Posts Tagged ‘vibe’

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SpinMedia Adds Vibe Magazine to Its Digital Portfolio, Minus the Magazine (AllThingsD)
SpinMedia is buying Vibe, the 20-year-old hip-hop and R&B magazine, from a consortium led by Intermedia and Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies. It plans on ending Vibe‘s print run in the coming months, and will add Vibe.com to its roster of 40+ pop culture and music sites. This will be bad news for some of Vibe Media’s 52 employees, who were told Thursday that layoffs will accompany the change of ownership. FishbowlNY SpinMedia’s official statement implied that this is what Vibe readers want. They’re accessing the magazine online and through their phones, the company said. And maybe that’s true. But still, it’s always sad when a magazine disappears. NYT After it bought Spin last summer, Buzz Media promptly shut down the print magazine and laid off a third of its staff. It said it would concentrate on the website and consider eventually reviving the print version of Spin in some form. Since then, Spin‘s online traffic has doubled, but Mr. Hansen said that the company was no closer to reviving the magazine.  Ad Age / Media News Time Inc. sold Vibe in 1996; the buyers sold Vibe again 10 years later. It went out of print in 2009, but returned within months under yet another set of owners, investors led by InterMedia Partners. Last summer the magazine said it would embrace electronic dance music along with its usual hip-hop and pop culture coverage.

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In the same year that music mags Blender and Giant folded, Vibe shuttered, as well. But, luckily for the iconic mag, it was snapped up by a private equity firm, and editor-in-chief Jermaine Hall was brought on to resurrect the pub. And resurrect it, he did.

In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do?, Hall explains how the mag is winning again and gives advice to aspiring EICs.

“A lot of things that come with being editor-in-chief aren’t necessarily drilled down into the day-to-day tasks,” he said. “It’s a lot of schmoozing; it’s a lot of fixing relationships; it’s a lot of bartering; it’s a lot of people skills, I would say. It’s really going out there to be the ambassador of the brand on all levels.”

For more, read So What Do You Do, Jermaine Hall, Editor-in-Chief of Vibe?

Do you cover the music beat? How about Hollywood? Or maybe you like tackling societal issues? Despite its tagline of “redefining hip-hop,” all these areas are ripe for pitches at Vibe.

If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of Hollywood, there’s a section of this mag that regularly highlights actors whether they’re in indie flicks or big name blockbusters. Just make sure your idea is ahead of the curve.

“Let us know about something we might not be up on,” said deputy editor Clover Hope. ”It should be something specific or niche, not the obvious choice.”

Get more details in How To Pitch: Vibe. [Subscription required]