Worth mentioning that many independent bloggers still value credibility and run lean enough operations where it's ok if they're making minimal income (or even zero income) by sticking to their guns.

Credibility is still a differentiating factor for some readers. Easy, free, one-person publishing makes it possible to sustain a readership without being just part of a marketing machine.

On the other hand hip-hop is broken (what is objectivity on the subject of hip-hop?) and so is advertising (nobody is served well by it) so what are we all doing here?

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 4:44 PM, Langston Sessoms <killopus@...> wrote:

If all the websites turn into marketing companies and all the marketing companies turn into websites wouldn't this be a problem?  What will happen to objectivity?

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 4:23 PM, Mike Street <streetforce1@...> wrote:

There has been a similar discussion about this about music and albums
being tools used, serviced, and created by big box brands like
Wal-mart. Green Label record label is a good example of this. It's
basically a record label fronted by Mountain Dew. They support artist
that fit within their brand identity and model and use them as tools
to market soda. So I'm sure this is going to happen a lot more.

I wrote this blog post on what urban mags and do to same themselves.
http://greasyguide.com/2009/07/01/5-things-urban-magazines-can-do-to-save-themselves/

And my #5 suggestion is to go Free and corporate.
Why not make the magazines 100% free. Reduce the pages and sell ads on
the sheer volume of people picking up the free magazine to read it.
Then distribute the magazine via places like Wal-Mart, Target, or Foot
Locker and people can get the magazine free with purchace or just for
visiting the store.

This trend WILL happen across other brands and outlets of content.
Urban blogs should start mapping out their marketing services.
Advertorials, full scale coverage, video package creation, and sell
that as a premium service. But you can't stop there you have to show
ROI. One thing missing from this space is case studies and lots of
data on how these programs are increasing reach and revenue. Urban
blogs have to be a bit more diligent in being included in research
reports, surveys, and data reports.

On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 4:01 PM, Hashim Warren<hashimwarren@...> wrote:
>
>
> Peep: http://cantstopwontstop.com/blog/the-future-of-magazines/
>
> Jeff Chang reposted a Twitter conversation he had about the death of Vibe
> and the future of magazines.
>
> One part of the convo struck me:
>
>>
>> Raymond Leon Roker at 11:32am July 1
>> The ways us smaller print brands have a chance is to become boutique
>> agencies. Filter, Cornerstone/Fader, BPM, et al, everybody is in the agency
>> game. The magazines become the branded company pitch ... But IMO, the only
>> way they will is by becoming media marketing companies instead. Ones where
>> content and marketing blur (hello ASME). But the standalone magazine model
>> died years ago.
>
> I don't agree with everything Raymond wrote, but I do see the trend of mags
> becoming, or being launched by agencies.
>
> Expect to see the same happen online. As advertisers start spending money on
> their own web efforts instead of web advertising, publishers will be forced
> to morph into marketers to survive. This will be especially stark in hip-hop
> online because the artists have already gone direct, and want to compete
> with websites for attention, influence, and ad dollars.
>
> As we discussed last week, hip-hop sites should consider offering their own
> marketing services, in order to jump ahead of this trend. Because when you
> have Rocawear's new site running Pantene ads, you know your business model
> is in trouble.
>
> ---
> Hashim Warren
>
>

--
____
Get Social:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/greasyguide

http://facebook.com/mikestreet

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/streetforce1

My Sites:

Now72.com - GreasyGuide.com - HarlemFoodie.com