fRoots suspending publication

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,Derek Schofield
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 06:43 AM

SteveT … yes, Ian Anderson has already had his 70th birthday, and has been looking for someone to take over fRoots for some time. The loss of Stirrings will be sad as well.
Derek

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: The Sandman
Date: 07 Jul 19 - 01:04 PM

I have only met Ian a couple of times, I have not as far as i can remember ever had a bad review in froots or southern rag. I did not read froots apart from very occasionally so I will not miss it particularly.   I have respect for anyone that organises or runs festivals, folk clubs music magazines, folk record companies etc. they are all people that are positive
I never make judgements of people based on what they may or may not have said on the internet, that includes posters on this thread.
I was not aware that Ian had already received a Gold Badge, but I am pleased that it happened

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: Vic Smith
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 09:04 AM

The very sad news has probably reached most enthusiasts by now but it is good to see the sad demise of "fRoots" recognised with an article on the enormous contribution that it has made in the pages of today's "The Guardian" :-

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/08/froots-british-folk-magazine-underground-music?fbclid=IwAR2NhpmHBqKAQOszxUCIFNueaK

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 09:22 AM

There are a few British singers and bands who have made their fortunes in recent years
on the back of being marketed to young fans as "folk" artists..

They might have a few spare quid and a potential sense of duty
to contribute a bit to an online fRoots,
and a new salaried team...???

Hello Ed... feeling altruistic...???????

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: Vic Smith
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 09:48 AM

Supporters of fRoots organised a huge successful fundraising project about three years ago at the same time as the magazine moved from monthly to quarterly, but the huge loss of advertising revenue - common to all magazines, but particularly music mags has meant that its viability has become more marginal.
We also have ti remember that Ian is now 70 and may not want to spend a huge amount of each week at his computer.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 09:55 AM

"We also have ti remember that Ian is now 70 and may not want to spend a huge amount of each week at his computer"

That don't seem to stop most mudcatters...
They seem to spend even more time on their keyboards since retirement...

Ian would be very welcome here, but he's probably got far too much sense...???

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: The Sandman
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 10:56 AM

punkfolk rocker has made 86 posts in the last seven days

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 11:02 AM

punkfolkrocker - you've got to try harder!

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 11:04 AM

Hurrah.. I have now reached the giddy heights of gaining my own stalker mudcat fan...

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 11:15 AM

If any advertisers want to contact me regarding gifting me free products and paid endorsements,
I have a fantastic media reach of 1 on my exciting international social network fanbase
of potential consumers for your products.
Get in touch with me, we can maximise success and sales together going forward.....

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 08 Jul 19 - 11:20 AM

Thanks Dick - with your continued support I can enjoy a fabulous lifestyle
as a social media influencer and entrepreneur...


this is post 89... or maybe 90.. I'm too excited to keep track...

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 05:56 AM

The radio said they were just ‘deportees’

Each tea lasts an hour, then he wanders home alone

My children will go as soon as they grow, cos ain’t nothing here now to hold them.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 05:58 AM

Sorry, this was meant for Saddest Lines, though not entirely unconnected with this thread.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 06:53 AM

Just a thought - after recent debates about how healthy a state the "scene" is in, if that were to be the case, then surely "fRoots" would be thriving, not folding, or have the current UK folk scene given up on reading ?
I gave up on it years ago, but am sorry to hear about its' demise.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 07:13 AM

People are still reading but via the internet. I haven't bought a newspaper in years but keep abreast of the news by going online.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 07:13 AM

The scene might be healthy but I don't think there's much money in it. It's hard to run make money from any print magazine, music or otherwise.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 11:58 AM

I doubt if it ever made much money, but it survived for 40 years. It just seems strange to me that if things in the UK folk scene are so rosy just now as we're being told, why does it go tits up when all is tickety-boo ?

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,Brimbacombe
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 12:25 PM

The printed fRoots magazine was one way in which people would garner information about the folk scene. Much of what it did is now available in much more instant, convenient forms, via the internet and social media. For such a niche publication, I'd say that it did well to continue so long into the digital age (with Living Tradition still going). Its demise doesn't necessarily reflect upon the state of the folk scene; looking at wider trends, it more reflects the state of print media.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST,CJ
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 12:27 PM

Absolutely, Brimbacombe. The Word, NME, Sounds Melody Maker, many more no doubt, all gone (I know the NME has an existence online still). I agree fRoots did well to last so long.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 12:36 PM

The mrs recently treated herself to copies of Mojo and Uncut mags for the Springsteen articles.
We stopped buying any mags like that a good decade ago.
Now they are well too expensive..

