Yesterday was not a happy day. I was in the newspaper office when when I saw three words come through on my Google Reader. Paste is Dead.
Editor Josh Jackson posted this bare bones announcement on the website. After struggling to keep their heads above water, the debt was just too much, even after the incredible "Save Paste" campaign last year. The economy has been too bad for too long.
As a loyal subscriber for the last five years, losing Paste feels like losing a good friend. It's hard to explain getting so attached to a magazine, but as a journalism major raised around the magazine industry with hopes of someday writing for a music magazine, this is a tough blow. But forget me. From a new media perspective, you couldn't find fault with a thing Paste has done, from producing multimedia content and diversifying revenue streams, to carving out a place in social media. They did everything that's supposed to save us. A year ago, I shuddered to think of Paste folding because I felt that if they couldn't survive there wasn't any hope left for magazines.
Paste was the reason I started this blog.
They will be greatly missed. Every issue was so intelligent, outstanding on every level-- the writing, the page design-- even from a tactile standpoint, the matte cover was perfect for the magazine's aesthetic. Of course, there were all the bands that I heard about first from the pages of Paste, or from their expertly curated sampler CDs.
In the end, I don't have enough words to fully articulate was a loss this is for music journalism, how sad I am, how much I will miss receiving the issue, or how sick I feel for all the folks who no longer have jobs. No one is guaranteed fairness, that doesn't make it sting any less.
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