Goldmine changes
Jeff Tamarkin
Someone has been sending me the posts in this group about the changes at
Goldmine and I've enjoyed reading all of the speculation on why I'm
leaving. Some of you are close but the reasons aren't cut and dried. In
a nutshell, Marc Wielage is closest to the real reason: After doing this
for 15 years, the job has become stale for me. It's also completely
taken over my life. In the past couple of years I've worked anywhere
from 80 to 100 hours a week putting out Goldmine. The editorial staff
consists of exactly two people, myself and managing editor Bonni Miller,
and to say we are both considerably overworked would be a minor
understatement. This year alone, I've had a lot of new chores thrown my
way, including maintaining the aticles that go on the magazine's Web
site, editing two new columns and writing my own, and just a lot of
little stuff that isn't worth getting into here but which adds up. As
Marc stated, my wife and I are expecting our first kid next month, and I
want to be able to watch this child grow up, not leave him playing by
himself in another room while I'm chained to the computer from 9 AM to
midnight seven days a week. So that's the MAIN reason I'm leaving now.
However, there is no denying that a lot of changes are taking place at
Goldmine and you are all correct in your assumptions that I do not agree
with many of them. The management of the magazine cares about only one
thing, making money. I cared about only one thing in my 15 years,
presenting well-written music journalism that appealed to hardcore
music fans first and collectors second. Those two goals often clashed
and I never did see eye to eye with the current publisher, Greg
Loescher, since he took over the job about five years ago. I never felt
he "got" what I was trying to do. He is very much an
advertising-directed manager. He will do anything to please an
advertiser, which, being a publisher, probably makes sense to him.
However, in doing so, he often had to push editorial concerns aside and
that's where our conflicts arose. To put it in a nutshell, I just got
tired of arguing, tired of defending what I do and tired of listening
to him suggest ways I could be doing better even though the readers
have overwhelmingly supported me. In all these years I've gotten
literally thousands of letters and calls and e-mails from readers, and I
have to say that 98% of them have been supportive. But that means
nothing to the guy who holds the purse strings--he always felt he had a
better way of doing things. So I finally had to just say, OK, then you
do it, I'm out of here. That's the REAL reason this is all coming down.
My decision really had very little to do with whether Goldmine covered
'50s, '60s, '40s or '90s music. I always went by the idea that if
someone out there collects it, then it's worth covering. It had nothing
to do with my personal taste. I despise rap music but I felt that rap
was becoming collectible and deserved a cover. I also have no use for
Blue Oyster Cult, but I felt they deserved a cover. If I went by my own
personal taste, you'd see an incredibly wide variety of even weirder
people in the magazine than you do now, but I knew that a Trini Lopez
cover story wouldn't exactly jump off the shelf so I restrained myself.
To me, that mix of music (current issue has Small Faces, Wayne
Newton, Bobby Hebb and an obscure hard rock group called Granicus, for
example) was what made Goldmine a success. It's impossible to please
every reader in every issue, so I didn't try. If you just like '50s or
just '60s, there are fanzines for that.
Goldmine is not a fanzine, it's a magazine for collectors. And whether
you or I like it, the typical record collector of 1996 is not the same
as it was in 1976. It may be hard for those of us in our 40s to
understand why someone would devote their life to collecting grunge
records or heavy metal or whatever, but they do, and the shocking truth
is that there are now way more of them than there are of us. This stuff
wasn't done in a vacuum--if I didn't KNOW there was an audience for
modern music, Goldmine would have stayed an "oldies" magazine. It also
would have died years ago because there aren't that many of us buying
the thing. People in their 50s don't buy music magazines. We do reader
surveys a few times a year and with each one you can see the shift
happening. You know what percentage of Goldmine readers now collects
Elvis? Less than 5%. Beatles are still at the top but way, way down in
numbers. Meanwhile, stuff like Kiss is way up. It's just the nature of
the beast--the older collectors drop out and new kids get interested. If
Goldmine stayed focused only on the older music, it would not have
survived this long.
But I had to laugh when I saw the comments about Goldmine being big
business. Goldmine's circulation is only 35,000. For a magazine that's
been around 22 years, that doesn't exactly make us People magazine.
Granted, Krause Publications is a big business, and Goldmine has been
profitable for KP all along. But that doesn't mean GM itself is some
huge mega-beast. It's still run by an editorial staff of TWO people.
We do EVERYTHING, and we turn out over 100,000 words every two
weeks. That's one hell of a big job. Most magazines have that many
people editing the letters page alone.
Getting back to the changes, we're all going to watch this together. I
can tell you one late-breaking piece of news which may seal the opinions
of a lot of people reading this, and that is that Cub Koda is taking his
column The Vinyl Junkie over to Discoveries after 17 years with
Goldmine. Like me, he just got tired of cranking out the work and not
getting any respect from the people in charge. I will also be moving my
Multimania! column to Discoveries, and I'll be writing their news
section starting in the fall. A few of Goldmine's other main writers are
leaving Goldmine and some will be writing for Discoveries too.
