COMPANY PROFILE OYSTER


Oyster’s London Drum Show debuted back in September and was praised by the majority of those that attended


once successful Drummer Live shows in its veins – let alone of the London Guitar Show. But both of those events had been parcelled-up by the magazines’ previous owners and effectively deposited with the MIA and Oyster’s biggest rival, Future Publishing. Montgomery-Swan’s reaction was to follow the model he had used with his first two magazines and break the market down into discrete, affordable, shows. As the UK entered a deep recession, it looked like a winning formula. “It certainly was with the Drum Show – it


CHEERING FOR THE UNDERDOG “We’re a family business and I’d much prefer to employ people who have a passion for it, than necessarily go down the route of employing people who have done it all before. We’ve taken on people over the years who have just had the raw abilities and a desire to learn. And they’ve really shown themselves to be excellent – all you needed to do was give them the opportunity. When Ben Cooper started editing Acoustic magazine, for example, he’d never edited a magazine in his life, but that magazine speaks for itself. “We realise we’re the underdog – but I quite like that because we’re a progressive company with a progressive outlook. We have the advantage of being not dogged by having to answer to a board and a top-heavy hierarchical system and that makes a significant difference. There are some 23 people employed in Oyster House and we’re of a size and structure that we’re able to be nimble. If any one of our staff


“ 38 miPRO


We’ve taken on people over the years who have just had the raw abilities and a


desire to learn. Hugo Montgomery-Swan


comes to the table with a good idea, we can implement it that day.” Another aspect to Oyster’s business model,


he says, it that everything they do has to work. There isn’t room for an expensive failure in a business so small.


KEEPING UP WITH THE SMITHS “We don’t have vast finances, so everything we do has to stack-up. The only way we’re able to compete is by ensuring that we produce items of quality – and that has not only meant we’ve attracted readers and retained them, but that we’ve gained the respect of the industry. It has also meant we’ve been able to secure excellent distribution via WH Smith.”


JANUARY 2011 This latter is the bugbear of all consumer


magazine publishers. Fall foul of Smiths and you might as well shut-up shop and as the publishing market contracts and tightens, it’s niche titles that have been suffering. Oyster, Montgomery-Swan says, has been one of the fortunate ones, despite this. “It doesn’t matter how much money you seek to woo them with, in terms of an initial launch. If the magazine does not sell, you won’t remain listed by Smiths – and all our magazines are listed, because they do sell.” None the less, Oyster remains a tiny


company compared with the mighty Future and he is well aware that some distributors and advertisers regard anyone else as a bit of an afterthought – a fate that even befell IPC’s Guitar & Bass, recently sold to another small publisher, Anthem Publishing. This attitude made it more important that


Oyster turned around its two newcomers, Drummer and Guitar Buyer, which go head to head against Future’s Rhythm and Total Guitar. Montgomery-Swan is the first to say that he bought two tired titles. Though with inherent strengths, both had suffered from under- investment and Oyster had to work hard to bring them up to standard. “We had to turn them round in terms of their production quality, but we also had to tell the truth about what they were actually selling and build on that. We recognised that while the content of the magazines was good, we could make something more of them.”


EXHIBITIONISTS Having proved that Oyster could thrive with its two niche instrument titles and feeling it has begun to turn the tide for its more mainstream publications, the Oyster team then took on an even bigger challenge, by eyeing the exhibition market. As the owner of Drummer


magazine, it had the lineage of the


was a huge success. The whole of the industry has been more than pleased with it and we’ve shown what we can do. It also did a huge amount of good for the magazine. We’ve already been taking bookings for next year’s drum show and we’re already selling tickets.” In recent weeks, however, after an initial wave of sentiment in favour of cheaper shows, some concerns have been raised by distributors alarmed by the sheer number they are now being asked to attend. One large, general show might be expensive – but if you aggregate the dealer and regional shows, along with Oyster’s and those of Clive Morton’s team – aren’t the smaller shows working out just as costly? “I understand the sentiment, but having been


involved in organising shows for 12 years, that has always been a concern. If you want to go into this business as a publisher or a show organiser to become fat and rich, then the music industry isn’t the one you should be going into. There’s a good living to be had by people who play a quality and meaningful role within it, but if you’re simply an exhibition organiser or magazine publisher that offers a whole raft of products with rather a loose interest in what you’re doing, then it’s likely you’ll bring into play products for which there’s no real need. “Traditional shows are just not affordable


The publisher was able to revive its two newest titles to a point where they are now worthy competitors to Future’s Rhythm and Total Guitar


now. The largest distributors and manufacturers might still be able to afford them but in the main, companies are less able to spend those large sums.” Oyster clearly has major challenges ahead of


it, but Hugo Montgomery-Swan is a very determined character with a deep involvement in music and has assumed a rapidly growing role in the industry. Writing Oyster off as ‘that little niche publisher down in Devon’ was always unwise. Nowadays it would be just plain foolish. OYSTER HOUSE: 01884 266100


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92