• by Larry Dobrow , Featured Columnist, February 28, 2005

Filter mini, a pocket-sized spin-off of Filter Magazine, has birthed a side project of its own. Launched earlier this year, the petite music/lifestyle publication released the mini mag as a free pdf file for alternative music aficionados. And while advertisers aren't lining up for space yet, the move could potentially goose the circulation  not to mention the hip quotient and awareness  of the entire Filter brand.

Downloadable at Filtermini .com and through Web communities like MySpace.com, the Filter mini offers content on up-and-coming acts. It's also stuffed to the gills with links to band and brand Web sites. Art and commerce are integrated, well, artfully; click on a cover from one of the many record reviews and you're whisked away to an Amazon.com page where you can purchase the disc.

While this interactivity is Filter mini Interactive's main draw, even Filter Magazine co-publisher Alan Miller concedes that the concept has a handful of drawbacks. Many Web users remain somewhat skeptical of downloads, while the ads aren't exactly large and eye-popping. "Some advertisers aren't used to seeing their materials small," he shrugs. "People will either get it or they won't."

Current advertisers include Virgin Megastore (which bought the entire ad inventory for Filter mini's first three editions), and Audiophile Clothing. Not surprisingly, the title hopes to add consumer electronics advertisers and spirits brands in the months ahead.

"[The interactive edition] wasn't done out of a desperate plea to expand," Miller notes. "We all just thought it was a cool idea."

Right now, Filter mini boasts 32 pages per edition, a number that Miller hopes to double or even triple before too long. The mag plans to jump its circulation to 90,000 effective with its second issue, due this month. While Miller declines to speculate about circulation for the interactive online edition, he describes it as "a huge advantage for advertisers. Potentially everyone can get this thing."

So far, Miller says he's received a positive response from the ad community but also the occasional yelps of "if it's not 1 million circ., we're not interested." Larry Dobrow