Cover of Vibe, May 2009

On June 30, 2009 Vibe Magazine—considered to be one of the big three among hip-hop magazines— announced they were halting the publication of their magazine effective immediately. Although a shock to most, later reports indicated that Vibe will continue on as a company and publication much like Blender, with its focus on web content. Earlier this year, Paste magazine was just one of many publications who found themselves running into financial crisis. And while Paste narrowly avoided collapse, others have folded (Harp, No Depression, and Resonance being the biggest names in ‘08 to stop publication). So does this mean it’s the end of the print era?

Certainly, there has been a surge of music websites and blogs streaming into popular media outlets. Just think of the places you get your music news and information from. The web, right? More and more people are turning to the Internet for their information, and music publications are the most recent victims in this new age media trend. There are Web destinations for hip-hoppers, metalheads, pop-fanatics, singer/songwriters and all other variations of music fans. It’s really no surprise then that both Rolling Stone and Spin are putting a majority of their content online in addition to print.  Some Web sites, like Pitchfork, are thriving because they see tens of thousands of users per day.  If you still love your print media, enjoy it while you still can because there is no telling how long your favorite publication will be around.