There is only so much available in the media today about Guyanese music and the wider culture and that leaves us wanting something more substantial. The folks behind De Pulse entertainment magazine have set their sights on filling that void and are promising “serious entertainment” of a sort never seen before. The Scene spoke to Editor-in-Chief Ruel Johnson recently about the publication which is set to hit newsstands soon.
TS: Whose brainchild is De Pulse?
RJ: De Pulse came out of an initial idea for an entertainment magazine that was touted to me by Mrs Jo Nellis Duncan. That idea was basically to find a vehicle for showcasing local talent, particularly in the music industry, to the region and the wider world. Having done some entertainment journalism in the past, I had incidentally also wanted to produce an entertainment publication and had been in discussion with someone else who wanted to launch another entertainment magazine but that deal never materialised. What Mrs Duncan and I came up with is a partnership mechanism for co-publication and De Pulse was born. Or is an advanced state of gestation, rather.
TS: Why do you think there is need for such a publication?
RJ: With all due respect to the existing publications and websites that deal with entertainment, I don’t believe that the entertainment journalism that exists at present does justice to the creative talent out there. Our tagline for this publication is “Serious Entertainment”, precisely because we believe that our creative talents deserve to be taken seriously and not given the sort of puff piece, photo op coverage that currently prevails. The artistes take their work very seriously, their fans take their work seriously; the journalism needs to catch up. We’re going to do a bit of the light stuff but our central strategy is to produce world class quality feature journalism, including in-depth artiste portraits, industry investigations and op-ed pieces designed to analyse and impact regional policy in the creative industries. Imagine a publication like Rolling Stone but without the political pretensions.
TS: Giving the artistes their due is nice and all that but at the end of the day a magazine is a business. What about the marketplace? Do you see people shelling out money for such a publication to make it a profitable venture?
RJ: I believe that quality is attractive, whether to the potential advertiser or the potential customer. Our intended marketplace is Guyana, the Caribbean, and the Caribbean diaspora which collectively constitute, particularly for culturally-based products, the very sort of economy of scale that Caribbean manufacturers continuously complain about not existing in the region. The thing with a locally based creative product, which this magazine is, both directly in the sense that it is conceptualised and produced here – with our printing taking place in Barbados – is that you have a niche product, that you can now export to really two markets. The first is the one in which you’re supplying a need for quality entertainment industry journalism that only now currently exists in an incidental fashion in Caribbean Beat. The second, incidental one, is the developed world market that is hungering for the exotic, but with the quality to which it is accustomed. The marketplace is out there.
TS: Why isn’t this local product being printed locally?
RJ: First of all, our concept of local extends to the Caricom Caribbean. I am an unabashed integrationist, and while some of our policy op-ed, for example, are going to necessarily be Guyana-specific, the primary perspective is going to be regional. From a business perspective, it makes sense cost-wise because we have an existing relationship with COT in Barbados, but even without which our unit cost for printing is lower than any other printer in the region, and it comes with the highest quality. Additionally, Anies Jordan, COT’s Senior Sales Consultant, has a background in publishing in the developed world and understands our needs instinctively. We know that there are definite benefits of printing outside the region. Ian Randle Publications prints its books in the United States. The recently launched, Caribbean Publishing House has had its Guyana Classics series edited, produced and printed in England, all simply for the convenience of it. De Pulse has a vision that we can market Caribbean talent and production capability from within the region and we’re staying true to that vision.
TS: What is going to set De Pulse apart content-wise from other entertainment magazines or even websites?
RJ: Simply put, existing publications and websites are run neither by journalists nor people involved in the creative industries. As Editor-in-Chief of De Pulse, I believe I bring experience not only as a journalist but as a literary writer, and fairly good one if my resume has anything to say about it. More importantly, my co-publisher, Mrs Duncan, brings a not quite coincidental access to the music industry in being the wife of Brutal Tracks Recording Studio owner, Christian Duncan. In fact, my office is a former recording studio and is literally about fifteen feet away from the current studio; I still have the soundproof padding on the walls which is part of the decor that is going to stay.
TS: When is De Pulse going to be out and what can we expect?
RJ: Because of this relationship, I’m in proximity to some serious talent…. I can single out reggae singer, Mystic, who’s going to be featured fully as the cover story for our December issue and who has phenomenal talent. During a meeting with our marketing team last week, I took them into the studio to listen to some of his tracks – they became believers, if my spiel didn’t work. The publication is going to be every two months, with our October premiere issue scheduled to be launched in early November. The price will be $1,000 VAT inclusive. We’re going to have an aggressive pre-launch PR and marketing campaign that covers radio, television and the internet, including Facebook, Brutalradio. com, and our blog at www. depulsemag.blogspot.com
