Farewell to Vibe Magazine

One of the newest celebrity couples, The Dream and Christina Milian grace the cover of Vibe Magazine’s final issue. Yesterday, Vibe officially announce the closing of its magazine company. Word of the official death of the magazine came to employees as they worked on an article about Michael Jackson. The magazine was said to be the black version of “Rolling Stone”, having the most demographically diverse reader base of any major music magazine.

Vibe was founded by Quincy Jones in 1993 and the magazine began to boom in the late ’90s with hip hop and R&B becoming the nation’s largest sects of pop music. In 2006, the Wick’s Group took over ownership and in the years to come the magazine began to experience problems.

The recession made it difficult for the magazine to continue. With the ‘print advertising’ collapse most of their major advertisers like the fashion and automotive industries pulled out. The company also had to cut employee salaries, reduce its circulation, cut down on publishing frequency, and drop down to a four-day work week. The magazine tried just about every way possible to stay in business, but with no success. So, on June 30th Vibe was forced to announce its closure. This is what Danyel Smith, now former Chief Content Officer and Editor in Chief said in her memo:

“On behalf the VIBE CONTENT staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s sixteenth anniversary, it’s a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you.”

Its was rumored that Quincy Jones will try to buy back Vibe if it closed. There is no official word on that issue yet, but it sure would be a good thing. But for now…

Farewell to Vibe. Your presence will surely be missed!

Posted by flawless
Owner, Writer and Man Behind the Site.