OlderVibe Magazine Shutting Down
Vibe magazine, the urban-music magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones in 1993, will be closing, reports Daily Finance.
No word on when the last issue will be published. Eminem last covered it’s June/July 2009 issue.
UPDATE: Danyel Smith, editor in chief of Vibe, says, “On behalf the Vibe Content staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of Vibe Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s sixteenth anniversary, it’s a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the Vibe brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you,”
R.I.P. Vibe.
WHICH MAGAZINE do you think will be shutting down next?
22 Comments
economy sucks.
it’s sad for all the people loosing their jobs
and considering i want to be a journalist for a newspaper or magazine,
seems like it’s not the smartest choice of a career right now.
Yikes! Is there any print mag that’s safe now? Media industry in the toilet!!!
@kris: Yes,kris, there will be more time for you polish up on your grammar and sentence structure. Good-luck. :)
No magazine is safe – this is such a sucessful publication. If they can close down anyone can!
seriously? writers and journalist nowadays for entertainment magazines and newspapers are stupid. all they love to write is crap and lies. no wonder nobody’s buying it.
cause i didnt put madonna on in 94.
Hearing this news just re-enforces the ever evolving tragedy within Black Media.
A publication of this stature and size was guilty of one thing, not keeping up with the changing media platforms. Even with the recession and declining print media ad spend, Vibe was in a unique position to capitalize on its broad base, however, like many of their counterparts, they chose a different path. A path that did not expand its reach beyond their print borders to other platforms enabling them to re-connect with life long readers and encourage new subscriber base.
It was sad when Vibe was sold to a private equity firm and its even more sad to hear that they are going to cease operations. A movement has to start now or Black Media as we know it may become extinct.
In my opinion next on the clock is Radio One unfortunately, they are burden with a heavy debt load, variety of media outlets that are bleeding red, and a struggling TV Network joint venture. When Radio one had access to some free capital they chose to buy Blackplanet.com instead of paying down their debt. Poor decision making such as this examples shows and a stock price under $1.00, it is now only a matter of time before the closed sign is turned on for them.
This is terrible. I would think magazines–especially entertainment based ones–would still be doing well. Perhaps there was simply some mismanagement in there. But then again, in this time, media outlets–especially ethnic ones–that already tend to be smaller staffed–are especially at risk. I don’t know if magazines like this are included in that statement when discussing newspapers and the state of the media.
i hated that magazine
it was stupid, i never found any interest in even buying 1 magazine
u could tell it’s been heading downhill for a while now
Life & Style will be next. Bauer Griffin is losing so much money putting out L&S and InTouch.
Jared if you’re reading this.. here’s the link to the proposed last cover…
http://necolebitchie.com/2009/06/30/topless-christina-milian-the-dream-covers-vibe-final-issue
It’s with the Dream and a topless Christina Milian…
RIP VIBE
at least there won’t be another VIBE cover with eminem on it.
I’m not hurting for it. Magazines like Vibe and Source never interested me because hip-hop hasn’t been relevant in a long, long time. Every aspect of it is now completely mundane. Same crappy, inarticulate rappers with stories about how they came up from the projects and struck record deals and went on to sell millions of records just so they could buy 5 mansions and 12 sports cars to brag about on MTV Cribs. Rolling Stone might be next too if they keep putting the Jonas Brothers on the cover every other month. So sad how the music industry has hit rock bottom to the extreme. This makes Michael Jackson’s death even more painful; it’s the end of an era. The era of quality music. Now every song on the radio is recycled crap that is Auto-Tuned to death. Either that or emo music.
@irish girl: Wow. Is being a ***** really necessary? I’m pretty sure the girl wasn’t trying to make her writing debut via a blog comment. Get over yourself.
This is sad. And that photo of Eminem is creepy. Too much powder? He does not look attractive. Haha
I’m telling everyone the Source is hitting everyone with the take over. Just look at the magazine industry is down. their the only one standing
@Roam:
You’re absolutely right. I couldn’t have said it better. Hip Hop is truly dead and I hope it takes all the Sources, Vibes, and Soulja Boys with it.
Its terrible that so many people are probably going to loose their jobs. Eminem looks hot in that picture thought!
“Its terrible that so many people are probably going to loose their jobs”
How can one “loose” a job? Are there tight jobs?
In any case who knows if their fans can even read these days, nobody seems to know how to spell “lose” anymore.
nice cover….
love the cover
good publish, i obviously love this site, keep it.
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