Something that has become all the more significant when one can only assume that the guts of their profit nowadays is surely coming from merchandise sales rather those of physical copies of the magazine it’s self. Thrasher as an enterprise, not to take anything away from the good people who put the work in every month getting it to print,shout out to amazing photographer, genuinely funny writer and by all accounts nice bloke Mike Burnet, is no longer too concerned with selling a magazine every month but selling t-shirts, beer cozies and ultimately a lifestyle.
Now it’s not just young David’s insistence on wearing sleeveless t-shirts, gurning and throwing up devil horns that cemented his association with Thrasher the brand and potentially secured his win but perhaps more significantly the decision to release his cringeworthily titled Possessed to Skate video part on the Thrasher website. Previous to the irreversible and seismic change in the role skateboarding magazines brought on by the adoption of the internet as the primary outlet for skateboarding content a part featuring a single skateboarder would only be released as part of full video alongside parts from team riders other than themselves from one of their sponsors be it their board sponsor, shoe sponsor etc.
Now, a production like this with numerous skaters, filmers and other behind the scenes types involved can obviously take years to reach fruition and with skaters voracious appetites for new content that has come with skateboarding’s shift to the digital age, waiting 4 years to see new footage from the hot young pro of the minute simply will not do. So, as a response to shifting expectations of their audience more and more skateboarders have taken to releasing “solo parts” to showcase themselves when there is no full length on the horizon for any of their sponsors. At first solo parts like these were usually released through the website of one of their sponsors but recently various magazines have begun hosting the video on their site meaning that if you want to see the new part from say Austyn Gilette/David Gonzalez/Forrest Edwards, you have to go on the Thrasher website which can only be good news for Thrasher.
