Australian industry magazine The Music Network has announced that they will cease the production of their weekly magazine in favour of online, citing the changing face of music journalism is no longer in print form.
The company made the announcement yesterday via their website telling readers that “print is dead.” Citing the demise of the videotape, the CD (and even Jesus Christ), the publication commenting that “print media had a remarkable and resilient run before inevitably succumbing to the ravages of time, and the advancement of mankind.” Namely, the Internet.
The Music Network magazine has been in publication since May 1994, providing news, tour information, features, radio airplay charts, interviews and music sales data in a weekly publication for the Australian music industry. Pulling the pin on their 19 year hard-copy history which produced around 925 issues, this week’s edition of TMN will be followed by two more print publications before the company switches online completely.
Operating under a subscription-based service, The Music Network will continue bringing industry news in a more timely fashion, assures the company executives:
“Luckily we have been working on a new dynamic online charts system, which will be accessible via the subscription model, much in the way you receive this magazine, only you won’t have to wait until that postman who you’re pretty sure is stealing your mail delivers it – it’ll pop into your inbox every week, as will Most Added, Coming Soon, comparative statistics and all the other features you love/tolerate from TMN.”
The Music Network was sold to music marketing and publishing group Peer Group Media in 2009 under the ownership of Adam Zammit. Current managing editor Jade Harley saw the re-launch of the magazine’s website in June of 2009 which saw a new design, logo and layout for the group.
Despite the “print is dead” tag, Peer Group Media will continue to print Sydney street press magazine The Brag, an interesting note in light of similar issues facing the diminishing street press industry.
Last year saw the shut down of Brisbane street press magazine Rave after almost 1047 issues, and regional Sydney publication Reverb magazine in August calling on Street Press Australia’s managing director Craig Treweek to issue a statement that street press’ situation has been “grossly exaggerated,” essentially shouting ‘we’re not going anywhere’.
Treweek championed the future of street press noting “Are times tough, yes they are… But like any industry that suffers a decline, those that face the challenges head on and embrace them will survive.”
He continued by stating: “we are certain that the future of this business is underpinned by producing quality street press in print on a weekly basis.”
Though The Music Network is not formally a street press paper, the demise of another print publication in favour of digital is another major sign of change to the industry. Though, as noted in our Opinion piece on the issue back in July, it’s more of an issue of exposure and interactivity, something that print media has lacked in recent years.
Though it seems pertinent to note that the print industry is dying, it is not yet dead. In terms of The Music Network, the company assures its readers that they will be back in print-form eventually – 2030 to be exact – when “Y2KXXX strikes and we will resort back to glorious physical form, just in time for the non- ironic resurgence of nu-metal and cut out song-words.”
