CCM Magazine Bites The Dust
Salem Communications announced last month that CCM magazine will cease to exist after the April 2008 issue.
Jim Cumbee, President of Non-Broadcast Media for Salem Communications and Publisher of CCM Magazine said, “CCM Magazine readers tell us they want more information and want it faster than can be delivered in a monthly printed magazine. Accordingly, we will discontinue the printed version of CCM Magazine to put increased energies toward the continued growth and enhancement of our comprehensive Christian music and entertainment online network featuring CCMMagazine.com, ChristianMusicPlanet.com, CMCentral.com and MyCCM.org.”
For almost 30 years, CCM Magazine has been the preeminent voice of the Christian music scene. Cumbee continued, “We are excited to continue our commitment to great writing and thorough coverage, but now all of that will come to the readers on Internet time.”
The press release states that Singing News, Homecoming Magazine and other Salem print publications will not be affected. There’s two ways to look at this, given Cumbee’s statement. If the CCM story is as positive as Cumbee makes it out to be, why aren’t Singing News et al worthy of getting this always-fresh-from-great-writers’-laptops, “internet time” access? If you’re a fan of the printed format, though, I’m sure you’re breathing a sigh of relief…at least for the moment.
A few observations:
1. We are constantly told that CCM artists sell much more product than Southern Gospel artists, yet CCM fans won’t buy enough copies of their leading magazine to keep it in print. Meanwhile, Southern Gospel and Gaither fans (which includes some overlap) support two magazines. That’s interesting. When was the last time you attended a concert where CCM magazine subscriptions were being offered for sale at the artist’s table?
2. The death of CCM magazine should not come as a huge surprise. They lost me when they went to a large, oddball sized format.
3. CCM magazine’s challenge was to constantly appeal to a moving target. Singing News and Homecoming magazines attract the type of subscribers who will keep renewing their subscriptions for the rest of their lives.
4. I don’t buy the “our readers want their info faster” line. I haven’t looked at a copy of CCM in years, but there was a time when CCM was a leading print publication due to well-written feature articles, CD reviews, chart data, and the publication of a concert schedule for all the leading artists. Over the years, they dropped some of this content for various reasons while the quality of other areas came into question. Ultimately the readership declined…big surprise.
Of course, the big concern for readers of this blog is whether or not this is a coming trend that will affect magazines like Homecoming and Singing News in time. In one sense, you could say the handwriting is on the wall and this is the first change of many to come. People who envision a future where all media will be internet media funded by ads and free to consumers are nodding their heads right now.
On the most practical of levels, though, it should come down to circulation and advertising income. As long as Singing News and Homecoming sustain a level of circulation that is sufficient to please Salem, those print mags should keep rolling off the presses…at least in theory.
We now know that 70,000 copies (Salem’s own figure) per month is a breaking point. That figure makes me wonder if CCM really wasn’t performing at a profitable level, or if Salem is just growing tired of the complications involved with printing stuff on paper. If the latter should happen to be the case, their other magazine titles also face a very real possibility of extinction.
The target consumer for CCM is the 18-24, and possibly the 25-30 demographics, who live on the Internet. They’re not interested in long, in-depth feature articles; they want quick info in short snippets due to their ever-decreasing attention spans and “busy schedules.” “The Singing News” and “Homecoming Magazine” cater to the blue-hairs who could care less about computers. They will buy the magazines and subscribe to them because they have no other way of getting the info found within these pages.
Two completely different audiences.
This is sure one headline I didn’t expect! Good post, DBM.
The magazine went under because CCM is BAD*!!!!! Soon, SG will RULE THE WORLD!
*-Except for them good CCM people who are on the Gaither videos.
I agree with Kyle 100% I am a subscriber to CCM, I am 26…whereas my brother, parents, and grandparents (all older than me) all subscribe to Singing News. While I have been a little disappointed in the direction of the CCM magazine lately, this move does not suprise me…It seems like they are really interested in the younger demographic now…
I agree the audiences are totally different and that greater percentages of CCM fans would be on the internet.
Setting that point aside for a moment, though, the death of the magazine still seems bit pre-mature.
Were they moving that 70,000 copies per month and still only breaking even or possibly losing money on CCM? On the other hand, if they were showing a profit, why did they shut it down? Even if most fans do go to the net for info, they were still selling 70,000 pieces per month.
Either way, there’s cause for concern about their other magazine titles. The cost of producing a magazine and keeping it running is relevant regardless of the demographic. Also relevant is Salem’s level of commitment to publishing magazines. You don’t dump a magazine with a 30-year track record on a mere whim.
[...] Bruce Murray has the story. His analysis, including whether / how this could affect Singing News (owned by the same company), [...]
What surprises me is how not-current the Singing News usually is. Especially with the advent of blogs like these, news breaks almost immediately. A monthly magazine simply can’t compete with that. I guess for people who aren’t online, it won’t make a difference.
Can you imagine the SN trying to keep up with the Blackwood Gospel Quartet?!
I am a SN subscriber, but I would love to have the option to either get a physical magazine or to view the WHOLE magazine on the SN website. I am a SG fan who would LOVE to have SN online. But I realize that it most likely will NOT happen in my life time because of the fact that most SG fans don’t like change.
We all want instant gratification/action but prefer to take the “love offering” approach to pay our way in the evangelical community.
But, on the other hand, I stopped buying the Boston Globe since it has been online.
I suspect you will start seeing a subscription based for newspapers like the SN does on a limited basis in the not too distant future.
Call me old-fashioned, but I still like to get my magazines in the mailbox.
Well, here’s my two cents worth. I turned 50 years old this year. I grew up listening to Southern Gospel. But I loved rock and roll. When artists like Larry Norman and Keith Gree and Love Song came around I jumped on it.
I loved the early Jesus music, before it morphed into what we call CCM. I subscribed to CCM for years, but over the last ten years saw it turn into more of a people magazine style. Concert listings were dropped, and they cd’s they seemed to applaud on a regular basis didn’t seem to have any or only very little christian content. Many of them I would not have known by listening were a christian band (I’m talking lyrical style not music style).
So I’m not surprised that the amount of readers declined. You can’t always be chasing the “flavor of the month” and retain readership. I don’t care about much of what they play on CCM / KLOVE radio stations anymore.
Instead, I have begun to go back to the Southern Gospel music of my youth and am just now finding out about tons of great groups, great music and great lyrics.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like my old Jesus Rock….but CCM just leaves me cold.
Pastor Dave