Paste Magazine to Change Publication Schedule, Staff Takes 20% Pay Cut, 90+ Artists Contribute Songs to “Save Paste” Campaign


Yikes, desperate times call for desperate measures. Publications, like all businesses, are hurting. We at TMT may live in a ceilingless, interwebbed sphere, but we aren’t above relying on ads for our print brethren, nor are we unsympathetic to them. One only has to look at the TMT office bathroom littered with sticky, dog-eared skag mags of every imaginable variety to see that “we care.” We enjoy a good music-related read too and are always saddened to see fellow music sleuths hit the skids.

As any faithful reader of Tiny Mix Tapes has noticed, we have run a good number of “So-and-So to Cease Publication” stories over the past few years. Off the top of my head Resonance, Skyscraper, Punk Planet, No Depression, Harp, Blender, Radar, and BPM have all laid their mastheads to rest in recent times, and things are certainly not going to get any better, given the current economic crisis and the advertising world’s reaction to it. As we have already posted, Paste Magazine, for one, is not going down without a fight. The magazine is staging a “Campaign to Save Paste” and is asking readers for donations to keep their print-driven dream alive. It has also revealed some other details concerning its decision to go forward with a compassion bailout and what it is doing to stay afloat.

Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson has been busy on the interview front, telling Reuters, “We had been facing a financial crunch for a long while as ads had been shrinking and we’ve been trying to catch up with that by cutting expenses and trying to find other sources of income.”

Aside from implementing careful business moves like limiting non-essential travel and leasing out office space, Paste will be making changes to its production schedule. Paste will actually increase its yearly issue output (from 11 to 12), but of these 12 issues, 6 will be smaller, single-topic mini mags, starting with a “Summer Festival Guide” in June.

Talking to Media Life, Jackson spoke of the magazine’s “very passionate and engaged readership” and detailed how they went about starting up this donor drive in the media.

“We’ve emailed everyone on our mailing list, Twittered like crazy, contacted everyone we’ve known, and watched it spread like wildfire. A publicist from Susan Blond (PR firm headed by infamous NYC scenester) volunteered to take our message to daily newspapers, and artists have blogged and Tweeted about it as well. The press has ranged from AP and CNN.com to Gawker and Perez Hilton.”

Jackson said Paste has been getting a lot of financial support from sponsoring companies and pro bono work from freelance photographers and writers. He also acknowledged Paste’s staff of 15 have already taken a pay cut of 20%. Central to the “Campaign” is the contributions of artists, or “Paste’s Kids,” who have supplied unreleased and rare songs to the cause in exchange for pledges. According to various sources, Paste has secured songs donated from some of the magazine’s favorites names, over 90 and counting, like The Decemberists, Neko Case, of Montreal, Cowboy Junkies, The Hives, Josh Ritter, Josh Rouse, Jayhawks, The Avett Brotehrs, Matthew Sweet, G. Love, String Cheese Incident, She & Him, Indigo Girls, and many more.

While Jackson hasn’t given any hints as to how much money Paste has raised or how much they require to put its feet on solid financial ground, he has hinted that a number in “the low six figures” will help the Atlanta-based publication through this trying period of uncertainty. You can donate here

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