Spin media adds Vibe Magazine to its digital portfolio, and cuts the printing department.
Steve Hansen bought Spin magazine last year and terminated the print version but kept the website. News has surfaced that he has just acquired the 20-year-old hip-hop magazine, Vibe.
The plan to end Vibe’s print run in the next few months has shaken the industry. Hansen’s intentions are to add it to the 40+pop culture and other music sites. Fifty-two staffers of Vibe’s media department are getting the news today that they will be laid off due to a change in ownership. Hansen was quoted as saying the cuts are, “an inevitable consequence,” of the deal. Vibe will be left to exist as a “substantially stand alone property for the next three to six months.” He is also quoted as making this final statement regarding future plans for Vibe:
“We’re still trying to find a print model that works with digital economics, and that continues to be a challenge,” he says. “It’s not as though I have an aversion to print. It’s just a matter of the economics.”
Today is a very sad day. Crying on the inside. Dear Vibe print, we love you and thank you.
Please click through to celebrate some of Vibe’s best fashion hip-hop covers #LEGEND:
–tamikko beasty
Style and Hip-Hop Addict 007
