The Ark Preston – a monthly music magazine delivering the best in unsigned and undiscovered music in the North West – launches its brand new website on Monday, powered by JDG Media.
thearkpreston.com launches at 8pm on Monday July 11 after 12 months of printed publication and being a branch of the Ark – a national project to increase the profile on unsigned music.
The new website will feature artist interviews; gig reviews; album EP and single reviews; band profiles, as well as up to date news of all thing music in Preston. On top of that we will be running competitions for gig and festival tickets, and there will be more multimedia content and every gig in Preston will be listed.
We’ve teamed up with JDG media, a business run by UCLan journalism graduate James Gordon, to launch the new site.
Our main focus will still be on local musicians, no matter what genre. We will also be broadening our scope onto out of town acts that play in this city. As for the printed magazine, that will stay on shelves but will circulate every three months with special print-only content. The new issue will be out in September 2011.
Ark Preston editor Gareth Butterworth said: “This is a great milestone for the Ark Preston. We’re breaking away from the shackles of any national manipulation which wasn’t as prolific or productive as we wanted it to be.
“It’s a boring cliché that this city hears all the time, but this is just what Preston needs. There are genially some top musicians in this area and I won’t be alone in saying once one takes off the rest will shortly follow.
“It happened in Manchester in the late 80s, early 90s and more recently in Sheffield in 2005/06. Not just one genre either, a guitar band getting hype can also be good for local DJs and producers, and vice versa.”
He added: “The Ark Preston will continue to run its own clubnight, bringing in an out of town band with a hype and letting local acts support on the night to what a big crowd.
“In terms of the site, I want it to be hub for music in Preston. Anyone into music should go to the site for events, news and the latest releases in Preston. It doesn’t have to be a site for those interested in the local musicians, even though that is our primary scope.
“I’m excited to work with James, I know he’s a hard working and has a successful track record his current work.”
James Gordon said: “Much of the work we do is in sport, but I have been looking for an opportunity for us to start building a music and entertainment portfolio, and this sort of project fits in well with our business ethos. Having known Gareth for a few years, I know his passion and enthusiasm for this project can make it a big success – and hopefully lead to expansion in the future.”
The Ark Preston began after an idea was expressed from John McClure (Reverend and the Makers) that more grass rooted music media was needed. So a few cities got involved and started reporting on their local scenes.
The only rules were that no genre was exempt and no-one was discriminated from coverage.
This all came under one website but Preston was the only city in the UK to print a monthly publication and did so for 12 consistent months. As the months passed, content began to deteriorate on the national website and Preston was only of the only cites uploading content. So we’ve decided to break away and make a bigger better site of our own.
For further information contact Gareth Butterworth by ringing 07912555240 or by emailing preston@arkmag.co.uk.
