At 4 am this morning, a Chinese Rolling Stone magazine fan left a long comment on a Danwei post, which is worth reading if you have been following the travails of that publication.
After all the hypes and scandals, even if the magazine continue to be published (I doubt if they can get another “kan hao”, and if they do, they will be paying extortion fee to the next “kan hau” owner). The reality is, after the “honeymoon” period is over for the magazine, both readers and advertisers will have to look at the demographics of the magazine and the readers. Music and film magazines in China is below the radar of advertisers. That is why there are hardly any prominent advertisement in most music and film magazines.
… American and English language used in the original magazine were badly translated into colourless Chinese in the magazine. In the past, how other music magazine got away with it was NOT many people who read the illegal and badly translated stories get to read and compare to the orginal version! But, as one reader pointed out, this is NOT acceptable when it is the official Chinese edition of Rolling Stone. We expect more professionalism and flair.
When one paid RMB20 for a music magazine we expect much more discipline and integrity than “oh, readers don’t see the original version to know our mistakes,and the RS headquarter also don’t read Chinese to know the mistakes and life-less translation. Because from what I have read in the 1st and 2nd issues, there were SO MANY mistakes (not just typos) that, if Rolling Stone US found out, will go berserk because their brand name is at stake!
Anyway, going back to the reality of getting consitent readership and advertising, which is essential for survival of the magazine. Look at the existing music and film magazines – none of them are making any money EVEN though they pay their contributors a meager (or no) fee, not to mention never have to pay for any illegal translation of Rolling Stone, Mojo or Q magazines. Rolling Stone as a legitimate magazine can’t do that so their cost is much higher (even though the writers are the same as those amateurish magazine), unless they want to rip off other magazine without paying…
…As an avid Rolling Stone magazine follower I am disappointed in the Chinese edition. Banned or not, the magazine is not what it hyped up to be to me as a reader.
Read the whole thing at the bottom of the Danwei post Rolling Stone Hits Wall?
In the meantime, One Media, the Hong Kong company behind the troubled Chinese Rolling Stone, has launched Ming magazine (pictured), a glossy in three parts that resembles a Chinese hybrid of Vanity Fair, People and GQ. They are advertising heavily on billboards in Beijing. Their distribution to the newsstands seems to be effective. But the content seems to be a bit of a mish mash. Time will tell.