RIP Paste Magazine

[Sarah]

Another music mag folds. I had a subscription to Paste for a few years. I found some great music through that magazine and its sampler.

[Rebecca]

They finally called it quits? That's too bad. It filled a unique niche.

[Jonathan]

This is a shame. They were nominated for several National Magazine Awards last year--no small achievement.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I had never heard of Paste.

[Félix]

Nor have I.

[Sarah]

Part of the problem, methinks.

It was a young magazine - less than ten years old. The articles were intelligent, and the magazine came packaged with a CD and sometimes a DVD.

I got rid of my back issues last year, but kept the first one I had bought, which was a fantastic countdown of the best singer/songwriters of all time. Put the Rolling Stone lists to shame.

[ms.petra]

I think I had two customers with a subscription and rarely saw it in the P.O. I think it may have been too pricey for people. Six issues right for $30 something I think. although if you were into music, content wise it was worth it.

[RandomAnthony]

I'm fascinated by how, if you go to Amazon's magazine section, some magazines are practically giving away copies. I guess they must make money on the ads.

[Félix]

ms.petra wrote: "I think I had two customers with a subscription and rarely saw it in the P.O. I think it may have been too pricey for people. Six issues right for $30 something I think. although if you were into m..."

Be honest ... do you ever read people's magazines?

[Sarah]

After Radiohead's In Rainbows came out, Paste made a pay-what-you-want offer. I paid the normal subscription price, but apparently some people paid a lot more and a lot less. It was a great deal, in any case.

[ms.petra]

I plead the 5th....but you can probably guess the answer!

[Félix]

ms.petra wrote: "I plead the 5th....but you can probably guess the answer!"

:D

[Jonathan]

RandomAnthony wrote: "I'm fascinated by how, if you go to Amazon's magazine section, some magazines are practically giving away copies. I guess they must make money on the ads."

That used to be the formula, but it rarely works anymore. Dozens of magazines have closed in the past few years, from big circulation titles like Gourmet to micro mags like Paste.

It's just a very difficult environment with the economic downturn and the general exodus of readers to the internet (where ad rates are much lower).

Newsweek, which was just sold by the Washington Post Co. to a private investor for a grand total of $1, is losing millions every year with no end to the red ink in sight.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

A DOLLAR?? Oh, because he's taking on debt. Still....to Jane Harman's husband?? Who is NINETY-ONE?? The story just gets weirder and weirder. Oh well, I'm sure the oleaginous Jon Meacham will land on his feet.

[[deleted user]]

Paste Magazine would have been wise to go the Internet-only route, like Pitchfork did. Still, Paste is dead, long live Paste. A wonderful magazine that will be missed.

[[deleted user]]

Sarah Pi wrote: "I got rid of my back issues last year, but kept the first one I had bought, which was a fantastic countdown of the best singer/songwriters of all time. Put the Rolling Stone lists to shame.
"


Would you care to post that list? We haven't had a good argument around here in quite some time.

[Sarah]

That would be fun. Let me dig it up sometime this week.

Paste had some really good online content too, and I think they were trying to head that way. They had shifted to a choice of print or electronic copies of the mag, with a subscription level mp3 download. I thought they were going to hang on.