Covers: Your Opinion (#462)

One disadvantage of having a monthly magazine is the fact that it is monthly.

Translated: We can only have 12 cover features. And there are more than 12 deserving artists.

Compounding that is the fact that our readers have varying tastes in varying degrees.

I'll translate that, too. Some readers only want to see their favorite one or two artists on the cover every month. Naturally, that's unrealistic as not everyone has the same one or two favorite artists.

Other readers want to never see a cover artist repeated. That has a set of issues that must be reckoned with.

There are some readers who want to see only the "upper-elite" artists on the cover.

There are some readers who feel that rising artists should be featured on the cover frequently to help those artists get more established on the national level.

None of that takes into account another whole set of factors like record companies and talent agencies lobbying for coverage for their artists.

And, let's not forget, the just plain ole desire of us at Singing News for an artist to have a cover feature.

What to do? What to do?

As you can see, all of these (and other) factors somewhat place Singing News in a "no-win" situation. In other words, "can't please all the people all the time." Now, lest you think I'm whining, I'm not. I'm leading up to a point that you, as a reader of this diary, can help me with.

Below, you'll find a few options of possible cover feature variations. Shoot me an e-mail with your desire of what you'd like to see on the cover of Singing News. We won't worry about "what qualifies an artist as established" or define "rising", etc., now. Instead, I'm looking for honest input.

1.) Established Artists Only

2.) A Mixture Of Established and Rising Artists

3.) Never Repeat Cover Feature Artists

4.) Top Ten Singing News Fan Award Vote Recipients Only

5.) Number One Song Artists Only

6.) Other: Please Explain Briefly.

Send your e-mails to dannys.diary@singingnews.com. I'll be waiting to hear from you.