Subscription form and associated material, Contemporary Keyboard 1975

More images below!

Subscription form attached between the front inside cover and page 3 in Contemporary Keyboard November/December 1975.

"I remember when I was a kid..."

Well, it is getting near the end of the year, and I thought I would scan something a little bit different. And this blast from the past shows me just how much I take the Internet for granted.

Now'r days, if you want to subscribe to a magazine, you just head over to their Web site, hit that big subscribe button, and charge the sucker to your credit card. I've done it with Keyboard Magazine, Computer Music and many others. But it wasn't always that easy.

Back in the day when Contemporary Keyboard was first getting started, they needed to get subscriptions up... and fast. But without the Internet around, they had to resort to (*gasp*) snail mail. So like most, if not all magazines, they included a subscription form.

This two-sided subscription form was attached between the front inside cover and page three of the mag. On the front was a nice big promo including details about the mag and the cost - six bucks for six issues (can't beat that!). And, to make sure it was visible, it was printed in a really bright red colour with some crazy imagery.

On the back was the actual form, with pricing and address info. You could even save a few bucks by subscribing in multiples of six's.

But, the problem was that this subscription form was only about 4 x 6.5 inches (10 x 16.5 cm). So, even in bright red, I guess CK thought it could easily get lost. So, to help everyone find this important piece of material, CK also included a big one page subscription ad only a page-flip away on page five, sending the reader back a page flip.

And it is on page five that we get a better idea on why this Michelangelo-like imagery was chosen. Just look at the tagline - "A Truly Inspiring Music Magazine".

So, now that the reader has found the form and filled out a check for the appropriate amount, Contemporary Keyboard again wanted to make sure it was as easy as possible to get that money back to them. So, at the bottom of the back page of the form, you will see the text "Detach this page, fold, and insert into envelope".

What envelope...?

Well, sure enough, I flipped to the back of the magazine and found that the other half of the form page was attached to a mail-in envelope. Address info already printed on the front, and postage paid. They even kept the 'inspiring' imagery going.

So, let me get this straight. A buck an issue. And postage paid?

Count me in!

But what a hassle from CK's end. All that design, print and other resources that had to go into this just-starting-out magazine.

CK kept this form and envelope going until October/November 1976 issue when they changed it to a more contemporary design to promote subscriptions as a holiday gift.

Soooooo, if anyone wants to get *me* a holiday gift...

hint... hint...