There's something about holding a Rolling Stone Magazine in your hand. The weight is corporeal, and the glossy pages are luxurious. It's unlikely that people will give up their physical print publications any time soon. There's a misconception that the internet is here to compete against, and eventually take down real world media. As if one day soon we'll all be sitting in empty rooms with projections of furniture on the walls, shoveling virtual peas in our mouths.
Issuu.com allows publishers to create magazines online that mimic the real world intuitiveness of magazines. It's playing host to a myriad of small time publications, from all around the world. A reader now has access to art, music, design, articles, and photography magazines from independents all over the world.The internet isn't THE new market, it's A new market. One that will exist side by side with the offline market. People don't want to do away with movie, theaters, CDs, or even books and magazines. Not entirely anyway. Industries are going to have to learn to play to the strength of the format. The internet offers ease, variety, spontaneity. While books, and CDs offer novelty, collectability, experience, and an involvement in artistry.
No one is going to buy a magazine anymore just to read the news, or a CD just so they can put the music on their iPhone. They'll do it for other reasons, namely because they want the art in their hands. They want the artifact of a production that deserves a physical manifestation. Real world media just got upgraded, and it's going to experience some growing pains as it adapts to it's new role.
