THE NEW MUSICAL BOX

MOJO MAGAZINE HITS 20

Twenty years ago, I remember seeing the first issue of Mojo on sale at the local newsagent.

It had an intriguing cover depicting John Lennon and Bob Dylan in semi-profile accompanied by the *come on* tag of "The Trip - Dylan and Lennon: A dawn car ride with the alchemists of acid rock". Well it certainly worked as I bought that issue and have done ever since, all the way up to the celebratory 20th anniversary edition (#241) out this week. 

Mojo - Issue 1 - October 1993
Bob Dylan & John Lennon - "The Trip"
The range and quality of content
marked it out on the news stands.
As The Beatles said "It Was 20 Years Ago Today"

For a print magazine which has seen sales slip in recent years (see my previous blog on the subject right here: Print Sales Plummet), it's certainly put a massive effort into the anniversary issue with all manner of promotion and changes afoot. I must declare an interest and say that it's a magazine I rate highly and would love to have around for another 20 years but with the ever-increasing pace of digital change, I'm not sure that will be possible. Its sales have fallen, but it still shifts 80,000 copies a month, an increasing number of which are subscription-based and thus more likely to be loyal readers. It costs money printing large volumes of copies for the news-stands, money that might generate sales - but might not as the returns from vendors come through. A big difference from the early 90s is that subscription deals now are highly attractive. The annual cover price is usually discounted by anything up to 20%, postage and packing is thrown in without cost - and there's some incentive too such as book, DVD or CD-set. 

The days of subscriptions being an afterthought and not terribly attractively promoted are long gone.       

So why has Mojo survived when others such as Q are struggling?

It's all about demographics and purpose.

Mojo and Q are part of the same publishing stable. Q was launched in October 1986 by EMAP, a regional newspaper publisher based in Peterborough that was seeking to grow its base across the whole of the UK. They had realised that the older music fan, those who had spare cash to buy more than the odd CD, wasn't being well served by the weeklies. Q was a glossy, colour monthly aimed at this older market. It was highly successful in its early years and EMAP saw a further demographic age-gap for an upmarket magazine pitched at fans of classic rock and album-orientated music. These were the people who had bought stacks of rock LPs in the 70s and were now in their late 30s and older - but still wanted articles, interviews, reviews and features on the music they liked. It's launch coincided with the rebirth of guitar rock in the 90s and whilst some have seen it as a magazine that simply looks back at the same hoary old bands, it has covered and championed new music too. Mojo was more niche than Q, but it knew and served its target audience far more effectively. And by copying the approach taken by a rival monthly - Uncut, published by "the makers of the NME" - and adding a free CD with each issue, Mojo had staked its claim as an influential magazine. Unlike Uncut which used its cover-mounted CDs to promote a range of new music, Mojo rang the changes and often curated thematic CDs based on (for example) the blues artists that influenced The Rolling Stones. This had the effect of reminding buyers why music was important, but also became a virtuous circle because it reinforced their desire to buy the magazine.

Beatles Special Limited Edition

Mojo also spotted that there was a market for special one-off issues, these being a mixture of editions focused on a single band and those looking at a theme, such as Progressive Rock bands or The British Invasion bands of the 1960s. For a while, these came thick and fast, but in recent years, seem to have fallen by the wayside. I suspect part of this is the relentless move of fans to the internet for news and information, but also - possibly - because the big *themes* have been exhausted for now. Mojo survives, I believe, because of the range of its writing and the greater depth it presents in terms of articles, It attracts good journalists, fine music historians and is well-liked by the artists themselves. All of this, of course, can be found on-line to some extent, but there is still no real substitute for sitting back and reading a quality print magazine. It's not just the feel of the pages and the design that's key, but also the whole package, the immersive feel that it provides. 

Kate Bush doodle on interior cover for #241

Magazines aren't cheap these days - Mojo costs £4.60 (including the CD) - but Mojo continues to hold up, I suspect, because although it has much ephemeral content (its review and news sections, good though they are), it still provides that depth that the internet and other publications don't seem to. Yes, the "same old bands" often reappear, but that's good marketing.


With the 20th anniversary issue, a re-launched website (Mojo Website) and some significant endorsements from a wide range of artists - including a hand-drawn interior cover by Kate Bush - it looks as if it still means business.

I do hope so.