Struggling Spin Mag sold

[vansmack]

San Francisco Business Times - 1:09 PM PST Wednesday
 
 Spin Magazine bought by S.F. publisher
 Eric Young
 
 The publisher of 7x7 Magazine and the owner of Chronicle Books acquired Spin Magazine, a music publication that has recorded flat revenue and declining ad pages of late.
 
 The purchase price was not disclosed, but sources speculated the price would be close to $5 million, according to Folio, a publication that covers the magazine industry.
 
 San Francisco-based Hartle Media LLC, publisher of the glossy 7x7 Magazine, and McEvoy Group LLC, owner of Chronicle Books, announced the deal Tuesday. They bought the 21-year-old magazine from Vibe/Spin Ventures LLC, an entity owned by Robert Miller, Quincy Jones, David Salzman and private equity firm Freeman Spogli.
 
 Spin is based in New York and a spokeswoman said its headquarters will remain there.
 
 With the Spin purchase, Hartle Media and McEvoy Group face the challenge of pumping new life into the title. Spin has reportedly been losing up to $3 million a year and market share, according to Folio. Last year Spin's circulation was 550,000 and revenue was $33.83 -- flat when compared to 2004 -- on 580 ad pages, a decrease of four percent, according to Publishers Information Bureau figures.
 
 
 http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2006/02/27/daily33.html?from_rss=1

[ggw]

The article neglects to mention that Spin was purchased for $42 million in 1997.  Part of the problem is that Spin sucks; part of the problem is that the music magazine business is dying.

[vansmack]

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
  The article neglects to mention that Spin was purchased for $42 million in 1997.

Ouch.

[HoyaSaxa03]

i subscribed to spin for the last year to give it another shot (used to subscribe long ago), and i'm definitely not renewing ... the magazine really really sucks
 
 they want to be "cool and indie" like magnet, but they have to cater to all these people who don't know what the fuck they're talking about, so they're always way late with stuff (even later than magnet's quarterly cycle) and end up hyping a lot of crap ... this month's issue just came with My Chemical Romance on the cover and my "last chance for renewal" card, ummmmmm, no thanks ...

[Mobius]

Spin had a certain aura when it was run by Bob Guccione, Jr. and it introduced you to Pavement and NWA and convinced you to give Paul's Boutique another listen.  Not sure where it went so wrong.  The current editor/publisher, as mentioned, su-u-cks.  She's like a society wannabe hack who turned the magazine into a champion of a superficial fashion scene (the Killers are hot! M.I.A. is hot!) rather than anything substantive (or interesting).  It could and should be an intelligent NME for America.  Also, they had a head start on everyone and could have established a strong online presence.  Oh well.  Its easy enough to read NME and Mojo instead, but it'd be nice to have a strong American champion of our (and others) music scene.

Originally posted by HoyaParanoia:
  i subscribed to spin

Why doesn't this suprise me?
 
 -
 
 -
 
 BTW, you should consider switching to Swedish magazines, pronto.

[bellenseb]

The only music mag I find worth buying, rather than flipping through at Borders, is the Big Takeover. Always excellent.
 
 That said, Skyscraper, Magnet, and Paste are pretty decent too. It does seem like the ad market for music mags will become smaller and smaller as more people advertise online.
 
 Has anyone seen Goldmine magazine lately? It's about 20 pages long. I remember buying it in high school in its 300-page glory days...

[kcjones119]

I subscribe to Spin only for Klosterman now-a-days.

[kosmo vinyl]

i remember well that paul's boutique bit, it did indeed get me to relisten to it.   i was disappointed when PB came out because admittly i was looking for "fight for your right to party" part deux and it was not what i was expecting.  years down the road i'm glad they made the shift to more intelligent records and PB was a barometer of what was to come...
 
 i get spin and just end up flipping through it, this bite from the lastest issue amused me.
 
 In the "Next Best Big Things" prelude...
 
 "It's been estimated that in India a baby is born every two seconds. In the US and the UK, it's been estabished (by us, from deep inside our new stainless steel lab) that a pop-punk band is born every ten seconds, a post-punk band every 15 seconds, a metalcore band every 20 seconds, a freak-folk band every 30 seconds and a band that earns fame critical respect (or that you'll still love in three years), well, they come along about every six months or so, if we're lucky."

[brennser]

i subscribed to spin for the last year to give it another shot (used to subscribe long ago), and i'm definitely not renewing ... the magazine really really sucks

I got a free years subscription somehow but yeah, its dreadful - I give it maybe a 1 minute flick through
 
 I like Magnet and Paste

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Save yourself the money. You can read it free online.
 
 http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/columns/chuck_klosterman/
 
 

Originally posted by kcjones119:
  I subscribe to Spin only for Klosterman now-a-days.

[Fico]

Filter, Under the Radar and Magnet are all quite good, with the downfall of them only being issued quarterly or every couple of  months...
 
 MOJO is still good and Q sometimes is worth the hefty price...