Magazine Industry Doesn’t Want To Follow In The Footsteps Of The Music Industry

Unlike the music industry that ceded much of its control to giants like Apple and its iTunes store, the magazine industry seems determined to control its own destiny (see TechCrunch story here). A group of major magazine publishers is attempting to reformat their products for an electronic reader world, and to create their own app store for magazines. Think of each magazine title as an app. An electronic reader platform would help redefine wonderful new possibilities for what it means to be a magazine (see The Magazine Reborn).

The main impetus behind this joint effort – beyond simple survival – is to make sure they own the strategic transactional data that would be produced through a successful venture. They understand that in today’s marketing environment, data forms the base of the pyramid for successful revenue growth and profits. Simply offering their magazines through third parties such as Apple would rob them of that all-important resource.

While it is easy to understand the independent stance of these publishers in going it on their own, it will be difficult for them to create a size presence anywhere near the exposure they would get through a channel such as iTunes. In addition, magazines are NOT apps. One of the things that has rocketed apps to such popularity is that people can buy a lot of utility or entertainment for a ridiculously low one-time price. Trying to create a subscription model online at anywhere near the cost of the previous print versions, is going to face substantial price resistance.

I don’t know where all of this will play out, but it will be interesting to see what is happening in a few years when the dust settles. I think it is a foregone conclusion there will be magazine or magazine-type products, but it also seems reasonable to assume that these will be in a digital format. There is so much more you can do with the product and the data you gain from it in a digital form. And, as I’ve said before, it is a lot faster and cheaper to ship electrons than physical products.

In addition, it will require all these individual publishers to play nice in the sand together. Something tells me that is going to be tough to accomplish.