#1721724 - 03/22/07 11:59 PM
Greg Howe on cover of GP
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Lightspeeder
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Registered: 03/22/07
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I would love to see Greg howe on the cover or GP or even an article on him in GP. I'm not affiliated with him or anything but I feel he's been ignored by a lot of the major guitar magazines and he deserves some recognition. I'm just a big fan of his. What do ya say GP....Please!!
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#1755373 - 05/22/07 03:58 PM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Lightspeeder]
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Taliesyn
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Registered: 03/29/07
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Absolutely right!
You know, I for one get tired of GP's lack of putting some of the all time greats on the cover and putting near unknowns with no where near the talent of Greg Howe and others like him. Or putting people on who absolutely don't deserve it!
As much as I like him (saw him in Detroit back in 69) -how many more times do we have to see Hendrix on the cover?
(Of course you can put Jeff Beck on 5 or 6 times/year cause he rarely does the same thing twice ;-) )
Has Jason Becker, Jennifer Batten, Jaye Foucher, Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore etc. ever been on the cover - other than an inside article - I mean the main cover character? I don't think so although I've missed a couple of years here and there.
It's clear women are rarely chosen for fear of drops in sales - yet there are more and more of them shredding or rocking as good as any guys.
If not - that's pretty lame imo.
Sometimes I've found it hard to believe the crappy players that have been put on the cover (due to popularity only - may as well put no talent twits like eminem on) when there are so many fabulous players out there who barely ever get mentioned - like Howe.
What about Joe Bonamassa, Chris Impelleteri or Charlie Hunter as cover? I could name dozens more. Ron Thal - bumblefoot, Roy Wood of the Move, Steve Hackett, Andy Timmons, Roine Stolt, Frank Marino....
This has often made me wonder if Ed Roman's comments on guitar mags are not 100% right on - I already believe 75% of it.
Don't get me wrong, I've been reading and buying GP for over 25 years and like it but sometimes I'm forced to wonder...
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#1755611 - 05/23/07 01:16 AM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Taliesyn]
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Editor Boy
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Registered: 05/14/01
Posts: 260
Loc: San Mateo,CA,UNITED STATES
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Dear Taliesyn...
I don't know what your definition of "crappy players" might be, but I'll respect your personal opinion. But, trust me, no "near unknowns" are on our covers, because we have to sell issues, and unknowns don't sell.
To put a finer point on it, in this era of commerce and profitability, GP must shoot for around 30 percent or more "sell-through" on the newsstand to meet our revenue budget for single-copy sales (which means for every 100 issues out on the stands, we need to sell 30).
Commerce aside, this is also a very democratic process, believe it or not. For example, issues with Hendrix on the cover sell through at almost 50 percent, which means a ton of people who usually don't buy a guitar magazine (or who don't typically buy GP) are seduced into putting their money down, and that's HUGE proof that Hendrix remains a viable cover artist FOR THE READERS. If everyone felt that Hendrix covers were "tired and over," we'd only sell 20 percent or less of the newsstand issues, and Hendrix wouldn't be on the cover anymore. No reader buy in, no revenue target -- no future cover appearances. Simple as that. We only like to make cover-artist mistakes ONCE.
As for your other comments...
Jennifer Batten has been on our cover, and I'd LOVE to promote more female guitarists. The most recent female cover with Allison Robertson of the Donnas sold like crazy, but my other attempts to honor female players -- Bonnie Raitt, Chrissie Hynde, Meredith Brooks, etc. -- have either tanked completely or charted slightly less-than-average sales. It seems potential GP buyers don't dig women on the cover.
As for Joe Bonamassa, Chris Impelleteri, Charlie Hunter, Ron Thal, Roy Wood of the Move, Steve Hackett, Andy Timmons, Roine Stolt, and Frank Marino -- they are all "high risk" cover artists because they're either known only to a relatively small community of guitarists, or represent a smaller constituency of our readership demographic (such as jazz). These are all, of course, extremely fabulous players. However, they may not sell 30+ percent of our issues for us, and once we tank an issue one month it's incredibly hard to crawl back to profitability. For instance if Stolt charted an 18 percent sale in January, then we'd have to hit almost 40 percent sales the next three to four months to "replace" the revenue we lost in January, and get our circulation back up to budget. If 30 percent is our budgeted average, that means we'd have to pick cover artists or concepts that hit ten percent BETTER THAN AVERAGE sales for the next few months. That's a tall and scary order.
I understand that this is WAY more corporate info than you really want, and most publishers wouldn't even provide this type of data to the general public. But I don't feel a successful magazine such as GP has anything to hide, and I believe it helps people to somewhat understand why we do what we do if readers can put themselves in our shoes.
I don't know what Ed Roman has to say about guitar mags. Perhaps someone could direct me to his thread.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your views. I hope I haven't bored you with mine.
All the Best,
Mike
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#1756476 - 05/24/07 03:05 PM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Editor Boy]
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Eric Iverson
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Registered: 08/03/05
Posts: 2441
Loc: Jackson Heights, NY
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Yes indeed, if "who is on the cover" has a major impact on newstand sales, the editors HAVE to take it into consideration! In order to keep the ship afloat if nothing else.
