Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Killing Volume

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  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ian Dalziel,

    is that the Furtive Paul Rose?

    I believe so! Welcome to the club, Paul!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Graham Dunster,

    [Sorry Graham -- had to delete Keith Hunter's letter from this comment.

    This isn't an appropriate place to paste in something so long, off-topic and legally delicate. I'm interested in what Keith is doing, but I'm thinking about how I handle this overnight.

    Cheers,
    RB]

    Auckland • Since Nov 2009 • 184 posts Report

  • John Russell, in reply to Chris Waugh,

    There's a simple aesthetic pleasure about the tactile and olfactory experience of dead trees in hand that no amount or gadgetry can ever match.

    Replace "dead trees" with "vinyl records" here, and this is exactly the sort of response I was speaking of earlier when I talked about niche markets.

    Secondly, gadgets break, power goes out, batteries go flat. Those who are now dependent on all the fancy new technology are setting themselves up for a hell of a shock. High tech is good, but sometimes old tech and low tech are best tech.

    It is true that when society collapses and we regress to a hunter/gatherer pseudo-civilisation, I am going to find it quite difficult to read even the Project Gutenberg collection.

    Auckland • Since Aug 2008 • 17 posts Report

  • Rich of Observationz, in reply to Martin Lindberg,

    I don't believe that a computer is the end-all for media consumption

    Ok, so I was exaggerating for effect. (Having just got a Kindle I think I'll be buying real books for a while yet).

    But I don't think it's really disputed that magazine revenues (sales/advertising) have been suffering, and that the younger end of the market (which I don't fit into) have the most alternative calls on their eyeballs.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report

  • Graham Dunster, in reply to Graham Dunster,

    Righto. Makes a change from the Banks circus.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2009 • 184 posts Report

  • nzlemming, in reply to Graham Dunster,

    I'm thinking about how I handle this overnight.

    I can't be the only one looking forward to the morning, then ;-)

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to nzlemming,

    Mayed in New Zealand...

    ..looking forward to the morning...

    and in the afternoon of May the 1st those of us who are in Chchch can attend the NZ Music Month launch - 5.30pm at the Rakaia Centre, at Chchch Polytech (Madras st)
    The Chchch libraries as always have an extensive series of events.
    for other events round the country check out the NZ Music month site.

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg, in reply to John Russell,

    Replace "dead trees" with "vinyl records" here, and this is exactly the sort of response I was speaking of earlier when I talked about niche markets.

    Vinyl is the only format with growth in the music market these days. It may be a niche but it's an expanding one. Will it ever become dominant again? No, of course not, but I think vinyl may well survive the dying optical disc formats.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • Martin Lindberg, in reply to Rich of Observationz,

    Ok, so I was exaggerating for effect. (Having just got a Kindle I think I'll be buying real books for a while yet).

    Likewise. Happy to buy and read on my Kindle, but then what do you do with the book? I can't give the book away or lend it to someone else to read. Neither am I convinced that the ebook format-wars are over. Sure, I can de-DRM and format-shift using Calibre, but that's still not all that straight-forward.

    Besides, I spend nearly all my day in front of a screen one way or another. Picking up a physical book is an escape from that.

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report

  • Samuel Scott,

    ARGH! I am coming to this story really late but it's really annoying. Being outside AK meant I had no access to Volume other than twitter and FB. I found the Herald page almost like some sort of practical joke!

    Well, I hope they make good use of Sam over at Herald entertainment, he is a smart dude. I think Hugh Sundae has done a great job of their online, just awesome, so I guess not all is lost....buuuuuut as a gigging musician I really do think we need street press.

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report

  • Samuel Scott,

    And what happened with that Homebrew Volume video today? I saw some tweets about someone at the Herald getting fired for being in it? I want to see it!

    South Wellington • Since Feb 2008 • 315 posts Report

  • BigBadCorp,

    From someone who has consulted to APN, I can tell you they have hundreds of journalists, printers and sales people but comparatively few designers, developers or do-ers. That balance is outdated for a modern media corporation.

    Also corporation is the word. Those at the top of the pyramid, call the shots and clearly put things out of their misery before applying any lessons. It's not hard to set up a digital presence these days unless your're an old fart who doesn't know a pixel from a peach.

    There are some talented people there all they way from content creators to marketing mavens and product people. But they're all kept on a tight leash by the financial book keepers who quickly kill off new ideas and generally yearn for yesterday.

    Since May 2012 • 1 posts Report

  • Steve Withers, in reply to 3410,

    Same here. I've never heard of "Volume" until today.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Samuel Scott,

    And what happened with that Homebrew Volume video today? I saw some tweets about someone at the Herald getting fired for being in it? I want to see it!

    For comedic purposes in the video, Tom opened a NSFW website on an editorial computer. It was momentary and you couldn't really see the screen, but someone in HR found out days after the video went up, freaked out and threatened a longtime editorial staff member, a good guy, with dismissal. Then they started freaking out about the contents of the final issue and it appeared that it might be pulped and never distributed.

    A few wiser heads -- think high-up at the Herald -- seem to have succeeded in calming things down and the Home Brew "takeover" issue (which is very funny) did reach the streets, if a little late.

    A lot of people at APN at very jumpy at the moment because the company is looking at divesting some of its NZ assets -- and that may have had an impact on the timing of the Volume closure. On the other hand, I get the impression that people there have been very surprised to discover how strong a brand Volume had established in less than a year. APN really should have done a lot better with what it had there.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

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