Vibe Magazine Folds

Vibe magazine has become another in a long line of publications that can now be counted as casualties of the ever-expanding World Wide Web and a crushing global economy.

Yesterday (June 30) the music publication founded by legendary music producer Quincy Jones, shut its doors for good.

Vibe stopped the presses abruptly in the early afternoon yesterday as a memo from editor in chief Danyel Smith and Steve Aaron, former CEO of the Vibe Media Group, went out to staff notifying them of the immediate closure:

“It is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today,” wrote Smith. “We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week overall, but as the doors of the Vibe Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s 16th 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 continue to love the Vibe brand.”

The news of the closing didn’t escape the attention of Jones who was quoted as telling EbonyJet.com: “They just messed my magazine all up, but I’m gonna get it back. You better believe it, Imma take it online because print and all that stuff is over.”

Vibe had suffered from declining ad revenue and readership in recent months. In February they announced their rate base had fallen from 800,000 to 600,000.

Jones launched the magazine in 1992.