The Media Pioneer awards have been set up by the Specialist Media Show, in association with InPublishing, to recognise innovative and entrepreneurial activity by specialist media owners, and inspire other print and digital publishers, and event organisers. Fifteen nominations were featured on the show website, and the four overall winners were selected by James Evelegh of InPublishing and presented with their awards at the show on 25 May. In the last of a series of articles, we provide more detail on the winners’ stories.
If you know an innovative specialist media business that deserves to be nominated for the 2011 Media Pioneer awards, just contact Carolyn Morgan for more details.
Classic Rock Album Club
Classic Rock Magazine, published by Future, has an established base of 18,000 subscribers, and wanted to bring them closer to the magazine.
They launched the Classic Rock Album Club using a service provided by TellJack, which allows members to listen to and review new tracks a short time before their official release. The fee is £3 a month, and a 30 day free trial is offered. Users download an application to their PC, and can then listen to a range of tracks. They can click to buy the album on Amazon or post a review.
The service was launched in November 2009, and already has 3,500 members. Record companies are keen to provide content as the members are likely to be influential and help promote the sales of the tracks featured. Subscribers pay the same rate to join the club as ordinary club members but receive some bonus tracks in addition.
The Classic Rock Album Club has been promoted solely through internal media – magazine, website, weekly newsletter and associated events.
Chris Ingham, Publisher, comments, “The club is helping readers get closer to the magazine, and their reviews are often featured in the magazine or the website. We’re pleased with the take-up as we have only marketed using our own media.”
