Considering the negative impact the Internet has had on both the music and print media industries, it's not really surprising that Toronto-based music magazine Chart will no longer be published on paper. Instead, all of the magazine's resources have been shifted to recently redesigned ChartAttack.com.
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Chart was issued 10 times a year and had a circulation of 40,000.
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According to publisher Edward Skira. Chart was operating profitably up until last year. When an advertising decline, prompted by the economic downturn, put the magazine into the red, he decided it was time to move entirely into the digital realm. "I can't see the record companies advertising in print publications any longer," he said. "Music is all focused online, so at this point, trying to get them back on board in a print publication, that's not going to happen."
This is particularly true for a publication like Chart, which is targetted at a younger demographic of music fans who prefer to buy (or illegally download) their music online. "[Record companies] aren't really planning the kind of bands we work with anymore. They've been concentrating heavily on bands that can still sell CDs, which means musicians that are generally playing to an older demographic."
No one was laid off as a result of the print magazine closure, Skira said, but the fact that staff had to split their time between the print magazine and website also played into the decision.
Since ChartAttack.com's relaunch in October, traffic on the site has more than doubled, according to Skira. "We suspected [the print closure] would come sooner or later and that’s why we invested in the website redesign."
Related:
- Chart goes paperless [Eye Weekly]
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Jaded says: | |
Wow, Torstar really seems to be on a mission to bankrupt one magazine after another.... |
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Lorene Shyba says: | |
Full of terrific information, Thanks!... |