By David Bauder
The Associated Press

Publishing executive John Rollins, who witnessed the infancy of Vibe and Spin magazines, had a revelation one day when he dropped a Buena Vista Social Club album into his CD player.

"The type of music I was listening to at home over the weekend was not the music that could be found in the pages of either of the magazines I helped found," he said.

So he decided to start a new one, aimed at the burgeoning market of adults over 30 who buy music. Tracks made its debut on newsstands Tuesday.

Sting's blue eyes stare out from the cover, which promises that Tracks is about "music built to last." Besides Sting, there are articles about Cassandra Wilson, Robert Plant and R.E.M. A lengthy and eclectic CD review section features pieces on Dolly Parton, Rufus Wainright, Al Green, Van Morrison, Death Cab for Cutie and Basement Jaxx.

Majority of buyers

Over the past decade, music buyers over age 30 have become the majority. They accounted for 56 percent of the music purchased in 2002, up from 46 percent a decade earlier, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

The joke - one with a bitter ring of truth for the music industry - is that older listeners are the majority because so many younger people are downloading music for free online.

Older listeners wield formidable purchasing power. Rollins, who joined Spin two years after it started in 1985 and helped found Vibe in 1993, enticed investors with statistics showing people aged 30 and over bought $7.5 billion worth of music in 2001, up from $3.2 billion a decade earlier.

Billboard's current Top 50 album chart contained 21 discs by artists who arguably appeal mostly to this group, including Rod Stewart, the Eagles, Bette Midler, Norah Jones, Toby Keith, Sarah McLachlan and Barbra Streisand.

That doesn't include discs by Ryan Adams, the Strokes or John Mayer, whose music - if not the names - should be familiar to older listeners.

Underserved market

"We've clearly seen that there is a very large, very significant part of the music-listening and music-buying audience that is not being spoken to by any of the existing music media - not just magazines, but TV channels and radio stations," said Alan Light, Tracks' editor-in-chief.

Rolling Stone is the magazine that resonates most with this audience, but it has kept its focus squarely on teens and young

adults. Jessica Simpson, vacuuming in her underwear, graced the most recent cover.

Still, there are plenty of places outside of music magazines, such as newspapers, where artists can reach their listeners, said Bill Flanagan, senior vice president of MTV Networks.

"It would be misleading to base your business plan on the assumption that people who read music magazines only read music magazines," said Flanagan, former editor of Musician magazine, which sought this audience during the 1980s.

Although the goal is to be a monthly, Tracks will publish only five issues next year. Advertisers have been promised a circulation of only 100,000; Rollins said fewer than 3 percent of people over age 30 who buy music regularly would have to buy Tracks for the magazine to reach that circulation goal.