Three Music Magazines Give Up The Ghost At Once

noah | February 4, 2009 10:00 am

The media company Zenbu Media is ceasing publication of the three remaining music magazines in its stable—Metal Edge, Metal Maniacs, and Relix—according to MetalSucks.

A memo from Metal Maniacs editor-in-chief Liz Ciavarella to freelancers claims that Zenbu’s official line is that the three publications are on “hiatus,” although given the still-dismal state of the economy and the fact that in November, the Zenbu-owned world-music magazine Global Rhythm gave up its plans to go online-only after ceasing publication of its print edition, that hiatus will probably not end anytime soon. No word on whether Zenbu’s other businesses—which include jambands.com and the publication of newspapers for festivals like Bonnaroo is still going to persist. (Although given that the top story on Relix.com right now concerns yesterday’s Langerado cancellation, I’d have to think that the festival-magazine’s future is at the very least up in the air.)

This is awful news not just for writers and the people employed by the magazines, but for fans of genres of music that aren’t necessarily covered by the great indie hivemind that tends to form on the Internet. Metal Edge was one of the first music magazines I bought on a regular basis back in the day! Ugh, just ugh.

UPDATE: Word on the street is that Relix isn’t going away.

Metal Maniacs Dead In The Water [Peregrine’s Prattle] METAL EDGE AND METAL MANIACS TO SHUT THEIR COVERS FOR THE FINAL TIME [MetalSucks]

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