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Sad news. No, make that inexcusable news!!


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I just tried to log onto keyboardmag.com to capture some links of interviews I did that were posted there. Saddened, shocked and now maddened to get the response attached below.

 

So I've just confirmed that Future Music has turned off the site. All of that amazing content and equity (even as disorganized, and somewhat broken as it was) is now just gone. I'm told they moved some small amount of content, but this is just a tragedy to all of us who grew up with Keyboard, and who lived in that world. No respect/regard for the incredible work done over 40+ years.

 

I will try to check if they have some plans to revive the content within their world, but I can't imagine the answer is going to good.

 

Truly a sad day, and a maddening move.

 

Jerry

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A lot of sites are losing ad revenues and some hosting services are raising rate because of the increased bandwidth with so many people surfing the net so websites are getting more expensive. Maybe they will sell the archive to someone and it will be for sale in PDF form, but massaging old magazines into PDF is a lot of work too.

 

 

It will probably reappear again in some form or another.

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Ridiculous that even in the disorganized, under funded mess that it was that they couldn"t host the damn archives. I"m saddened that I once had every printed copy from inception to the mid 90"s and tossed them thinking that copies on the web would always just 'be there'...

Using:

Yamaha: Montage M8x| Spectrasonics: Omnisphere, Keyscape | uhe: Diva, Hive2, Zebra2| Roland: Cloud Pro | Arturia: V Collection

NI: Komplete 14 | VPS: Avenger | Cherry: GX80 | G-Force: OB-E | Korg: Triton, MS-20

 

Sold/Traded:

Yamaha: Motif XS8, Motif ES8, Motif8, KX-88, TX7 | ASM: Hydrasynth Deluxe| Roland: RD-2000, D50, MKS-20| Korg: Kronos 88, T3, MS-20

Oberheim: OB8, OBXa, Modular 8 Voice | Rhodes: Dyno-My-Piano| Crumar: T2

 

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I guess I should download every copy that is available via the iPad app going back to 2012 before they disappear too...

Using:

Yamaha: Montage M8x| Spectrasonics: Omnisphere, Keyscape | uhe: Diva, Hive2, Zebra2| Roland: Cloud Pro | Arturia: V Collection

NI: Komplete 14 | VPS: Avenger | Cherry: GX80 | G-Force: OB-E | Korg: Triton, MS-20

 

Sold/Traded:

Yamaha: Motif XS8, Motif ES8, Motif8, KX-88, TX7 | ASM: Hydrasynth Deluxe| Roland: RD-2000, D50, MKS-20| Korg: Kronos 88, T3, MS-20

Oberheim: OB8, OBXa, Modular 8 Voice | Rhodes: Dyno-My-Piano| Crumar: T2

 

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I guess I should download every copy that is available via the iPad app going back to 2012 before they disappear too...

 

Ah, there's another avenue. I never subscribed to that app, as I already got the magazine. I have a couple of interviews that I did that have lots of extra web content. I'm guessing the app won't be able to get to it, but if you could check I would really appreciate it:

 

Tom Coster 3-2013

 

George Duke 9-2013

 

David Paich/Steve Porcaro 8-2015

 

Keith Emerson Tribute June 2016

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. Of course I have all the content, but not laid out as cleanly.

 

Jerry

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You've got every right to mourn Jerry, it's a big loss. I've tended to PDF my published stuff as I've gone along but even that can get tedious. I only had two articles published in Keyboard and am bummed by this so can only imagine what it's like for you.
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I never trust that a link will be there when I go back for it. If it's important, I print out a hard copy so that it's under my control.

 

Coincidentally, I made a cursory attempt to go through some of my old links in Firefox earlier this week. Roughly...oh, let's call it 20-25% gave 404 Errors...and that includes some large, well-organized, well-funded entities such as the BBC. Yes, I have hard copies of the stuff that matters the most, but still...never trust the web to be there.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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Don't trust the web OR the cloud. Blu-Ray is my backup medium of choice. FWIW I have archives of pretty much everything I've written, but the original files are so dated ("how to do something in Cubase SX") that they're more or less useless as is. I do take the best of them periodically, update them, and post them on craiganderton.org. But what Jerry is talking about is more about a historical record. Those are a part of history.

