Music Mix

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, June 1, 2001 by Susan Thea Posnock

Dennis Publishing's music magazine takes a variety of genres and fuses them all into one Blender.

The creators of the new music title from British import Dennis Publishing are hoping readers will reach for the magazine before they reach for the music.

"If you're about to buy a music CD, the idea is you buy Blender first and we'll give you the best coverage and reviews," says Andy Pemberton, editor in chief. Pemberton is the former editor of Q, a U.K.-based music title published by Emap.

Launched as a quarterly with the June/July issue, Blender reaches across music predilections to provide an eclectic sampling of everything from hip hop to heavy metal. And it's doing so with the now-famous Dennis "attitude" that has taken magazines like Maxim and Stuff to the tops of the charts. The company awakened the men's category--will it have another hit in the music sector?

It won't be easy. Blender is launching during a particularly tough advertising climate, in a category that hasn't fared well in the first quarter of the year: Rolling Stone's ad pages dropped from about 367 for the first three months of 2000 to 259 for the same period this year, according to the latest Publisher's Information Bureau report. Spin dropped from about 229 to 194; The Source came up flat, with around 349 pages in the first quarter of 2001, compared to about 351 in 2000; while Vibe fell from around 234 for February and March of 2000 to 175 for the same period in 2001.

But Pemberton remains undaunted. Readers are ready for a title like Blender, he says. "It's been long overdue for a music magazine with a bit more attitude to come to the marketplace. We're looking forward to seeing how American music lovers take to it."

A near-naked Janet Jackson adorns the cover of the premier issue. But Blender is not all Maxim-esque irreverence and bawdy humor--Pemberton. says each issue will be packed with information. The first issue lists 206 CD reviews, accounting for about a third of the editorial content. Articles include a feature on the hip-hop DJ Clue and, at the opposite end of the music spectrum, country artist Tim McGraw. "It's a very broad collection of features," notes Pemberton.

A rapid ramp-up

Blender, which launches with a distribution of 400,000 and a ratebase of 250,000, will target men in their twenties--who, Pemberton says, are the ones who buy the most CDs.

It will go head-to-head for advertisers and readers against mainstays such as Rolling Stone and Spin, as well as more genre-specific music magazines like Vibe and The Source, says publisher Malcolm Campbell, who was formerly the publisher of Spin. In true Dennis style, Campbell expects the magazine will pummel the competition. "Dennis doesn't really do anything in a small way, so I would expect us to ramp this thing up fairly quickly," he says.

While the company has a history of smash hits on the circulation side, Campbell says Blender will probably be more dependent on ad revenues to start. The magazine packs about 45 ad pages in its launch issue, including advertising from the fashion, auto, music and alcohol sectors. Launch sponsors include Absolut, Kodak, Ben Sherman, Ford and Sony.

"There's a crossover relationship between music and fashion," says Vince Gonzales, vice president of sales and marketing for Ben Sherman USA. "We use music as just another angle to educate the consumer," he says. The clothing company has a spread in the premier issue and has committed to future editions. "It's only natural that we try to be part of something that we feel is going to be big. We like the concept and we think it hits our target market," he says.

Niche-less success?

Critics point out that a general-interest music magazine may be a tough sell in today's niche-oriented magazine market. Can a magazine that throws a wide net really win reader loyalty? "I have a lot of questions about this notion of a general-interest music magazine, the British model of 'all things to all people' coverage," says Spin editor in chief Alan Light. "I have a hard time imagining that translating in this marketplace."

The American music industry is much larger and more fragmented than the market in the United Kingdom, says Light. "If you're trying to do everything, what's the center of that? What's the thing they're coming to you for?" he asks.

However, being niche specific isn't exactly a sure-fire formula, as evidenced by Revolution. A digital music and technology magazine launched by Imagine Media last July, Revolution never saw it's first birthday.

And the general consensus is, if anyone has a shot at making a general-interest music magazine work in this environment, it's Dennis. "It could prove to be very intriguing," says Melissa Pordy, senior vice president/director of print media for Zenith Media, which placed Kahlua in the premier issue of Blender. "Dennis has struck platinum with its formula, so it will be interesting to see what they put forth."

Pemberton is confident that readers are indeed thirsty for the mix Blender is spinning together--that the balance of information and entertainment will be the draw. "The one guiding principle we have is that we're doing it for the readers," he says. "If you buy a CD, we're interested in you, we'll make your life easier, we'll entertain you, we'll make you laugh--and that's what it's all about." There will be depth of coverage, he adds, but the magazine won't take itself too seriously. "It's about the music, but we're not geekish about it. We're not going to say, 'this is the most important magazine in the world.'