I recently emailed John Atkinson of Stereophile

Wolves, please pull back from Corona's throat. I don't think he meant that statement, in a completely. 'all or nothing' manner. His basic point as I interpret is that, while advertising is important, and marketing is at that core; please do R&D which justifies your marketing claims.
To say that the magazines are not influenced by advertisers is naive. That comes from having an inside the industry perspective. It is just that they (the mags) claim absolute autonomy and that their advertising has no bearing on who gets reviewed and who doesn't. Of course what do we expect them to say. "Hey these guys pay the bills, here is yet another review on their latest greatest." Advertising takes many shapes but has a common thread. "Coke is it" How simple, but look at what that did for Coca Cola (one of many hiundreds of catch phrases, and promos). Of course thay had the funds to repeat it 50 gazillion times, one key to this kind of advertising. The reason perhaps is that they are selling future urine, and a completely disposable piece of goods. But it is, as is most advertising, about imagery. I think giving Corona the benefit of the doubt is fair. Sometimes when the (industry) insiders let the respondants know their real names, everything they say is misconstrued as being self promotional. Albert Von Schweikert responded and was quickly lampooned by a couple of people who seem to thrive on controversy. I for one think as most good business thinkers do, that the delicate balance of Marketing and R&D are the real formula for busines success. Corona was only making this basic point. Of course this is IMHO.
Thanks, and good listening.
Larry R. Staples

When JGH was chief editor of Stereophile there were little or no ads, I think it was the same with the Absolute Sound; but there was integrity and credibility plus loyal following. With success came the ads, money, influence, you know the rest. These magazines had a very plain look but they were full of great information; now the magazines look great but they’re full of nonsense. If you were directing a small audio company would you want to put your ad in that pile?
There are many small audio companies that do not advertise in [MAGAZINES] but continue to succeed on the strength of their product alone. I for one find something quite noble in that.

You're referring to Stereophile AKA the Musical Fidelity product catalogue!!!!

I have been subscribing to Stereophile on and off since the eighties. JGH was the editor and chief crumudgeon then and I can say with volumes of proof that there was plenty of advertising in the magazine then. I will admit that there is more now. That may be due to the fact that it has become more of a pamphlet than a magazine though.

Manufacturers are not stupid. When they see a magazine that caters to their customer and does it at an increasing level of volume and quality they will want to advertise on those pages.

If magazines sell-out to advertisers how does this happen? It's like the: "What came first the chicken or the egg?" question. The answer in both cases is obvious. The chicken came first and so did the successful magazine. No one advertises in a magazine that has no circulation. When Stereophile and TAS got started they were an unknown quantity. There was no other rag that did the same thing they were doing. It would be pure speculation on the part of any advertiser to establish a relationship with such a publication.

The tiff between 'Tiffany' and TAS comes to mind. When TAS refused to bend over for them just because they advertised Tiffany threatened to pull their advertising. TAS response was to tell Tiffany that they would never accept advertising from them again. Tiffany went out of business shortly thereafter.

I find it quite noble that so many companies that did not advertise have gone out of business. WOW! Hurray for them. What a great bit of business saavy they displayed to all of us!!!

Companies that do not advertise and still succeed are the exception, not the rule.

Corona what do you do for a living? I doubt that you are a business owner. You seem to have no grasp of what it takes to compete in the marketplace.

Is there glory in a noble death?

Nrchy:
For over six years I have been owner and designer for an audio cable company. I can say with confidence; there is a market based on performance that exists outside the cloister of audio magazines.