CCM Magazine going out of print

So, cleaning my desk today, I ran across the renewal notice for CCM Magazine that I had opened and promptly forgotten a month or so ago. Magazines could clear-cut forests with the number of renewal notices they send out, and I have a tendency to wait until the notice that says something like, "This is your final issue, unless you renew . . . and we won't be your friend anymore." Anyway, I decided to take care of the subscription online. But when I went to the appropriate page, I got this note:

"Effective April 2008, CCM Magazine will no longer be published as a printed magazine. Keep checking back for more information and look for CCMmagazine.com to cover even more of your favorite Christian music and entertainment!"

Wow! It's not that I haven't seen numerous magazines go exclusively online. A guitar publication I used to subscribe to went web-only last year, and I read about several other guitar and bass magazines going exclusively to the Internet. But Guitar Player, one of the flagships, still comes out on paper.

And in contemporary Christian music, CCM, which published its first issue in July 1978, is a flagship -- the Rolling Stone of Christian pop. So it bailing out of a tangible, printed product was a sign that the times indeed are a-changin'. Given that this is such a momentous event, I asked CCM editor Jay Swartzendruber  if he'd answer a few questions about the change, and he kindly obliged:

Copious Notes: Tell us about the decision to close the print edition of CCM Magazine.

Jay Swartzendruber: When I joined the magazine in 2003, it was  already clear CCM was fighting an uphill battle with online trends—trends with readers and advertisers.  Those trends intensified over the past year and a half. It seemed increasingly  imminent that the CCM brand would make the move to go exclusively online,  especially since late ’07.

CN: How has the circulation of the print edition compared to the web traffic in recent years?

JS: For the past seven or eight years, obtaining new subscribers has been increasingly challenging for CCM’s circulation efforts. Meanwhile our web traffic has continued to grow.

CN: Since CCM is the flagship contemporary Christian music magazine, this is a pretty momentous event. Do you see a precedent in publishing with similar magazines that have elected to go exclusively to the web?

JS: Yes, it’s indeed the end of an era. That said, I don’t see so much a particular precedent as I do the obvious trend. I’m actually amazed our print version stayed in production so long after seeing countless magazines move online.

CN: How will CCMmagazine.com be impacted by this change?

JS: Beginning in May, CCMmagazine.com will be the originator of our editorial content rather than the “beneficiary” of the magazine’s reprints. Furthermore, the site will have the focus of our marketing efforts rather than seeing such time split with a print publication.

CN: Will any content be by subscription only?

JS: Quite possibly. That’s still being discussed. (Our team has known about this upcoming transition for literally eight days. That’s when we started planning.)

CN: As a magazine editor these past several years, how do you feel about this? Will you miss putting together and reading the print edition of CCM?

JS: Absolutely. I mean, I’m old school. I still buy CDs... The only iPod I own is a Nano—that thing couldn’t even hold my U2 library. And CCM? I’ve been reading it since I first subscribed in 1984, so you better believe this change is a jolt. I’m going to miss working on the print version, and I’m going to miss thumbing through it once it’s completed. Miss it in a big way.

Comments

[Bruce]

I still keep a lot of print magazines. There is no substitute. ie Wired, Professional Journals, QST, Vintage Guitar, Circuit Cellar etc. Will miss CCM.

[Johnson]

Thanks for the information, online publishing is on triumph and made much difference in publishing industry. I heard that companies like http://www.pressmart.net helping the print publisher to deliver their publication through web, pod cast, blog, RSS, social media, etc… These are the new technologies using in print circulations.