 

I do understand the difficulty of keeping web archives up to date and/or preserved. I need to back up craiganderton.org, but it's daunting. The real problem is that magazines are pretty much screwed. Keyboard had editors who vetted articles. People see someone on YouTube who's never charted, posting a tip about "7 Pro Tip Keyboard Secrets You Must Know OR YOU WILL DIE!!" and they think okay, I guess this is cool. They don't understand that yes, some information should be free. But good, valuable information can't exist in that context.

 

We're a part of pop culture, which is ephemeral. It's even more ephemeral in a virtual world. But, I guarantee someone out there has every single issue of Keyboard. Could we divvy up the labor so that everyone on this forum scans one issue and converts it to PDF?

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Could we divvy up the labor so that everyone on this forum scans one issue and converts it to PDF?

 

I would absolutely be happy to be part of this. I have a couple of hundred hard copies issues here alone and you're right there are definitely people on the forums who pretty much have them all.

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Hi Craig:

 

Of course I have everything I've ever written here, backed up safely. Every column, every interview etc. And I have all the hard copy issues. Scanning them is a long and tedious project, but one I'll likely undertake. especially with so much time on my hands these days.

 

The spill-over content that I had for a number of my interviews (Tom Coster, Toto, George Duke and especially the Keith Emerson Tribute) is really special stuff. I only have my text documents, nothing to represent the final presentation, with imbedded photos etc. I lament not doing screen-grabs of those, but who knew/thought? I know, I should have! Those deep-dive interviews are really special to me, as they are some of the more complete musician-related talks with these important artists. And the Keith tribute stories from all his band-mates and friends? Priceless stuff.

 

But then, as you say, the historical aspect of all that content, and the ability to reference it for others is what's lost. I don't have my own website, I could create one, and post things (especially all my columns), but they are owned (now) by Future Music. So I'm not really legally allowed to do that without their permission. And you know how that goes, they don't care a whit about any of it until I ask them for the permission. Sigh.

 

I have approx. 85-90% of the magazines starting from issue 1... not really looking forward to the idea of scanning whole issues for the rest of my life... but I am happy to help a group effort!

 

 

For now I'm scanning the interviews as I need to show a client how I do artist interviews for some hopefully upcoming work.

 

As Jon Regen and I were discussing earlier today, it's sad when the end result of Future's acquisition was for eyeballs for advertising with no regard for the equity they are sitting on.

 

Jerry

 

 

Don't trust the web OR the cloud. Blu-Ray is my backup medium of choice. FWIW I have archives of pretty much everything I've written, but the original files are so dated ("how to do something in Cubase SX") that they're more or less useless as is. I do take the best of them periodically, update them, and post them on craiganderton.org. But what Jerry is talking about is more about a historical record. Those are a part of history.

 

I do understand the difficulty of keeping web archives up to date and/or preserved. I need to back up craiganderton.org, but it's daunting. The real problem is that magazines are pretty much screwed. Keyboard had editors who vetted articles. People see someone on YouTube who's never charted, posting a tip about "7 Pro Tip Keyboard Secrets You Must Know OR YOU WILL DIE!!" and they think okay, I guess this is cool. They don't understand that yes, some information should be free. But good, valuable information can't exist in that context.

 

We're a part of pop culture, which is ephemeral. It's even more ephemeral in a virtual world. But, I guarantee someone out there has every single issue of Keyboard. Could we divvy up the labor so that everyone on this forum scans one issue and converts it to PDF?

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Could we divvy up the labor so that everyone on this forum scans one issue and converts it to PDF?

 

I would absolutely be happy to be part of this. I have a couple of hundred hard copies issues here alone and you're right there are definitely people on the forums who pretty much have them all.

 

 

+ 1

 

In fact make that + 2: I'd be willing to distribute my copies to others that want to help out with the scanning. I would want to get them back so it will cost us all a small bit in postage but so what. Also I don't have every issue but pretty close (missing the first few years for the most part).

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What an f'ing shame. But after the losses on that site every time they redid it, I'm not surprised. The various owners over the years never seemed to get the web.

 

I had PDFs of issues from 2010 through 2015 but I'm having trouble finding them right now.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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It's all out there somewhere. We just don't have access to it anymore.

The same would happen with scans. Someone would have to host it.

 

I dumped all my physical magazine collections when it started to seem like I'd be a candidate for the 'hoarders' tv show.

Keyboard was exciting towards the start, but IMO it became increasingly irrelevant, and towards the end of my use of it,

I used it mostly to read reviews of keyboards. And even that declined when reviews started popping up online months

ahead of issue releases.

I didn't even know the mag ceased to be 3 years ago already. Still - sad to lose all that content.

