Jewish music Magazine idea?

[Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

Gideon:

Getting to the idea of a Jewish music magazine.....in general I'm wanting
to grow Jewish resources on the web...this may be an unpopular position,
but I personally think in terms of a non-academic orientation, a web
magazine would do just fine... instead of print. less cost to produce.
(possibly?) and not dealing with mailing problems and all that....and can
reach a very wide audience.  I also like the idea of interactivity that
could eventually be worked in....

Personally, I've cut way back on print subscriptions in recent years. I'm
much more selective nowadays. Although there is obviously a place for print
magazines in the home, one tends to get inundated. And not have the time to
properly devote to any.....for right now, some people may feel a web
magazine is too selective an audience, but that audience will only continue
to grow in the coming years. If there was a Jewish music print magazine,
I'd likely subscribe (or even contribute occasionally), but I'd still
prefer the web.

I like the idea of starting with reviews, both of recordings AND live
performances would be nice... and then feature articles about people doing
the music. news, information and a calendar are all features I'd like to
see, which is why the web would work really well. discussion of performance
techniques, trials and tribulations might be a fun column to read also.
There are a lot of people who would know how to keep it "hip" or "cool" or
whatever the word today is for young people.
Judy


At 03:22 PM 7/14/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Robert raises an interesting question regarding a print Jewish music 
>magazine.  Should it seek to be mass market or should it focus on the much 
>more limitted market of musicians who play, and organizations/companies that 
>promote, Jewish music?
>
>To some extent this is a marketing question.  If we want to create a broader 
>audience for Jewish music, we need to grab people with something they 
>recognize or something that will catch their attention.  This argues for 
>including celebrity profiles even if they may be secondary to core Jewish 
>music.  Barbara Streisand, the Beastie Boys, Dylan, etc would help sell 
>magazines in a store like Borders.  These features need not be total fluff, 
>but could involve serious discussions with popular artists on their Jewish 
>backgrounds and the impact of their Jewishness on their music. 
>
>However, every piece on Kenny G's Jewish heritage takes away space from the 
>coverage of new liturgical music, traditional Klezmer, etc.  Also, these 
>pieces open up the danger of diluting people's definition of Jewish music to 
>a point where the music becomes an ethnic name game.  So, a nice small niche 
>publication might, as Robert says, be a better starting point rather than 
>seeking to expand.
>
>My question for the list is has anyone tried to estimate how small a niche
we 
>really are discussing?  Is it large enough to support this type of print 
>publication?  I have some doubts if the examples of Davka or Pakn Treger 
>(both Jewish niche publications) are any indication.  Davka has become the 
>webzine Tattoo Jew and I am not sure what is happening with Pakn Treger
since 
>it hasn't made it to Washington DC recently.
>
>Gideon
>
>
>

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