Will scanning hurt the magazine industry?

[bluejeans]

in my case i'd say scanning helps the magazine industry. there are a couple that i buy every month without fail (uk vogue, paris vogue) but i'm not one to stand in a shop flicking through magazines to see if i want to buy them. there are countless occasions where i've seen scans here and decided to go out and buy the magazine because of what i've seen.

 

[Ghostkeeper]

I agree..
Personally I think it helps me. Scans aren't always in amazing quality so I usually buy it anyways because I would rather read it in person then on the computer. I love my magazines. Also, more then anything its advertising. I cant buy Vogue Nippon but If I ever go there I will.. They usually have good issues.

 

[ChloeFrancoise]

Scans aren't the same as having the actual magazine. I would buy a magazine if I can actually find it and want it and with scans I don't have to flip through magazines in the store that I might not end up getting anyway.

 

[thorkat]

I have been buying even more magazines since I have been looking at the scans on here. They encourage me to want to actually get the magazine. I don't want to have to sit in front of the computer all the time.

 

[yalil]

I bought more foreign magazines like Vogue Italia/Paris/Numero because of scanning here. For US publications, I've become more picky because my standards have gone up -- I used to buy magazines solely because of what I see on the cover, but now they have to be good (nevertheless, I think I've bought more Bazaar/W than Vogue because of what I saw here, if I ever buy a magazine. I used to just buy Vogue.). US publications should welcome this as a challenge, and just produce better magazines. Scanning and posting here are more like being presented with options-- hey freedom to choose! Why be afraid if your product is good. They can't just blame TFS for scanning magazines, but I guess they are very afraid that it is so obvious how sucky US magazines are when you compare them with foreign publications.

 

[chanels]

I agree with susie and iluvjeisa's points. Personally, I've always considered providing scans as a way to promote the magazine's name. We are a visually-oriented society, and simply describing contents of a periodical in text is not enough for consumers. Besides, a good amount of revenue for magazines already come from subscribers, and I'm sure 99.9% of them won't suddenly unsubscribe if they realize that scans are available online.

Well put

To be honest, scans have actually pushed me to buy more magazines, especially foreign ones. I love seeing the scans on tFs and I'm really thankful to so many members who take the time to do so. If the content's good, I'll go out and spend the $10+ to add to my growing collection. Before I joined tFs, I never thought about buying foreign mags, let alone think they were huge collectibles. Now, I'm a huge fan of Vogue Paris and look forward to the cover scans each month

And if the industry (specifically, if we're talking about the US) feels like scanning hurts them, then so be it. It gives them a chance to see what's missing in their magazines compared to foreign ones.

 

[ms-nietzsche]

If magazines had a problem with this forum (or other websites) scanning for fear of lost profit, all they have to do is post the editorials online themselves (like what Vogue US and W do with style.com) and have advertisers sponsor it.

 

[tigerrouge]

Like so many others, scans have increased my interest in buying magazines, so I don't consider the content I find here to be harmful to the industry. When someone posts images of the new Vogue Paris, it merely incites my interest in getting my hands on the actual (and rather expensive) issue. For anyone who loves magazines, scans are always going to be a secondary resource to the need each month for the physical product. A useful resource, but secondary nonetheless.

What stops me buying magazines is the endless recycling of uninspired content, which starts and stops with the magazines themselves, it has nothing to do with scanning.

That said, could it be argued that being exposed to a greater selection of the content of magazines, thanks to scanning, has increased this feeling for me? Well, the existence of the internet has led me to becoming overly saturated with information of every sort, you can't single out devoted scanners as the people who have created the overload. Or more precisely, companies will try to do that, because it's easier to get legal with a few individuals than it is to get their business heads around the seemingly uncontrollable universe of impulses and patterns that is the internet.

 

[KhaoticKharma]

I personally use scans as incentive; when I see who's on the cover of a magazine I don't subsribe to, like, say Elle or Esquire, if I like the list of contents and/or the cover, then I go out and buy it. After all, it's not like I always have my computer with me; it's not like I'm going to read an e-zine at the beach.

