Is there something going on w Modern Drummer? Subscription Issues

Supraman5x14 said:
This is the latest excuse-laiden email I received a few days ago:

"I apologize for this situation but I have to let you know that the whole world is having a lack of paper production, which we use to print our magazine, for that reason, we are behind in our printed publications almost 4 months. In addition, the price of our raw materials and manufacturing supplies has increased by 400% and we have been forced to change our prices, as printing and paper costs have increased to the point where a Print Only subscription does not cover our manufacturing or shipping costs, So, we had no choice but to stop sending subscribers to the United States and Canada after the July 2021 issue. That said, you can choose to have a digital subscription or request a refund for your remaining printing issues.

Thank you for your understanding and patience."

I have asked for digital access, but no reply yet.
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OMG! If that's the case with having the digital copy only, then remove the print and digital option from your home page!!!!
My girlfriend (who bought me a 1 yr. subscription in 2020) have both sent emails and I sent a message via Facebook with no replies!
She was billed for an extra year on her Visa Card which she never asked for, and was reimbursed. I only received 6 issues out of one year and now my account has been closed! Since Ron Spagnardi passed Modern Drummer Magazine has gone for a shit.
 
Just put yourself out of the misery and accept the fact that you’ll never get Modern Drummer as a print magazine ever again. As has been said, it’s not just MD, it’s every magazine in existence fighting to stay alive. You can’t blame the publishers - blame the human race for accessing everything via digital devices. When a significant portion of the population runs away from print media, complain all you want, but magazines will all eventually die. Accept it and move on.

I haven’t owned a copy of MD for over 20 years now and it seriously de-cluttered my drumming life.
 
Bo Eder said:
When a significant portion of the population runs away from print media, complain all you want, but magazines will all eventually die.
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True, but the complaint is that MD has been silent and apparently not making an effort to satisfy the people who have paid for the halted subscriptions.
 
bermuda said:
True, but the complaint is that MD has been silent and apparently not making an effort to satisfy the people who have paid for the halted subscriptions.
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We're lucky if Time magazine gets in touch with anybody. MD, being such a smaller publication, is just dying the slow death.
 
Bo Eder said:
We're lucky if Time magazine gets in touch with anybody. MD, being such a smaller publication, is just dying the slow death.
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It’s a bummer too. I got turned onto MD sometime in 1986 and getting it was a favorite ritual of mine as a kid. I’d always be checking my local shop for the next issue. And when it landed, it was like I won something. Once I got home, I went straight to my room and read it cover to cover. Then I’d keep picking it up to revisit for days before filing it away in a box.

MD introduced me to drummers, bands, gear, techniques, patterns, music and ideas that I may not have discovered on my own.
 
incrementalg said:
It’s a bummer too. I got turned onto MD sometime in 1986 and getting it was a favorite ritual of mine as a kid. I’d always be checking my local shop for the next issue. And when it landed, it was like I won something. Once I got home, I went straight to my room and read it cover to cover. Then I’d keep picking it up to revisit for days before filing it away in a box.

MD introduced me to drummers, bands, gear, techniques, patterns, music and ideas that I may not have discovered on my own.
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True. I’ve been reading it since 1978 and for the next 30 years it was the only way I’d get drumming info since I was too young to go out to concerts or musician hangs. But things change and we just gotta roll with it. The way the internet is, right or wrong, it has made print magazines useless now. There are some things I like to remain as physical things, but I don’t think magazines are one of them. They’re just reminders of where you were at that time, and we always move forward.
 
Bo Eder said:
True. I’ve been reading it since 1978 and for the next 30 years it was the only way I’d get drumming info since I was too young to go out to concerts or musician hangs. But things change and we just gotta roll with it. The way the internet is, right or wrong, it has made print magazines useless now. There are some things I like to remain as physical things, but I don’t think magazines are one of them. They’re just reminders of where you were at that time, and we always move forward.
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For me, and many I think, the internet is for quick info and short clickbait type articles. Long form things seem wrong there. I think the death of paper magazines also means the death of real articles and interviews. The lack of curation also means we're more on our own to have a question about something and search for an answer, as opposed to having the editors curate limited content and push it to us. For those of us who are out of the loop, this is a real bummer.
 
Mastiff said:
I think the death of paper magazines also means the death of real articles and interviews.
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It certainly doesn't have to, and there are alluring aspects of moving online such as podcasts, interactive interviews, audio and video presentations and instruction, tuning demos, repair demos, etc. Being online offers the opportunity to post and update content fairly immediately, and keep it archived and accessible anytime, almost anywhere. Advertisers have been producing nice video ads for a while, and an online "magazine" is ideal for that. Online is not the enemy.