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So, what you guys are saying is if there was some place to host it and someone could get permisson from Future Music, it might be possible to save/archive Keyboard mag's content?

 

dB

 

You are wasted as a musician, you should have been a forensic scientist or detective :D

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In fact make that + 2: I'd be willing to distribute my copies to others that want to help out with the scanning. I would want to get them back so it will cost us all a small bit in postage but so what. Also I don't have every issue but pretty close (missing the first few years for the most part).

Mark, if it comes to this, count me in - I'd be happy to help.

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Maybe at some point we should have a Zoom meeting just for this. Some good ideas coming out and brainstorming is great but at some point we'll need some organization to whatever effort unfolds. I'd be happy to help coordinate the meeting but I think we need Jerry there (for one) to clearly define whats needed.
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So, what you guys are saying is if there was some place to host it and someone could get permisson from Future Music, it might be possible to save/archive Keyboard mag's content?

 

dB

 

You are wasted as a musician, you should have been a forensic scientist or detective :D

Nah...too messy. :nono:;)

 

The reason I ask is that I do have a connection at Future I could ask about the permission thing; and, depending on the size of the archive, MPN might be able to provide a hosting solution if necessary. :idk:

 

dB

:snax:

 

:keys:==> David Bryce Music • Funky Young Monks <==:rawk:

 

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Just became aware of this myself. Sadly, up-to-now website editor-in-chief Jon Regen and I saw this writing on the wall. We had approached Future PLC about acquiring the brand and it's I.P. and were even talking money, but for various reasons that deal did not come to fruition. My understanding is that Future wants to hold on to all recent assets, and my guess is that their metric of this would be anything they are aware was part of the database of keyboardmag.com. Though it's not part of their business model to maintain Keyboard as a stand-alone brand (even just online), they DO want to leverage as much content as they can for SEO and traffic reasons. In terms of what the public will see, I believe they plan to assimilate what they want into the MusicRadar brand (Borg emoji).

 

As for classic magazine issues whose content was never posted to the web because (A) the web didn't exist or (B) management at the time didn't see the value of putting it up there, there may be opportunities. Believe it or not, Future may not own all of the assets of Keyboard all the way back to the first print issue. I would be surprised, for example, if they had the writers' and photographers' contracts that give a publisher the ownership of someone's work in perpetuity. Caveat: I ANAL (am not a lawyer).

 

If we want to do a fan-based, community-based scanning project, it might be as simple as asking permission and they might not care. Or, they may not have the standing to prohibit us from doing so. The most devilish detail would be exactly what issue month/year their ownership of content assets provably begins. Whatever the case, in terms of how Dave, Jon, myself, Anderton, or anyone would approach them, we're all on the same page about starting with honey over vinegar.

 

My longtime dream has been to have not just scans, but an OCR'ed and searchable archive of classic articles. That would be a huge undertaking, perhaps done a little at a time and perhaps fundable by folks "subscribing" to classic issues: Begin with Sept-Oct 1975 and a new one comes out every month thereafter. That could give a small team time to actually do this without going insane. Just spitballin' here.

 

On various hard drives, I have most of what I've ever written and edited/supervised, and I have a fair amount of physical archives as well. As a lot of you surely know, the original name of the magazine was Contemporary Keyboard and I happen to own contemporarykeyboard.com. Just sayin' I'd love to have that domain become home to the archives.

 

Aside from that, Regen and I have been planning our own editorial site for awhile, but Future had been giving him a steady paycheck and, well, the brother has a family. That's behind us because with the shutdown of the Keyboard brand, Future laid him off and he is now not beholden to them. This would and should be distinct from a Keyboard magazine archiving effort, but now we really have reason to fast-track it, using all our relationships to get as much great content up as we can. We're meeting about this today, and our vision there is for a site that, like Keyboard, puts artistry, musicianship, and technique first, then frames technology as the servant of those things.

 

That's enough from me until we know more, but Dave, myself, the MPN editorial team are totally committed to filling the gap left by this sudden action. I expected it but thought it would be a more modulated, phased process. Nope, no LFO and no phaser â it seems Future just set the envelope release to zero and hit the MIDI panic button.

Stephen Fortner

Principal, Fortner Media

Former Editor in Chief, Keyboard Magazine

Digital Piano Consultant, Piano Buyer Magazine

 

Industry affiliations: Antares, Arturia, Giles Communications, MS Media, Polyverse

 

 

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