 

[softgrey]

the WHOLE INTERNET has hurt the publishing industry...
scans are a tiny issue....
it's entire websites and blogs that are the real issue...


every single publishing company is beefing up their internet presence and trying to figure out how to make money via the internet to make up for the money they are losing in print...



this is not speculation...
this is very real...and it is happening as we speak...

 

[tigerrouge]

I do believe it is - and will be - possible for people in the publishing industry to sustain creative and profitable careers and enterprises in tandem with the internet, but it'll require them to get their mind in gear with the opportunities of the new playing field. To operate as if the internet is a threat isn't going to be a beneficial business approach - it's asking for a negative return, because it's a negative starting point.

And when I say 'the internet', that essentially means 'the people who comprise it'. The existence of the internet has offered people a new way of expressing themselves in relation to the world, so selling people stuff requires a new approach to understanding human desire and the way people can now construct their self-identities. But instead I see businesses running scared from the internet, while trying to drain the last few dollars out of an outmoded business model. So I'd say, it's not really about technology, it's about psychology. But then, I would say that, it's 3am.

 

[5nap5hot]

I find that seeing the scans makes we want to go out and get the magazine.

 

[alix*]

I'm surprised some copyright industries haven't found out about tFS... unless they have and decided to take no action against it.
Are there not any copyright laws or regulations when it comes to reproducing their images?

 

[ElectricAlyce]

You got two types of magazines:
the HUGE ones
the less huge ones

The huge ones will persist, they always do
The smaller ones are the ones in the danger zone, but I don't think that they will face problems at the extent of, say, the music industry. I bought an issue of Dazed & Confused that I didn't really enjoy that much. Then I saw the scans for the current issue and I decided to buy it. When it comes to great fashion photography and texts then, yes, I save a huge amount of pictures from the web and read blogs, but I still need the pictures printed, on paper. Nothing beats it

And of course, more and more magazines are adapting, putting content on the web (I know at least both Nylon and Dazed have great websites, i-D is lagging behind sadly).

 

[good_anubus]

Scanning helps the industry. I used to buy a lot of magazines but then I stopped because I just got tired of them. I only buy magazines because of sites like TFS. They get me interested in certain issues and so I buy them. If it weren't for sites like TFS I probably wouldn't even care about these magazines (particularly the US magazines).

 

[radolgc]

what a great discussion! I have been buying tons of magazines since the middle 80s until today and i will never stop even if all the world's magazines are scanned in the best quality and uploaded somewhere! Nothing bats having the real magazine. I never enjoy scans, but I love scanning, because this way I share what i have with other people and by sharing information we se what we need or what we missed or what we want to have. Seeing scans from a new magazine can only increase my desire to go and buy it, not the opposite. I see no point in acussing people for scanning images from magazines! Of course there are people who can not afford to buy all the magazines they like, but those magazines can not take the money of these people any way. I never post HQ scans anymore, scans for me are simply information, information you can actually see, which is much more convinient for a collector like me. If those publishing companies have any idea of how much money we have spent on magazines, they must give us free subscribtions)lol
I also like to scan what i have and create my own websites and I see nothing wrong with it. I already own the magazine, so the paper can be scanned as much as I like. As long as I am not using it to make any profit, I see no point in feeling guilty for doing it. And even if you can make some profit, why not! You have the magazine any way! Those magazines make tons of money with advertising and they sound creepy if they find a problem in fans scanning pages from the magazines they have bought!

 

[Hafyiez wafa]

up

 

[IndigoHomme]

In my case, I'm a fan of male magazines around the world, I'm subscribed to many of them in digital format and I share some scans with followers through my blog. On one occasion, a VERY editorial group threatened to sue me for uploading their content without authorization, however I defended myself arguing that my website does not show advertising of any kind and that it practically did not earn money sharing its work. I currently share some scans because in Latin America you can not get physical magazines that can easily be purchased in the United States or the United Kingdom. I agree with ElectricAlyce: nothing beats having a magnificent photograph or a great text on paper, the fact is that in Latin America they do not look like other magazines.

 

[ellastica]

In the digital age I look at scanning as a sign people are BUYING magazines.

Imagine if all of the fashion image scans originally sourced from Fashion Spot members scans were erased from social media platforms like tumblr, instagram, Pinterest.

I don't think VOGUE Italia or any other mainstream magazines agrees.