As always, the world is changing. In fact, it’s been said that change is the only constant. Therefore, it may not come as a surprise to inform you that after more than three decades of serving as the leading journal for sound reinforcement, this will be the final issue of Live Sound International available in print form. At least for the foreseeable future.
LSI will now be delivered monthly as a digital edition only, but one that will still bring you the same exceptional content combined with all the benefits of a digital publication. A simple download and you can enjoy all the content from your tablet, phone or computer. In addition, there will be interactive editorial content – such as downloadable audio versions of select articles – joined by interactive messages from our advertisers, which will make creating personal connections with industry professionals easier than ever before.
The most important point: LSI will continue to be published monthly as a digital edition without waver and with the same diligence in fulfilling our mission to provide you, our readers, with the information and experiences to help further your professional efforts. Our authors, contributors, editors and support staff continue to strive to meet and exceed this mission, just as they’ve always done.
As one would expect, the decision to make this change doesn’t come lightly. Even before the outset of the pandemic, print publications were facing challenging circumstances, including rising costs of paper and postage that had an impact on every facet of production. In addition, our vendors are also facing some of the same supply chain disruption issues that are impacting so many of us both professionally and personally.
In light of that, some might say this transition was inevitable. But note that this isn’t the only change this publication has faced over the course of its 30-plus-year journey. LSI began in the form of sound reinforcement editorial features in Recording Engineer/Producer (RE/P) magazine many decades ago. As the fledgling market grew, so too did LSI, first as a quarterly supplement, then as a stand-alone bi-monthly publication, and finally, about 20 years ago, we made the move to a monthly schedule.
All along the way, we watched as the digital technology revolution took over the world, including the creation of what’s still the world’s most visited professional audio website, ProSoundWeb, followed by its many channels and affiliated publications, and even a broadcast channel, the ProSoundWeb Network that features leading podcasts that include Signal To Noise, Church Sound, Live Sound Bootcamp and much more.
So perhaps this latest transition was inevitable, particularly when factoring in how the viewing habits of our audience has changed as well. And in some ways, it’s exciting, presenting us with opportunities to provide an even deeper and more useful experience. Plus, we’ve never met a challenge that we didn’t come out of bigger and better than before, and we strongly suspect this latest chapter will prove similar.
As we go in this new direction, we want to hear from you, our readers – let us know how we can better serve your needs, of ideas that help us all get ahead as we all face a challenging yet exciting future.
And for now, please register for the digital edition, if you aren’t on that subscriber list already (it’s a different list than print). Just go to LiveSoundDigital.com, answer a couple of questions, hit “Submit” and you’ll be all set. We’ll see you online next month!
