BABY C's RWD THREAD - EDITOR's REPLY

twino

-read this-

Yeah I've had a little look at this, here are my replies...let all those on ukmusic.comorldwide know RWD has officially responded:

I have been reading Baby C’s thread and just wanted to clear up a couple of things. I thought I’d reply to points raised individually.

“Well personally i thought it went by someone’s talent and acheivement which the mag recognises, and they give the artist some support by interviewing them and writing an article to publicise them.......And they do articles etc for FREE,

i thought they would of got their funding and income to distribute these mags from advertisements etc....”

J Lawrence


We have never hidden the fact that EVERYONE pays to get into the magazine or supports us with their marketing campaign, every page bar the news section, reviews, fashion and charts has a page yield attached to it.

We would love to run the magazine on a purely editorial basis, we do recognise the varying degree of talent that artists have, unfortunately our printers don’t. I don’t know if any of you know how much it actually costs to produce a publication to the high standard we maintain but let me assure you it runs into thousands just to produce it let alone print 30,000 copies and give them away. At the moment the prices we charge per page mean we couldn’t afford to run the mag purely from advertising alone, this is improving as our revenue is increasing with our reputation and one day hopefully this will be possible.

Having said that we will never stop supporting new artists first, acts like More Fire Crew, Tubby T, Stush and Ladies First were all in RWD first, artists we feature regularly go on to get decent record deals so to say they don’t have talent is not really accurate.


"The main issue payment for pieces raises for me is that said article is totally biased and not an objective piece of journalism at all - thats not forgetting how bad the writing is in Rwd anyway. How can you possibly trust anything in it?"

Missc


Payment for pieces happens in a lot of magazines, I won’t name names but you’d be surprised at the sheer volume of music mags and other titles doing this, at least we admit it.

As well as this, in more than 80% of glossy magazines on the shelf in the UK, the people being interviewed have copy approval, which means they get to go through everything written about them with a red pen before it goes to print. There is much less objective journalism in the mainstream than you actually realise, and it is also worth pointing out that the majors get their acts featured in so many mags by spending a great deal of time and money taking various journalists/editors out to lunch etc. What’ the difference between that and just paying for an article upfront?

We do turn people away if we feel they are not right for the mag or their material is not strong enough, but that is a very subjective thing.
No one is supporting us, we do this out of love for the scene but ultimately it costs money. We do separate established artists from the up and coming, established are at the front in features, new acts are in the ‘future’ section nearer the back.

As for the quality of the writing, most of my staff write for other mags such as Ministry, mixmag, DJ, Deuce, Jockeyslut, Pride, The Face and Sleazenation among others. Oh, and while we are on the subject, ‘thats’ should have had an apostrophe.

I’ve saved my favourite til last...

"Why should you have to pay to be in any magazine. This just says that you are not good enough to be in these so called mags on your own merit & anyone who thinks they have a talent can have a page or 2 if they pay."

Matt Jam Lamont

As I’ve already explained we could not exist without being advertorial based. RWD IS A MARKETING TOOL. Last month we had features on Ed Case, EZ, and Ms Dynamite, all sponsored, who are all, if we’re honest, much bigger news in the scene than you have been for quite some time.

The reason people pay is because we hit a different audience to everyone else because the mag is free, we hit an audience which do not necessarily buy music mags which is why we are so valuable to our clients.

If you don’t like RWD, don’t read it, we feel there is something there for everyone and people tell us the fact we are on the streets every month has done a lot for the image of the scene in general, more than a graveyard slot on Kiss anyway...

If RWD had been around in 1995 I’m sure an up and coming DJ like yourself getting a couple of gigs in the back room of the Paradise Club would have jumped at the chance to get a profile in the mag.

A lot of the artists we have featured are getting a lot more bookings than you in 2002 as a result, if you need any help with that do give us a call mate, but don’t expect a discount.

Matt Mason

Editor

RWD

twino

check www.rwdmag.com/forums c what u think

DJ EL SID

lamont - cussed.

DJABLE

lamonts point is right i dont care what ya say

DJ EL SID

terse words from the editor.

anonymous

how rude

Dj Smarts

I swear Matt Jam's already been in there though?!

twino

DJ EL SID

and he paid? lol

Hmmmm

And to say Ed Case is bigger than Matt Lamont amuses me no end.

Harley

RWD definitely does it's bit for the scene, and a few people are quick to slate it off - but I think they do a good job at the end of the day.

I think RWD is the best advertising tool in the business.

But i'm not sure if I'd pay to go in it - i'd pay to advertise my event / tune / radio station in it without doubt.

Some of the people who pay to go in it are $$$$ - but others just want a bit of exposure to the scene - and respect to them for it I suppose.

I was wrong about what I said in the original post - RWD is important part of our scene whether we like it or not.

LUCKY_STRIKE

rwd is heavy! who cares if people pay 2 get in it! its still informative!

Hmmmm

I like RWD personally. It's the only UKG magazine i read with any sort of regularity.

Just a point though....

You made it look like you were in some way to do with the artists you interviewed getting deals. I am sure you and everyone else knows that they were well on their way to signing deals before you got hold of them.

But still, keep up the good work.

Trilogy

RWD is an example of what we should have more of in garage - a level of entrepreneurship which provides much needed information for the public, an outlet for up and coming as well as established stars and labels and all at no price. It's not perfect - sometimes it shocks me and seems like no one reads it before it goes to the printers (sorry but there are some shocking mistakes) but it's definately on the right track and not attempting to follow the "coffee table" tradition of Deuce and Touch, which look very nice but are ultimately useless.

So respect RWD.

DJ EL SID

bit harsh on the deuce and touch front arent you Mr trilogy?

DJ EL SID

and the man was askin me the other time whether he could review for deuce. lol.

DJ EL SID

Hmmmm

“	Originally posted by DJ EL SID and the man was askin me the other time whether he could review for deuce. lol.	”

Well that would be foolish of him wouldn't it as it never materialises

lol

Trilogy

Just being honest El Sid, there are articles in there that have impressed me no end, a very professional level of writing. But I have the same criticism of The Face and I used to write freelance for them, makes no difference to me. I personally prefer to write ABOUT garage, not the hype and bullshít surrounding me.

Don't take it personally.