Posted 11:55 AM by Gene

HORROR IN AD-BLURBSVILLE:

The amount of bad news is staggering, even compared to the pitiful previous year, which also had its share of cat-fighting and pink slips. Among the print publications that sank in ‘08 are No Depression (which didn’t dip in circulation), Harp, and Resonance. In addition, the Tribune Company (which includes the L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune) and Creative Loafing were forced to declare bankruptcy, The New York Times had a number of staff buyouts (including noted music industry watcher Jeff Leeds), Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone instituted layoffs (Rolling Stone alone had three rounds of it), XXL fired its editor-in-chief, Maxim became vulnerable to creditors, and both Blender and Rolling Stone had to find new publishers. Even the online world wasn’t spared as the Paper Thin Walls collective shut down, the promising online Juke Service didn’t even get a chance to open, Gawker had to cut its pay for staff, and Yahoo instituted lay-offs as well. UK music magazines didn’t fare any better, with many of them dropping in circulation or barely holding on to their previous numbers. And all of that is still a drop in the bucket compared to the industry as a whole—in all, it’s estimated that over 21,000 jobs were lost in the publishing biz in 2008.

Given the ADJECTIVES you clowns spew out and the inescapable publicity stunts you subject us to every damned day of the year -- as I said with the writedown in prof jobs, this is NOT bad news.

For print scribes in the music world, the biggest headache came in the form of disappearing advance copies. Weeklies usually need at least two weeks lead time, and monthly publications need about two months or more, but Nine Inch Nails, the Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, and Beck sent many editors scrambling when they put out their new albums without any advance.

TRANSLATION: You're also mad you're not getting as many PERKS.

(Via the annoying ArtsJournal, which must link to such tripe)