So anyway, I don't know if that clears anything up or makes it seem more
confusing. But I just wanted to put some of the changes in perspective
before people came up with any more bizarre notions about why this is
all happening now. For me, it was just the right time to stop--I wanted
to quit while the thing still had some integrity left. I think those
people who want more collecting-oriented stuff and less music in
Goldmine will be happy with the new direction. But for me it's always
been about music. To me, people collect MUSIC, not just plastic or
aluminum. I don't feel that Krause ever understood that, because their
history was with collectibles like coins, which people Do put in plastic
sealers. I don't think the KP brass ever made the distinction that
people buy records because they like what is ON them. Sure, I understand
the need or discographies and collector info in Goldmine. But believe it
or not, most readers don't really even care if that stuff is in there.
Outside of the percentage that just buys it for the ads (which is WAY
smaller than some people might think), the greatest reason people give
us for buying the magazine is, simply, to read the articles. They
appreciate the fact that we still provide detailed music writing,
something which no one else really does anymore.
Where Goldmine really goes from here is anyone's guess. The new editor,
Mike Metzger, formerly of CD Review, is a real nice guy but he's got a
big job on his hands trying to keep this thing afloat. If you like what
he does, please let him know. If you don't, let the publisher, Greg
Loescher, know (his e-mail address is loes...@krause.com). And if
you're really seriously dissatisfied, let GREG'S bosses know: Roger Case
and Don Johnson are their names. I don't have their e-mails, but the
snail address is 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Meanwhile, keep your
eye on Discoveries; it's about to get a whole lot better.
Thanks for the soapbox and thanks for all the years of support...
Jeff Tamarkin
Jeff Tamarkin
PIX INTL wrote:
>
> Jeff Tamarkin <jeff...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> >Someone has been sending me the posts in this group about the changes at
> >Goldmine and I've enjoyed reading all of the speculation on why I'm
> >leaving.
>
> Hello Jeff,
>
> As one of the contributing photographers to Goldmine for the past 16
> years I'm just posting to say THANK-YOU. You've done a great job at
> Goldmine and it sure has come a long long way since you took over for
> Rick Whitesell after he passed away.
> Thank you for the hundreds of photos of mine that you've run.
> Thanks for writing and editing the stories that made the photos
> possible.Your vast knowledge of the music business and
> journalism really helped alot of bands not only in their "Comeback"
> efforts but in keeping alot of great music alive that no other
> mainstream or newsstand publication would have the forsight to cover
> so completely.
>
> I've enjoyed working with you at Goldmine as I did at RELIX and CMJ in
> the 70's and 80's.
>
> Goldmine loses it's best editor,but the world gains a great writer.
> Good Luck to you and your family!
>
> Sincerely,
> Linda Matlow/PIX INTRNATIONAL ,our photogs & staff
>
> Gee since I'm posting from SPRYNET I hope this article even appears !
>
> [[o]] PIX INTERNATIONAL:Photography for the entertainment
> | industry,editorial,corporate,& P.R.Since 1976.
> / \ Celebrity & Music Photo Mag's on Floppy Disks.
> http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/pixintl/
Gee, thanks, Linda. Now I suppose I should find a job, huh?!
john koenig
If too many more people post all these nice comments about Jeff, he's
going to be asking me to address him as ³Mr. Jeff Tamarkin²! John
Koenig
Alexander Gitlin
Jeff Tamarkin (jeff...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
: Gee, thanks, Linda. Now I suppose I should find a job, huh?!
Yeah, Jeff, really!
I've been following this whole "leaving" ordeal through Goldmine, as I
am quite a big fan of yours - enjoyed your articles, "Multimania"
stuff, etc., so unlike all others I'm not going to pretend that I'm
pleased with your departure - in fact, it STINKS.
Who am I going to send my "letters to the editor" now???
Are you sure you want to leave Goldmine? It won't be the same. And
if your heart IS set on leaving, what are your immediate plans?
(Sorry for being so nosy). Can't you stay as a part-time freelancer
at least?
--
Cheers,
Alex
http://lynx.dac.neu.edu/home/httpd/a/agitlin/
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Jeff Tamarkin
john koenig wrote:
> =
> If too many more people post all these nice comments about Jeff, he's
> going to be asking me to address him as =B3Mr. Jeff Tamarkin=B2! John
> Koenig
John, you can just call me sir.
Jeff Tamarkin
Thanks, thanks and more thanks. But yeah, I'm sure. I'm soooo sure. But
yes, I'll still be writing. In fact, Multimania will appear in
Discoveries under a new name, starting in the fall. And those letters to
the editor can now go to Mike Metzger, Goldmine, 700 E. State St., Iola,
WI 54990. See ya soon...