12/03/07
Text: Nik Mercer
Niche marketing seems to be the way of the future for small publishers like 'Sup Magazine, a NYC-based music magazine that focuses most of its manpower on fantastic interviews. 'Sup would make Andy Warhol's Interview circa 1970 proud.
'Sup has the style (pink financial times paper, simple but unique and catchy layouts, and gorgeous photography and massive portraits that seem to jump off the page -- they just don't fit!), content (stellar, in-depth interviews with a colorful array of artists, and insightful second looks at music that might be old news in the Internet world, but that 'Sup revitalizes and justly rejuvenates), and the credibility to compete with any book of wider distribution (and that doesn't go for free).
Plus, 'Sup keeps relevant online with a frequently updated blog, which features pieces from the print magazine republished to the web and some of the most compelling and thought out concert reviews you will ever read (they completely legitimize the otherwise meaningless journalism that is the concert review -- who can read those things without thinking the author's being a little self-indulgent?)
Let 'Sup be a warning to all would-be publishers. It's not going to be easy getting much better than them.
