When Dennis Publishing launched Maxim in the U.S. four years ago, it changed utterly the face of men’s magazines, reviving the idea of a mass-market men’s title and forcing competitors like GQ and Esquire to rethink their strategies.
     Now the upstart company is hoping it can do the same to the world of music magazines, shaking up the cozy niche inhabited by Rolling Stone, Spin and others.
     In late April or early May, Dennis will publish the first issue of Blender, a "general interest music magazine" that will cover the musical arena from rock to hip hop to electronica with the cheeky attitude of Maxim. 
    The magazine will have an initial rate base of 400,000.
Dennis, which announced the launch yesterday, has hired as editor in chief Andy Pemberton, former editor of the British music magazine Q. Blender’s publisher is Malcolm Campbell, who left Spin last October after 11 years as publisher.
     "There’s definitely a gap in the market in America," says Pemberton, who left Q in August.
     Wenner Media’s 1.25-million circulation Rolling Stone is a great magazine, Pemberton says, but it has lost touch somewhat with the current generation. Says he: "It’s quite an old magazine, and you could say it’s growing a bit of a beard."
    Miller Publishing’s 525,000-circulation Spin, on the other hand, is "aloof and a bit cool. I don’t feel cool enough to read Spin. And I can assure you I’m a pretty cool guy."
     That Rolling Stone and Spin are failing to satisfy a wide swath of music fans has been argued before, notably when Harris Publications launched Revolver last May.
    In fact, in December, Dennis was reported to be in negotiations to buy Revolver. Publisher Dennis Page denied at the time that any talks had taken place but now says they were held "on the most minimal scale imaginable."
    "[Dennis executives] were just kicking the tires. I don’t believe they were ever really interested," he says.
    In any case, Page doubts whether the music category can support another title.
    The crowding, he says, is already such that Revolver has had difficulty gathering circulation. The magazine’s rate base has remained at 150,000 since it launched, and there are no plans to raise it.
    "It’s a tough field out there," he says.
     But others believe Blender may be able to carve out a niche for itself, despite the abundance of titles already on the market.
     "No matter how crowded the field, there’s always room for a quality magazine," says Bob Guccione Jr., editor and publisher of Gear magazine. Guccione is familiar with the music category, having founded Spin in 1985 and sold it in 1997.
      He praises Dennis owner Felix Dennis and president Stephen Colvin as highly intelligent magazine executives who know their target audience of young men exceptionally well.
      What Guccione sees as cause for doubt is the timing of the venture.
     "Music itself right now is so formulaic, so much pabulum, so homogenized by MTV. It’s a matter of whether the culture is stimulated enough to care."
    Whether or not Blender finds its audience, Dennis will accomplish at least one of its objectives in launching the magazine: Keeping Emap USA from entering the market unopposed.
    Publisher of Maxim rival FHM here in the U.S., Emap’s British unit owns well-regarded music magazines Q and Mojo. 
    The company is reportedly looking into launching an American version of one of these titles, and is said to be in talks with Robert Miller about buying Spin and Vibe.
    Both Q and Mojo are considered by many music fans to be superior to American music magazines. Pemberton suggests that British magazines, which rely much more heavily on newsstand sales for their circulation, are more skilled at appealing directly to readers. It is in part this directness, he says, that has made Maxim such a success in the U.S.
    Guccione believes that an American edition of Q could have an effect on the music category similar to the one Maxim has had on the men’s segment. 
    He says that a print extension of the MTV cable music network could also have such an impact. MTV parent Viacom is reportedly in talks with Hachette Filipacchi Magazines and others about producing such a magazine.

-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.

Printer-Friendly Version |  Send to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact Us

© 2001 Media Life