After reading the news about Aus NZ Snowboarders closing earlier in the week, I reached out to Ryan Wilmott, who has been involved with the magazine for the last seven years, to get his thoughts on it. Ryan shot me back the below piece on his history with the magazine and the changes that have led to its demise. Check it out below.
From Ryan Willmott:
It was a real shame to hear the news about the closing of Snowboarder Mag, though, like many I was not surprised by it. The writing had been on the wall for a few years now. The reality of the situation since the introduction of Transfer into the market, was there were now too many players competing for an ever shrinking piece of the pie and something had to give. Sadly that something was Snowboarder.
In the fifteen or so years I have been involved in the snow industry it has undergone a lot of changes. The amount of companies and distributors has steadily declined, as Burton has monopolized the majority of the rental market, leaving only a select few struggling to compete for the retail scraps. The strong value of the Australian dollar and the accessibility of purchasing gear off the internet has heavily impacted on retail stores, forcing many companies/distributors to tighten their belts and the first thing to get scaled back is the marketing budget . No magazine can survive without advertising.
Snowboarder was the first snowboard mag I ever read, having picked up the debut issue free with Surfing Life back in 1993. It was the first magazine to print my first photo from a Perisher Big Air Event in 1999 back when Cam Baranski was editor. It was also the first magazine to give me a start on an editorial trip as a photographer, when then editor Luke (Mouse) Beauchat invited me to Japan with Shay Paxton and Andrew Burton. This trip also resulted in one of my favourite cover shots of all time. I had a lot to be grateful for with the existence of Snowboarder, well before I was handed the reins as editor. The mag had developed a reputation of giving newcomers, be it riders, writers or photographers a start and I endeavored to continue this tradition to the best of my ability. Having risen through the ranks as a photographer, I had experienced the trials and tribulations first hand and I went out of my way to try and foster new talent and encourage those to continue shooting, for without photographers there would be no magazines. We all know no one ever reads the words.
It’s sad to see a title and brand you dedicated the last 7 years of your life too, fall by the wayside, but I’m proud of what I managed to achieve during my term. As Bob Dylan once said “the times, they are a changing” and I really do hope Snowboard magazines somehow survive in this constantly evolving digital era, that is currently threatening their existence. There is no better feeling than seeing an amazing photo in print, whether you are the editor, the photographer, the rider or the reader. Hopefully this is not a thing of the past ten years from now.
