A key challenge for independent niche magazines is reaching their specialist audience cost effectively. Newsstand is wasteful, direct mail is expensive, and optimising a website is a slow process.
The latest Media Pioneer, world music publisher Songlines, has taken a different route. They are reaching out to new world music fans internationally through a strong relationship with Amazon (and latterly iTunes). This approach of partnering with specialist online retailers could be valuable in other specialist markets.
Songlines creates a free digital sampler for each issue of the magazine; a simple page turner with snippets on artists, video clips, audio samples of their tracks and links to buy the album on Amazon. This generates a small income from commission on album sales, but the clever part is that Amazon includes links to the sampler from all its world music product pages, driving up to 1,000 clicks a day. Combined with the extra circulation by specialist record labels to their own email customer lists, this means each digital sampler is viewed by about 50,000 people; all proven buyers of world music. Publisher Paul Geoghegan is convinced that this sampler has been a key driver of subscriptions, both to the digital version of Songlines and its print edition. It has also helped Songlines extend its international reach: US and German editions of the sampler are tailored to quote prices in local currency and link to the local versions of the Amazon site.
Songlines also created a digital edition, which has a separate price of £19.75, and includes some exclusive bonus tracks. Print subscribers get a discount if they purchase both versions.
They are now developing a relationship with iTunes along similar lines; users of the Songlines app can click through to buy tracks.
Read more about Songlines’ story on the show site.
The Media Pioneer Awards were established by the organisers of the Specialist Media Show to celebrate innovative and entrepreneurial activity from specialist media across print, digital and events. Winners will be announced at the Specialist Media Show on 25 May 2011.
If you would like to nominate your business as a Media Pioneer please contact carolyn@thespecialistmediashow.com with more details.
