XXL *salute* and 'the new' Vibe which, like the magazine once dubbed 'The Hip Hop Bible' (The Source) should have stayed true to its original format. They are printing quarterly throughout the year. I guess they have to cram a lot into those wafer thin pages. I personally think they should just go digital! Going digital as well as print worked very well for Flavour magazine here in the UK.
As someone who used to spend £12-15 on magazines a month, the recent demise of print magazines has been a gift and a curse (a rise in the sheckles in my pocket. (At their prime, these defunct mags were asking for 375 pennies).
No more joy from tucking into freshly purchased pieces of paper that accompany me on my daily commute and inevitably end up at my barbers or in an orange recycle bag.
One of the better things to emerge from the ashes has been the emergence of 'THE BLOG/BLOGGER'... Everyone now has access to the Internet in their homes/office/mobile phones and even by 'borrowing' someone's wireless who was silly enough to not put a password on their modem. This is where news travels the fastest, from different angles and different people!
Whether it be-
Fashion (Benjart Clothing, Streetz is Watchin', Play Dot, Braves Ones)
Music and entertainment (SocialWriters.blogspot, Soulculture, Brown-eyez.com, Mad News.biz, Musingsofabrixtongirl.blogspot)
Not to mention sites like Grime Daily and SBTV bringing straight visual entertainment and everyone one else who is doing something positive to bring information to the masses!!
Who would've thought they would see the day when mainstream media would be snooping through our blogs/sites/videos to see what's hot and what's not?
The point I’m trying to make is originally I was upset because I was no longer getting my magazines, but that has opened a door for us as UK artistes and entrepreneurs in our right to make a mark on the world from the ground level because there are MANY people who come from where we have, but as the saying goes 'Got rich and switch' and no longer want to help the person that was them 5-10 years ago.
For me this is a beautiful thing as I had no media training, but was fortunate enough to be given a chance by someone and now I work with many like-minded people who know there is more to life than just working to pay bills!
Tinchy, Dizzee and Tinie Tempah are number 1's...
Kojo and Eddie and Kevin J are bringing comedy to the forefront...
Giggs took his music from the streets to the mainstream...
Noel Clarke is writing and producing hit movies, Aml Ameen and Ashley 'Bashy' Thomas are starring in them...
Reggie Yates and Ace & Vis are presenting everything...
Charlene White is bringing us prime time news...
Alisha White is the people’s ‘Next Top Model’…
Scorcher, Wretch 32, Skepta, Chipmunk, Loick Esdien and Labrinth are on the rise...
Scorcher, Wretch 32, Skepta, Chipmunk, Loick Esdien and Labrinth are on the rise...
We're here for a GOOD time, not a LONG time!
UK STAND UP!
No comments:
Post a Comment