i’ll tell you why print media is dying…

of course the title is referring to actual paper shit…

…not online print stuff like this. we gonna live forever!

but seriously. i’ve been off and on with rolling stone magazine for years. i do love their publication. it ranks as my top toilet read, even above my phone most of the time. and i understand that advertising dollars are getting be slim pickins compared to how it used to be. and now, in addition to competing with radio and tv there’s online shit and social media and tons of other competition where most people feel their advertising dollars are better utilized – plus, you now have to keep pace with all of it with your own daily updated content that you feel needs to be different than the magazine (it doesn’t – just cherry pick some trump shit out of the latest issue…most folks are just gonna read your feed anyway versus the hour or so it takes to pour over your latest deep dive into his bullshit) or here’s a tip – do it my way!

flashbacks and throwbacks rule!

“twenty-six years ago today this article hit news stands…” – BAM! instant, already paid for, content. and who wouldn’t like to read about how back in ’94* we laugh at the rolling stones touring in their older years, but we won’t be laughing so much when mick jagger’s aging ass is replaced at the mic by our rock gods like kurt cobain from nirvana or lane staley from alice in chains or scott weiland from stone temple pilots or chris cornell from soundgarden…

…oops.

but just ’cause it’s starting to cost more doesn’t mean anybody’s gonna put up with THIS bullshit:

i swear my last renewal was thirty bucks – now it’s TRIPLE that? are you fucking serious? here’s the real comedy – i think the magazine costs eight bucks at the news stand. that’s ninety six per year if i just buy the fucker when it comes out…i’m at the store a couple times a week – it’s really not that much of an inconvenience. at then, if the issue doesn’t seem good, i can just track a couple of the new albums you review for free on apple music and call it good. it’s win-win for me. shit, even the rep i called there told me to just wait a month after my subscription lapses for my inevitable “we miss you – come back and save all this money on your subscription” mailing.

and that’s another problem – it’s a mailing.

don’t get me wrong – i like the magazine. it’s nice to hold a tangible good in your hand…the only problem being i’m a librarian’s kid so i tend to catalog (i.e. “horde”) such things versus throw then away. but the subscription offer should come via EMAIL, not MAIL mail. save the postage and the paper and the MONEY, and pass the savings on to those of us you’re trying to win back.

it just might work – but not at ninety bucks a year.

* – it should be noted that i wanted to double check and make sure what 90’s stones tour predated the suicides or overdoses of all of the aforementioned grunge gods so i googled the year and, to my surprise, had a rolling stones article pop which contains a link to subscribe for fifty bucks, or sixty if i want the print and all the digital media platforms…where did they get the ninety they charged me?