pipes|drums Magazine celebrates five-year anniversary

October 2nd marked the fifth anniversary since the official launch of the independent and nonprofit pipes|drums, and the world’s most popular magazine for piping and drumming celebrates the occasion with the introduction of yet another new feature and the highlighting of several other milestones.

In 2006 the online magazine changed its name to the current pipes|drums, and with a nod to the future broke away from its quarterly print sister publication, recognizing that paper publishing put undue restrictions on content and accessibility.

Since 2006 pipes|drums has achieved more than 6-million total visits and more than 750,000 “absolute unique visitors.” In the five years since the launch of the newly named magazine, more than 21-million pages have been viewed, bringing massive exposure and ROI to the many organizations that choose to take out marketing sponsorship on the property.

Traffic to pipes|drums has increased steadily each year, and went up by nearly 15% in the last 12 months alone.

pipes|drums has consistently responded to readers’ requests and stayed on top of publishing trends, and today added an embedded video player on the front page of the magazine, which automatically highlights the latest video on pipes|drums’ popular YouTube Channel. The Channel has often been ranked by Google as one of the most active in terms of views when video features have been made live, such as the recent aggregation of the Juvenile competition at the 2011 World Championships.

Most importantly, paid subscriptions and registrations to pipes|drums are at an all-time high. Currently more than 3,500 pipers, drummers and enthusiasts subscribe to the magazine at the  $14.99 annual rate ($24.99/two years) to gain access to the entire pipes|drums articles archive, which now numbers more than 4,500 separate pieces. More than 26,000 articles, comments, tips, events and other content are available across the entire publication.

Where are p|d readers based? The results may be surprising: 33% are based in the United Kingdom; 30% Canada; 23% United States; 4% Australia; 2% New Zealand; 2% Ireland; Germany, France and all Scandinavian countries 1%; and more than 70 other countries making up the balance.

Over the last year alone, almost 350 different original articles were made available to pipes|drums readers, with 43 of these – Interviews, Reviews and Features – exclusively for subscribers. Some 299 articles are currently available to subscribers only.

In March 2011 pipes|drums was the first piping publication to offer a mobile version: p|d Mobile, optimized for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android use, as well as on tablets such as the iPad. Tablet users will probably prefer to view pipes|drums directly via the main site. Traffic to p|d Mobile steadily increases, with more than 40,000 visits and almost 75,000 page-views since launch.

In 2006 the online magazine changed its name after operating since 1995 as “Piper & Drummer Online.” The magazine became completely independent, with no connection to any association or business, and announced its commitment to being a totally nonprofit venture. Proceeds not plowed back in to the development, maintenance and marketing of the site and monetary compensation of expert contributors are donated to other worthy nonprofit piping and drumming causes.

“We’re free from having to sell any other product than quality content, or being influenced to us by a connected business, association or governing body,” said Andrew Berthoff, pipes|drums’ editor and publisher. “pipes|drums is positioned as a truly global magazine, with an agnostic view of the piping and drumming world – which today more than ever is truly a world. Since we became the first online piping publication 16 years ago, and even more so since the shift to ‘pipes|drums,’ testaments to our success are our ever-increasing traffic and subscriber-base.”

Readers should stay tuned to pipes|drums over the next few months as several exciting new features will be introduced.