The Southern Jamband Relix Issue

Gov't Mule on RelixI’ve always wondered why magazines did this. When you’re trying to attract new readers, especially music fans, I see this new Relix issue as a bad idea all across the board.

If I see Gov’t Mule on the cover with text strewn about mentioning every other Southern jamband together right now, I’m thinking that I’m about to read a magazine that only covers that. To me, I’m not totally into that style of music right now, so the magazine is just pigeonholing themselves. If that’s even a word. [edit: Yes, it is a word. Click here.]

Here at the live music blog, we don’t worry about actually writing using actual words.

January 22, 2005 |  by  |  Open Thread
About the author

Justin Ward is the Editor at Live Music Blog and has been with the site from the very beginning. He currently lives in San Francisco and regularly tweets other stuff over @justinpward.

He also plays in NVO and sometimes calls himself dudha.us ("dude house"). Follow his projects over at JustinWard.org.

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  • derek

    i think that is a horrible way of looking at things. just because you don’t like that style of music doesn’t mean anything. you say the mag is looking for new readers, well jambands are not well covered in the media. therefore they are reaching out to new people: jamband lovers that see their favorite bands not getting the coverage they deserve. i think your comment is not well thought out and completely wrong. as a matter of fact the biggest music fans i have ever met, that know the most about music are people who enjoy the sounds of jambands (moe, leftover salmon, kynda, karl denson, umphrey’s mcgee etc, etc….)

  • derek

    i think that is a horrible way of looking at things. just because you don’t like that style of music doesn’t mean anything. you say the mag is looking for new readers, well jambands are not well covered in the media. therefore they are reaching out to new people: jamband lovers that see their favorite bands not getting the coverage they deserve. i think your comment is not well thought out and completely wrong. as a matter of fact the biggest music fans i have ever met, that know the most about music are people who enjoy the sounds of jambands (moe, leftover salmon, kynda, karl denson, umphrey’s mcgee etc, etc….)

  • http://www.livemusicblog.com justin

    I’m not arguing that Relix is dumb for covering jambands. But, I am arguing that when any magazine loads their cover with the best in southern rock jambands, it’s going to turn some people off. I don’t really even think there’s a way around this; it’s the way that magazines publish.

    I love Relix and all heady jambands fans; it’s the unheady ones that we should be talking about.

  • http://www.livemusicblog.com justin

    I’m not arguing that Relix is dumb for covering jambands. But, I am arguing that when any magazine loads their cover with the best in southern rock jambands, it’s going to turn some people off. I don’t really even think there’s a way around this; it’s the way that magazines publish.

    I love Relix and all heady jambands fans; it’s the unheady ones that we should be talking about.