Vibe Magazine Shuts Down
VIBE magazine has shut down.
The magazine was launched in 1993 by music industry legend Quincy Jones and it served as as widely revered urban magazine.
Several sources verified the closing and a message on twitter also indicated the closure. The magazine said, “Thanks for everything.”
A statement is expected to be released by the end of the business on Tuesday.
In the 90’s, VIBE experienced meteoric success as a business and an outlet for urban journalism. It has ailed under the ownership of private equity firm Wicks Group of Companies, AOL reported.
The magazine had seen a dramatic reduction in ad pages and circulation. Earlier this year, employees were put on a four-day workweek and other cuts were made such as scaling back to 10 issues per year.
There is speculation that the magazine will transform into an online-only entity.
Calls for comment were not immediately returned.
source: http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2009/06/30/21724506.aspx
Only bought one issue. The one with J Lo on the front, from about 10 years ago. Not a bad magazine. But it’s a tough time for periodicals. Even as they expand to the internet. It’s all about blogs now, and there’s so many entertainment reporters who have blogs now anyway, full of pics and videos, that magazines like Vibe are becoming obsolete. I’d be cool with this, if the internet wasn’t so fucking rigged to support commercialism and weed out originality.
Shit, I’ve had a photo or two or more in nearly ever issue for a decade and although they never let me shoot for them they did a 4 page article on me when “Who Shot Ya?” was released which helped push up my sales.
George Pitts was an elitist ass. And the latest Editor In Chief was a groupie and thought she was a celebrity. When Danyel Smith was introduced to me she looked at me like I was a stain on her blouse and as though she was doing me a favor by letting me breathe the same air as her.
Now thanks in part to her inept stewardship she is unemployed and dozens if not hundreds of hard working folk are assed out also. Another problem is they did not know what they were. Were they Hip Hop, Gay, Fashion, Preppie, Black or mainstream. You can’t be all things to all people in a glossy magazine. And their covers were shit, especially the wanted poster type shot of Kanye and the water bug shot of Mary J. RIP VIBE Ernie