La Banda Elástica, a quarterly full-color glossy about alternative Latin music, is planning to publish bimonthly. The popular youth mag also covers film, style and new technology. La Banda has a total circulation of 50,000 and a paid circulation of 20,000 (retail price is US $3.95, subscription costs US $30, which includes discounts for concerts, CDs and other gifts). A full page ad costs US $4,300 (CPM US $86). The free music mag is distributed nationally (most heavily in California) at large music stores, like Virgin Megastore. The Covina, Calif. based magazine is also considering a Mexican edition. Advertising revenues are generated entirely by national advertisers (e.g. WalMart, Honda, McDonald's, Hennessy, Toyota). La Banda Elástica recently signed a “content for traffic” agreement with Yahoo en español.
…while facing local competition.
La Banda Elástica has local competition in Los Angeles from Al Borde (circ. 32,000, CPM US $34), a free, biweekly Spanish-language music magazine targeting young Latinos. Most of its advertising is local – concerts, festivals and new CDs by Latin musicians are its main source of revenue. It also contains classified ads. The magazine once had substantial national advertising (beer and liquor), but some of these brands were lost after 9/11. In 2002, Al Borde was bought by Los Angeles based El Clasificado (weekly, circ. 150,000).
