The other day a promoter throwing a Hip-Hop and House party contacted 5 Mag asking for advertising rates, and after seeing them asked us instead for sponsorship (read=free). The things he asked for were beyond ridiculous that I at first thought it was a joke:
"As a sponsor of this event, I would be looking for, a Full Page spread, inside cover and adjacent page
Inclusion in all e-blasts and home page of web (starting as soon as possible)"
What that basically means is they are asking for 4 full pages from a 36-page mag which comes out to almost $2000 in lost revenue for us... and then don't get me started on the homepage and eblast shit. But wait! Here are the benefits they will give us:
"This is a huge event that you guys could receive a lot of benefit from. In exchange, your logo and website gets added to over 7500 flyers distributed throughout Chicago and Indiana. You may also have Banner exposure at the event."
We put out 10,000 copies of the magazine every month. What do we care about our logo being scrunched into 7500 flyers? Putting our logo on a flyer is usually a favor we do for the promoter to show support, not something we have to "pay" for! And after almost 4 years of being a strong presence in the House community, we don't need someone else to "give us exposure."
The audacity of the people that approach us on a daily basis is unmatched. Today I get a call from some entertainment company (read: a guy in his kitchen) saying he has a "local" and "upcoming" artist whom he believes we should do a write-up on and possibly give him the cover. Wha? Have you seen who we have on our covers? Frankie Knuckles, Louie Vega, Steve Hurley, Farley, Osunlade, Miguel Migs... and you want us to put this "local and upcoming artist"?
Seriously, if you want us to respect and actually consider you, do your homework and stop coming at us with a sense of entitlement. If you're a new artist, then submit your music so we can review it. If you're a DJ that has a good local following and played since "back in the day"... we can write about you, but that will never warrant a cover. Deflate your ego, take a sober and realistic view of your place in the hierarchy of the scene's spectrum, give us less headache.
Love, 5. Me. I'm pms-ing.