Magazine links music, words in interactive venture.

Warner unit, publisher Ray Gun link up to market music

Warner Music Enterprises and Santa Monica-based Ray Gun Publishing have joined forces to create an "interactive" print magazine designed to market musical products directly to consumers while also turning a profit as a publishing venture.

Huh

Available only through mailed subscriptions, Huh is similar to many popular music magazines already on the scene, aimed at a young music-listening audience with editorial coverage ranging from heavy metal to rap. It is also to be heavy with features and music reviews on artists from all major record companies -- not just those owned by Warner Music.

The "interactive" difference comes with the Rock Video Monthly videotape, which is mailed with each Huh issue and highlights 10 musical acts corresponding to each subscribers' musical tastes.

Warner Music had developed the Rock Video Monthly videotape about 18 months ago, and mailed it to a subscriber base to showcase new artists at all major labels. It was originally sent each month without an accompanying magazine.

So merely including Huh magazine in a package with the videotape has been easy, Jerrett said, and it provides the magazine with a good starting subscription base.

The other "interactive" component of Huh, said Jerrett, is a telephone number through which readers can call and order compact disks and cassette tapes by those artists mentioned in the magazine -- whether or not they are Warner artists.

Each magazine also comes with a mail order form to send away for cassettes and CDs. Warner Music operates the phone/mail order end of the business.

Thus, Jerrett said, Huh is designed to have three separate revenue streams -- magazine advertising sales, mail-order sales and additional sales of Warner musical products generated by exposure in the magazine.

Raju Puthukarai, executive vice president of Warner Music Enterprises, said that, because Warner controls a substantial share of the music market, promoting music in general is bound to help Warner's sales specifically.

Thus, the company has recently launched several publications like Huh that cover classical, country and jazz music. Puthukarai said Warner surveys show 40 percent of the magazines' readers end up buying a product highlighted in the magazines.

"We're part and parcel of the development of new acts," Puthukarai said. "We're trying to promote it in the various ways we can."

Jerrett said advertising for the first issue of Huh was sold with a guaranteed base readership rate of 200,000. Marketed through publications from Rolling Stone to TV Guide and Motor Trend -- as well as through Warner's existing Rock Video Monthly videotape program -- the first issue went out to 285,000 subscribers, Jerrett said.

Jerrett added that, while the magazine is owned by Warner Music, its editorial coverage will remain "autonomous" and "non-biased."

"That's why they (Warner) came to us," rather than doing it themselves, Jerrett said.

For example, Jerrett said, the artists highlighted in the magazine will be chosen by the editorial staff with no interference from Warner. And the accompanying Rock Video Monthly videotape, while produced by Warner, also features artists without any preference given to Warner's acts.

Soon an audio compact disk will also be available, in addition to the videotape, Jerrett said, adding that Ray Gun staff will choose the songs on the CD "just like any radio station would."

Warner even has to pay for the advertisements it places in Huh, Jerrett said.

Roy Hamm, spokesman for Geffen Records, also gave Huh high marks for objectivity.

"At this point, it doesn't seem (like there's any bias)," Hamm said, adding that Geffen is submitting artists to be reviewed and getting a fairly good response.

"They're calling us back pretty much across the board," Hamm said.

Jerrett is no stranger to the world of music magazines. He bought out Creem magazine in 1989, and launched the music magazine Ray Gun in 1992. The following year, he launched the men's magazine Bikini as well.