And the problem is not that MD seems to be halting their print issues... it's that they're being elusive and not taking care of their loyal subscribers.
 
bermuda said:
It certainly doesn't have to, and there are alluring aspects of moving online such as podcasts, interactive interviews, audio and video presentations and instruction, tuning demos, repair demos, etc. Being online offers the opportunity to post and update content fairly immediately, and keep it archived and accessible anytime, almost anywhere. Advertisers have been producing nice video ads for a while, and an online "magazine" is ideal for that. Online is not the enemy.

And the problem is not that MD seems to be halting their print issues... it's that they're being elusive and not taking care of their loyal subscribers.
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>> And the problem is not that MD seems to be halting their print issues... it's that they're being elusive and not taking care of their loyal subscribers.
Absolutely, 💯
 
bermuda said:
It certainly doesn't have to, ...
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Definitely, but I think it's the nature of the medium. People staring at tiny phone screens prefer certain kinds of content, and publishers will cater to that. And the fact that there is no significant limit on content equivalent to page limits in print media means that publishers will have a hard time resisting the "fire hose" approach. The result is that I go to MD.com and have to search through endless, mostly low quality content.

Maybe it won't turn out that way. I admit I have not ever paid for a digital magazine. My eyes hurt after 9 hour on screens during the work day.
 
Mastiff said:
People staring at tiny phone screens prefer certain kinds of content, and publishers will cater to that.
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That's fine - give the people what they want. And if the result is that the print side diminishes, that shouldn't be a surprise. But the publisher also has a responsibility to its paid subscribers, and it's clearly lacking. That's the real problem here. I don't fault them for having to change with the times, I fault them for leaving their supporters out in the cold.
 
Well, I can still gripe that other people don't want what I want, and therefore the market no longer produces it. I can't fault MD for that, but I can complain like a grumpy old man... ;)
 
Mastiff said:
For me, and many I think, the internet is for quick info and short clickbait type articles. Long form things seem wrong there.
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This isn’t even remotely true for me. It just depends where you look. There’s no better place than the internet to find peer reviewed research. I also read lengthy articles for entertainment all the time. Of course social media and get-paid-per-click websites don’t have quality literature. That stuff is like the modern day tabloids except everyone is buying it.
 
NackAttack said:
This isn’t even remotely true for me. It just depends where you look. There’s no better place than the internet to find peer reviewed research.
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Funny. I look up research papers for work, but if I find one I really need to dig into, I typically print it out...
 
Mastiff said:
Funny. I look up research papers for work, but if I find one I really need to dig into, I typically print it out...
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Different strokes I guess. I read a lot. I bought an e-reader and rarely crack books anymore. Just wrapped up my master’s degree in December and only purchased about 3 printed books throughout the entire process. I do know some other people that print things out in the same context you mentioned though.

I think the lesson here is that MD has failed (or is failing?) this hybrid digital/print age we find ourselves in. Plenty of mags have maintained or even thrived throughout the transition.
 
NackAttack said:
I think the lesson here is that MD has failed (or is failing?) this hybrid digital/print age we find ourselves in. Plenty of mags have maintained or even thrived throughout the transition.
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I believe MD has had a respectable online presence for a while. The problem is that they're leaving their subscribers out in the cold with little communication about what's next (such as a refund for the un-printed magazines.) Ron S. would never have handled things this way.
 
bermuda said:
I believe MD has had a respectable online presence for a while. The problem is that they're leaving their subscribers out in the cold with little communication about what's next (such as a refund for the un-printed magazines.) Ron S. would never have handled things this way.
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It was a little annoying to see MD doing live artist interviews on social media when subscribers were like “Hey…over here…can we get your attention for just a minute?”
 
Good evening Ian,

According to the deadline, the first issue corresponding to subscription # ******* should be the December 2021 issue which is in the printing process and will be sent as soon as we can. I apologize for the situation but I need to let you know that the whole world is having a lack of paper production, the one that we use to print our magazine, for that reason, we are behind in our printing publications almost 4 months. We are working on it to solve this situation as soon as possible.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for being part of the Modern Drummer family.

Sincerely,

Lady Aranzazu
Customer Support Agent
That's the reply I recently received. 120 bucks for digital is alot of money I figure
 
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