Magazine mediocrity...or is it me?

[nathanp]

Having recently moved from the UK to the US, one thing which amazes me is the low subscription rates for magazines.

National Geographic, American Photo, Shutterbug, B&W etc. have yearly subscriptions in the $5-$15 range.
At those prices, a lot of mediocrity padding snippets of good work is perfectly acceptable.

That's a good point - How much do these magazines cost in the US and other countries?
A lot of these magazines we're moaning about cost around £4-6 (about 6-8 US$).

 

[kevin m]

The bigger picture, no pun intended, is that the western/capitalist business model is circling the drain in an ever-tighter spiral. It's one thing for 'making a buck' to have the head seat at the table, but what we're increasingly witnessing is that it has the only vote at all. Increasingly, content, no matter what the product, is something whose value is only incidental.

It's not just magazines that are affected, most of what's available in public culture has been touched by this. To paraphrase Antonioni's quote about Hollywood, much of public life is "..like being nowhere, talking to nobody, about nothing."

 

[literiter]

Darkroom & Creative Camera (I think it was) disappeared a few years ago. Photo Techniques is still in existence and was just redesigned. Some film, some digital, some ads. Large, well-stocked newsstands in my area sell it.

That was it; Darkroom and Creative Camera. I had a few issues then I gave them away.
I have never heard of "Photo Techniques" but I think it needs some looking into. Thank you for the link.

 

[lukaz85]

Most German mags are full of boring tech reviews or Photoshop workshops. Nevertheless you can find some gems like the Schwarzweissmagazin or the LFI. These are quite expensive mags, but a real bargain is Photonews, which has very nice (non-tech) articles. One of the best international mags is the French "Polka".

 

[Roger Hicks]

The bigger picture, no pun intended, is that the western/capitalist business model is circling the drain in an ever-tighter spiral. It's one thing for 'making a buck' to have the head seat at the table, but what we're increasingly witnessing is that it has the only vote at all. Increasingly, content, no matter what the product, is something whose value is only incidental.

It's not just magazines that are affected, most of what's available in public culture has been touched by this. To paraphrase Antonioni's quote about Hollywood, much of public life is "..like being nowhere, talking to nobody, about nothing."

The buyers are often to blame, too. As I remarked elsewhere, you can get a genuine Lucas/TRW brake cylinder (official Land Rover part) for about £22 or a cheap knock-off for £8. Is your life worth £13 (about $20)?

This also ties into the point about the number of good articles in a journal versus the number of bad ones. Pay $22 a year -- the price of about 4 magazines in Europe, if you're lucky -- and if there are a dozen good articles in the year you've paid less than $2 an article, which ain't too bad. But I'd rather see half a dozen good articles in every issue, even if the subscription went up to $30.

Cheers,

R.