I had to give up trying to read the copies she bought
because no matter how I adjusted my glasses,
I couldn't read the smallest print sizes...

I'm glad to see an end of paper and print.
We are too close to ecological disaster to continue
with this much cherished, but no longer viable media format...

btw.. also about 10 years ago I had to chuck out my many boxes of collected magazines accumulated since the 1970s,
which I've lugged in vans all over the country whenever I moved home,
because they'd all gone mildewed and too toxic to keep...

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 01:51 PM

I love the smell of magazines in the morning... ;-)

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jul 19 - 09:34 AM

"I'm glad to see an end of paper and print. We are too close to ecological disaster to continue
with this much cherished, but no longer viable media format"

Really, paper is a long way down the list when it comes down to the villains of climate change. Paper can be made sustainably; and while I'd have to remind myself of the articles, I've read info about how forests can be managed with a virtuous cycle of cutting down and replanting in ways that are more carbon-absorption efficient than simply leaving trees to grow. Plus there's always recycled paper.

It's interesting that you describe print as 'no longer viable': the one thing print has going for it is that you can actually charge for it, so you can run a magazine professionally (i.e. commission and publish a whole fat bunch of in-depth features every month). You can't do that online, which is why there are only a handful of professional music websites. The few that there are are all rock and pop. There are no professional folk music websites.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jul 19 - 10:12 AM

I have never had to stop reading a print magazine because I had no signal or low battery.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 Jul 19 - 10:42 AM

GUEST - Well thank you for your triumphant challenge to my blatantly obvious personal opinion...
I feel so much better for being so rightly put down in my place...

So, it may be a reassurance potential exists for sustainable paper manufacture,
but let's consider the actual reality of greedy negligent global industy
willingly following best sustainable manufacturing procedures..
ok.. let's see how effectively that works out in coming years then...??

btw.. Do you have investments in paper production...???

But, I'll give you this..
in an emergency a smatphone or tablet
aint so great when you discover too late you've ran out of toilet paper...

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: Vic Smith
Date: 19 Jul 19 - 03:02 PM

I am probably not the only one who could be saying this but here goes....

Over the years, I have been involved in a number of projects that have sought funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, ACE, local authority funding etc. The application process is complicated, daunting even. One of the requirements is to prove "Matched Funding" - the ability to demonstrate that you have been able to raise funding from other sources. This can be difficult but one way round this is to obtain "free" advertising space in magazines that would otherwise be quite expensive.
In two of these applications - for funding to support the America Over The Water, Shirley Collins' multi-media show and for Lewes Folk Festival, we were given prominent expensive adverts in a number of issues and this helped us to show "matched funding".
Which magazine gave us this support? fRoots
Another reason to be thankful to Ian Anderson.

Perhaps I ought to point out that this was something of a reciprocal arrangement because I never used to be asked to be paid for the articles that I wrote - but this was more to do with my concern about the shoe-string nature of the magazine's finances and my desire to see it continue.

Subject: RE: fRoots suspending publication
From: rich-joy
Date: 19 Jul 19 - 06:50 PM

I had held off posting in the beginning, to this thread, as I was merely a Subscriber, from far far away (Down Under!) ….. (AND Mudcat has been - of late - often “unavailable” to us!!)

Though I was a subscriber for some years to other print pubs (Living Tradition, Musical Traditions, SingOut! ), I started with Ian A. from The Southern Rag days, through Folk Roots and into fRoots, until Life took me into other, less financially beneficial, fields and places.

But living in Oz, there are SO many musicians I would never have heard of (or at least, not until many years later), if it weren’t for this exciting publication. The quantity and scope (and quality), of my LP and CD collections increased enormously!
[and BtW, I am also still proud to own LPs of Hot Vultures / English Country Blues Band / Maggie Holland!! :) ]

“World Music” (before Ian coined the term – but hey, let’s NOT turn that into yet another Mudcat argument!), had - in my Shopping Experience - previously been LPs of dubious German polka bands, or, at the other end of the scale, the wonderful “Misa” series, e.g.

Thanks to FR, the world of music really did open up for me. And how else would I have heard of the wonderful, late lamented Johnny Clegg (when he did make it to Oz, it was nowhere near my abode!)

Far too many other examples to cite, but I am eternally grateful for the vision and passion of Ian A. and his Team and their sharing of so much incredible music from ALL over the globe.

Kudos – Respect – THANKS!!!


Cheers, R-J