Y.Ö: Whatever you are gonna do or start with a new thing you need to kill it.

I liked music when I was a kid and as my mom said you have been always busy with listening to music, and exploring everything behind it and buying cassettes and they were not cheap as well…The fun part behind this story is after I played the cassettes several times I broke it because I wanted to know how they put that together and how does little things play after we put to in the cassette player I have been always exploring. To have an own magazine idea., I liked when music magazines that I bought did interviews with Big artists because I liked the music and the music scene, I always knew that someday I wanted to start something like this but in a different way maybe. After trying some different projects I realized to start an Online Music magazine in Turkish back in 2018, I wanted to do something different, and everything needed to be a REAL STORY. There were many music magazines in Turkey but not a concept like Pop&Kultur. So I did put a team together where I can trust on and after that, I did sit down and think about the inside sections, The design, The questions what we are gonna ask and what we are not gonna ask them, What do we want to show people and so started working on it. After some brainstorming we said READY? SET GO! I Found the name of the magazine while when I was on vacation in Turkey, Kayseri in Where I originally come from 🙂

When thinking back, the early start of creating a magazine, what was the most challenging factor at first?

Dealing with deadlines and getting everything on time, doing the design part, translating part sending everything on time that was the only thing the first time that is something that was not a hard thing for but kind of but I like discipline so everything was going really fast. Everything needed to be organized great. Whatever you are gonna do or start with a new thing you need to KILL IT no matter what.

Was there another music magazine that inspired you to start POPNKÜLTÜR?

Not really because I always had different ideas, I always wanted to show the real story of artists or rappers.

Throughout the years, POPNKÜLTÜR had the privilege to interview big names in the industry, for example Sean Paul, Ava Max, Enrique Iglesias, Maluma, and The Black Eyed Peas. How did you approach all these artists?

Yes, this is one of where we are most proud of. I think reaching the right person for who managing the artist has a big impact on it, But not only that, you need to show them 10000% of what you want to do and show them how we’re are gonna deal with the process, Working with the artist’s team if very important in this case to get everything on time, for us is important how they are feeling very good about it and if they are happy with the results we are more than happy! Teamwork is the key to a big Success.

Was there a collaboration with an artist that really amazed you?

I think every collaboration did amaze us actually, Every single issue is very important for us, We are always happy that we can step into their stories and of course, we wanted to thank everybody for giving us this chance.

Apart from POPNKÜLTÜR, you also created a magazine in English, The Music Of Now, and many other projects. How do you come up with different concept ideas?

I always have 100 ideas maybe for something that I wanted to do, The concept The Music Of Now was the first project that we did work on it and I wanted to bring that back because it was a huge success too. How do I come with different ideas for it is, I always wanted to think different, I never want to do something that already has been done or maybe that has been done before but I want to take it to another level something like this. We have great memories with The Music Of Now and that was the begging of our journey.

Would you ever consider releasing printed versions of your magazines, too, if possible?

We are getting so many questions about having a printed version of our magazine but what I think is now, we are living in a time where we can use the technology at the max and I also want to use the latest technology on our projects, I don’t know if we publishing printed versions if that will give the same taste as we are doing right now. Who knows what the future will bring off course. Only god knows.

With your experience and background, what is the main advice you would give to somebody who wants to publish their own magazine?

First of all, They need to know what they want to tell with their concept, What do you want to do differently? After that, having a good team that brainstorms with you, Listening to people what they want, Having good communication with the team of the artists, getting everything done on time, making sure that everything is ok to publish it, things like it and when you are doing this having fun is the most important thing while you working on this technical details.

Last but not least, what will be the future of POPNKÜLTÜR? Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?

It is almost 2022, And we did launch our first issue back in 2018. And If I think back on what we have achieved are big things I am very grateful for this, To see how much effort and hard work that has been put into this magazine is just amazing. What we do, We wanted to do always the best, We constantly thinking about new things and sometimes it needs more time, We are trying things and if we are happy about it we are doing it, If we are not happy about it we are not doing it. I hope people are still enjoying what they are reading. And I thank everybody who has believed in us since day one and supported us. I wish that 2022 will be a great year for all. Thank you. Thank You. Thank you!