FROM THE EDITOR
Like many of the more successful manufacturers in the coin-
operated amusement and music industry, we too are faced with the
problem of having some of our ideas--including our biggest idea of
all--copied by the competition.
In light of this impending competition in our field of publishing,
I want to strongly reaffirm our editorial policy and our commitment
to our paid subscribers.
Because we are aimed at you the operator, Play Meter is free,
free to write about topics where your needs are clearly
recognizable without fear of taking a stand. More than anyone else
on the whole staff, I realize that in the process of being free agents
we may make some enemies because we say what must be said.
Operators pay us to read Play Meter because until we came along
no one had the guts to say what many had been thinking and
because we represented their interests and concerns. Because I am
as firmly convinced as ever that the operator-location relationship
is the lifeblood of the industry, Play Meter's content will continue
to lean heavily toward items of interest and concern to the
operator.
I cannot see us doing it any other way. If we did, we would defeat
our own purpose and be of use to no one--operator, distributor, or
manufactuer.
As I have said before on this same page: If it had not been for our
charter subscribers, Play Meter would not have survived its first
issue and would not have made the accomplishments which others
are now trying to copy.
That's as true today as ever before, as more new subscribers
continue to be added to our mailing lists each month.
Unfortunately, what is also still true is that there are still many
operators out there who have received Play Meter free for several
months and have yet to offer us their allegiance by subscribing.
Although we've held on to them for some time in order to assure
our advertisers a large enough circulation exposure, thier time is
short. Many have already noticed that they do not receive every
issue. That happens because unpaid readers are continually rotated
off the mailing list to accomodate those readers who have verified
their faith in what we're doing by subscribing. As we've said
before, paid subscribers--most of whom are operators-- are our
customers and they can count on receiving not only all issues of
Play Meter but also the various services Play Meter subscribers
are offered each month.
Because of my deep appreciation of our operator subscribers, I
intend to continually extend new services to our paid readers. In
our September and October issues, you undoubtedly read about our
upcoming Music Programming supplement which paid subscribers
will begin receiving free every month in between issues of Play
Meter .
We have known all along that our readers who operate coin-op
phonographs need accurate, up-to-date and frequent listings of 45
rpm records, but we refused to forsake the amusement industry for
the recording industry in the pages of our magazine.
While we still stand by that refusal, we are prepared now to offer
paid subscribers only a free new interim service designed to help
them properly and profitably select music on a more timely basis to
fill their various location needs.