I think it’s been alluded to in some of the last-issue editor pages that the advertising just isn’t there like it used to be. That money is going to online advertising where it’s easier to track results and pivot quickly. So there’s just not enough money from ads to sustain always-increasing printing costs, mailing/distribution costs added to the fact that more and more people don’t see the need to pay for print material when so much is available online for free or next-to-nothing.
In the case of the guitar magazines, it must be tough to own so many titles and try to get enough advertising for each one. It would be neat if they’d take all those properties and create a mega-guitar magazine that had bits of all of them. But they’re probably better off investing in their web, YouTube and social media presence. It feels like for print, Guitar World will be the focus, but who knows how long that one will last.
Another thing... I assume Future is accountable to shareholders or at least is more corporate-centered than music-centered. If it isn’t making a good profit, it has to be killed. I’m guessing that applies to their non-music titles, too.
