Public Address | Cafe | Hard News: Killing Volume

Russell Brown

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:10:03 +1200

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…

Steve Withers

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:47:15 +1200

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

BigBadCorp

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:39:53 +1200

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 That balance is outdated for a modern media corporation.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…

Samuel Scott

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:56:30 +1200

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!

Samuel Scott

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:55:36 +1200

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…

Martin Lindberg

Tue, 01 May 2012 08:06:08 +1200

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…

Simon Grigg

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:20:08 +1200

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…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:56:24 +1200

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 [[http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Events/NZMusicMonth/#Events|extensive…

nzlemming

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:40:19 +1200

I'm thinking about how I handle this overnight.

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

Graham Dunster

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:18:14 +1200

Righto. Makes a change from the Banks circus.

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:07:09 +1200

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…

John Russell

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:58:39 +1200

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.…

Graham Dunster

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:49:46 +1200

[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]

Russell Brown

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:23:22 +1200

is that the Furtive Paul Rose?

I believe so! Welcome to the club, Paul!

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:17:03 +1200

...since early Rip It Up....
is that the Furtive Paul Rose?
if so – a big hi, haven't seen or heard of ya since the Hendrix tour....

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:09:42 +1200

Actually, that was Rich you're being mildly offended at.

Of course, apologies to Martin. But Rich deserves a right old spanking--and I mean that in a it-will-be-good-for-him way ;-)

Paul S Rose

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:55:37 +1200

What a shame, Volume is the best street music mag seen in Auckland since early Rip It Up. Popular too – The owner of a cafe on K Rd has been trying to catch whoever delivers a box of Real Groove magazines and dumps them on him every week. He…

Chris Waugh

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:55:10 +1200

- the only people who buy/read print magazines are those to old and/or stupid to work the internets

I object most strongly to that. I spend a lot of time online, but I also buy lots of print. For one thing it's nice to sit in a restaurant on one…

nzlemming

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:46:07 +1200

Actually, that was Rich you're being mildly offended at.

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:39:55 +1200

- the only people who buy/read print magazines are those to old and/or stupid to work the internets

We are incapable of doing both??

signed

Mildly Offended of Hamilton

Geoff Lealand

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:37:00 +1200

That said, I haven't bought a magazine for a year or more.

Magazines. I love them. Sight & Sound, Atlantic, Onfilm, The Word, North & South. et al There is something about a shiny magazine which iPad cannot muster. Don't get much time to read books, other than for reviewing.
A RNZ…

Russell Brown

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:09:45 +1200

That said, I haven't bought a magazine for a year or more.

We subscribe to Vanity Fair and the New Yorker — they arrive in the post 1-3 weeks after US publication. I can't recall what TNY costs, but we just renewed the Vanity Fair sub and its about NZ$5…

Simon Grigg

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:02:15 +1200

Yeah, I would. I haven't bought a physical book since I got an iPad

I use both. I have ebooks for travel (trains/planes), but have over the last year reverted to tactile for home, and never leave the house without a physical book in my bag.

That said, I haven't…

John Russell

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:57:38 +1200

I guess I don't buy as many magazines as I used to but this just silly. I don't believe that a computer is the end-all for media consumption. Would you apply the same reasoning to (physical) books as well?

Yeah, I would. I haven't bought a physical book since I…

Simon Grigg

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:54:07 +1200

That said, it has been suggested to me that the execution of ad sales could have been smarter, and that the healthy-looking sales didn't deliver as much revenue as they should have.

I was told something similar in the past few days – about the number of ads given away/heavily…

Martin Lindberg

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:39:49 +1200

- the only people who buy/read print magazines are those to old and/or stupid to work the internets

I guess I don't buy as many magazines as I used to but this just silly. I don't believe that a computer is the end-all for media consumption. Would you apply the…

Ian Dalziel

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:09:22 +1200

RIP (turn) It Up…
Good grief, how does APN think these things work?
I once found that PDF reader version of Volume, but it was very clunky and unfriendly, so I never returned.
Luckily free copies appear regularly at my local library (Shirley, Chch) or at Cosmic Corner so I…

Russell Brown

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:59:26 +1200

- the only people who buy/read print magazines are those to old and/or stupid to work the internets
– the recorded music industry is in decline and has shrinking ad budgets

Volume wasn't for sale — it's a free street mag — and it seemed to be well-read within its…

Alec Morgan

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:41:45 +1200

got the post on Volume.

Parkside media who cover the NZ petrolhead and gadget beat with print magazines and a bit of online had a perfectly serviceable local Mac publication that sold quite well at newstands but did not sell enough advertising for the owner, so was extinguished. Which was…

Rich of Observationz

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:26:25 +1200

It does strike me that:
– print publishing is a good way to lose money fast
– web publishing lets you lose money more slowly, depending on the scale of promotion, etc
– the only people who buy/read print magazines are those to old and/or stupid to work the internets…

Bill Bennett

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:24:36 +1200

It's hard not to come away from this wondering if the likes of APN, or for that matter Fairfax, have what it takes to survive in an online world.

Momentum only carries you so far, being able to hire decent journalists and give them something resembling a career path helps.…

Chip Matthews

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:58:18 +1200

Which I found to be quite a dis-engaging way to have the mag online. It may be me, perhaps I'm not interface friendly, but it just didn't sell the online version to me. Much better if it had been a proper dedicated site, with some then optionable web-only content etc.…

Russell Brown

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:53:57 +1200

I think they could have used FB more to drive traffic to their "real" site, wherever it might have been.

They did, but it wasn't a website so much as one of those PDF-viewer things.

TracyMac

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:14:22 +1200

I'm really disappointed at this. One of the best mags of its type I've ever seen, and if someone of my age with a more peripheral interest in today's acts could get something out of every issue, then they must be doing something right.

As for web presence, I couldn't…

Bart Janssen

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:08:37 +1200

Doesn't go to 11

3410

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:06:31 +1200

Pretty hopeless. I look at the nzherald.co.nz every day, and fairly closely, and have never seen anything on – or via – the site that was under the Volume banner. Truth be told, I'd already long forgotten that it even existed.

bob daktari

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:46:41 +1200

*sadface*

Simon Grigg

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:46:28 +1200

I guess this is the place for this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqXNINI-yxA

peter mclennan

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:44:40 +1200

The entertainment section of nzherald.co.nz is OVERFLOWING with unique local content from Volume mag – how APN failed to see that is beyond me. Take off the blinkers you stupid beancounters.

Public Address

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:44:40 +1200

Discussion from blog post.