For me, it's not an issue, because I have been buying GP almost every month for the last 35 years or so. My favorite part is the instructional columns anyway. I might not even read the cover article if I'm not interested in the artist!
Whether or not the artist is on the cover, GP has promoted the careers of countless talented people, and I don't think in all fairness you can take that away from them!
Unless of course, you'd rather depend on late night TV to let you know who the upcoming and downgoing talented players are.....
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#1756507 - 05/24/07 03:47 PM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Eric Iverson]
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Linksys
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Registered: 09/04/06
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Greg Howe is without ANY doubt the most underated and sadly unsung American guitar hero of the 21st century.
It's a shame that he doesn't get more exposure, especially in GP.
For those who have any doubts about his talent, get yourself the GENTLE HEARTS TOUR DVD with Dennis Chambers and Testuo Sakurai.
He will probably get the Hendrix treatment as to know...he'll be celebrated when dead.
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#1758294 - 05/28/07 01:19 PM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Linksys]
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Gruupi
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Registered: 06/09/03
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Very interesting response MM. I never knew what percent you had to sell to make money. It changes my perspective on things. Sure I'd like to see some new guitarist on the cover that made me check out his/hers playing. We would all like to see our our pet favorites every month as well. But if it is a documented fact that certain types of covers pay the bills I can hardly blame you. If you are making money then you can use that extra dough to continue with the depth of coverage you have inside the magazine.
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#1758624 - 05/29/07 07:27 AM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Gruupi]
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Linksys
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Just for everybody's info...
Greg Howe will go back on tour this summer with Dennis Chambers and Tetsuo Sakurai...hopefully, they'll come to America!
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#1759218 - 05/30/07 02:50 AM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Linksys]
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Editor Boy
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Registered: 05/14/01
Posts: 260
Loc: San Mateo,CA,UNITED STATES
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I almost forgot -- There's a Greg Howe master class in the upcoming August issue of GP with Satriani on the cover (it's the 20th anniversary of SURFING WITH THE ALIEN).
Cheers,
Mike
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#1766451 - 06/14/07 09:23 AM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Editor Boy]
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Eric Iverson
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Yes, GP has ALWAYS done its best to turn the guitar community on to talented unknowns, whether or not they're on the cover!
Because if we don't promote talent, who is going to? Jay Leno? Conan O'Brien? Corporate radio with nationwide set playlists?
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#1770734 - 06/23/07 05:29 PM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Editor Boy]
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mdrs
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Registered: 06/15/06
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I almost forgot -- There's a Greg Howe master class in the upcoming August issue of GP with Satriani on the cover (it's the 20th anniversary of SURFING WITH THE ALIEN).
Cheers,
Mike
Mike,
Somehow I missed this thread, and your very informative post above about covers and their impact on sales. Very interesting info. Generous of you to share that.
Do "classic rock" icons like Steve Howe, still sell?
Just as an aside, I've felt that the last several issues have been great. Some very informative stuff about Andy Summers....his style, as well as his equipment. You guys are doing a great job.
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#1778571 - 07/09/07 03:41 AM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Editor Boy]
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G.Player
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Registered: 07/03/07
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Loc: Boston, MA
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I almost forgot -- There's a Greg Howe master class in the upcoming August issue of GP with Satriani on the cover (it's the 20th anniversary of SURFING WITH THE ALIEN).
Cheers,
Mike
Great Masterclass article of Greg Howe in the August issue. I'm hoping that GP will feature him in more issues to come and not forget about him.
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#1783379 - 07/18/07 02:34 AM
Radiohead for Cover!
[Re: Editor Boy]
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ezeidaho
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Registered: 07/18/07
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Over the past decade or so, one of my favorite benefits of reading GP is the hints about emerging bands like Cake, Portishead, and I even first turned on to Radiohead thanks to the short features. Hasn't Radiohead earned a cover? Massive concert ticket sales suggest it would meet the "Rule of 30" and their intricate work in the studio would make for terrific reading. I wonder about the interaction of three guitarists, as well as their recording techniques.
Also, did you cover Bonnoroo this year at all? I'd like to read short features about more of the jam band generation.
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#1792404 - 08/07/07 09:27 AM
Re: Greg Howe on cover of GP
[Re: Editor Boy]
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Armin Solognier
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Registered: 08/07/07
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Mike,
Guitar Player is doing a great job. I buy every issues since 1989 and I enjoy some more than the other, but I do enjoy all of them.
Your willingness to share the information on sales is indicative of what kind of magazine GP really is. One that cares about its readers and one that cares enough to keep the magazine going. Like it or not GP is an institution in the guitar playing community.
I have my own favorite players, like Bonamassa, John Mayer and Doyle Bramhall II, but I also like the classics such as Beck and Van Halen. At the same time I also like to hear about new players.
Keep up the work with the magazine, but also the "media-mix" you are building through the forums and GPTV.
Armin Solognier
Edited by Armin Solognier (08/07/07 09:27 AM)
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