Maybe it’s cliché, but it’s hard not to get a certain Queen song stuck in your head when headlines like today’s — Alpha Media closes popular music magazine Blender — just won’t stop coming. The magazine’s April issue, on stands now, will be its last.
Alpha Media delivered the news to the Blender staff in a meeting this morning. Alpha Media CEO Stephen Duggan said in a company memo that the fold was all bitter, and no sweet.
“Since 2001, Blender has provided unmatched music coverage and entertainment news in its unique voice to a profoundly dedicated audience of music enthusiasts,” Mr. Duggan wrote. “We are particularly grateful to the sales team and to the tremendously talented editorial staff for their hard work and commitment to Blender.”
The close was part of other big changes at Alpha Media, which also publishes Maxim. The former editor in chief of Blender, Joe Levy, will now be editor in chief of the newly combined Maxim/Maxim digital operation. Jim Kaminsky, Maxim magazine’s editor in chief, is leaving the company.
Thirty jobs were sliced in total. Paid subscriptions and newsstand stales had sharply declined at Blender, and ad pages had plunged 31 percent in the last year, and another 57 percent in the period of January to April. The closing is definitely yet another sign of the all-too-obvious signs, but we can’t help but wonder what music magazines will be able to make it out of this recession alive.
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