mixmag sold

[qwerty2222]

taken from trustthedj.com

Mixmag sold into 'Development Hell'
14/11/2005

Mainstream publishing house EMAP announced recently that they?ve sold Mixmag to Development Hell. The December issue will be the final one produced by the British corporate giant.

Rumours that the long-running monthly dance magazine was being sold to Scottish rival M8 first surfaced six months ago, but the new buyers are Development Hell, an independent magazine company run by ex-EMAP executives.

Mixmag clubs editor Duncan Dick welcomed the change, telling Skrufff, ?like the rest of the team I'm very excited and looking forward to the new challenge?.

'Development Hell obviously have a lot of faith in Mixmag - effectively they are doubling the size of their company by taking us on, and it will be a big change in status for us as a magazine, from being one of many titles at EMAP, competing for attention with scores of other titles (from Angling Monthly to Grazia), to being a very important part of a much smaller company,' he revealed.

'Obviously Development Hell will have their own vision for the future of Mixmag, but for now all they've talked about changing - and improving - are things like the production values of the mag - ie the paper quality and returning the spine,? said Duncan.

DJ Magazine business chief Charles Ward was also positive about his arch rival?s ownership change, telling Skrufff, ?EMAP?s exit should be good for Mixmag, providing the new owners handle the title with care'.

'I?m a strong believer that you have to have a passion about your magazine and I know for a fact that the reason DJ Magazine is still running is that the team that we have are passionate about what we?re doing. And though we?ve been bought and sold three or four times we?ve always been left alone, and never interfered with that much,? said Charles.

http://www.trustthedj.com/SKRUFFF/news_article.php?news_id=4715

[mixu]

Re: mixmag sold

Hmm, interesting... Mixmag's really lost its way in recent years.

Development Hell pledges TLC for ex-Emap Mixmag

Published: Thursday, November 10, 2005

By Alyson Fixter Development Hell, the publishing company behind The Word magazine, has promised to nurse struggling dance music magazine Mixmag back to health after buying it from Emap.

Publisher Jerry Perkins, who reportedly masterminded the purchase, said the company's focus on "magazines, not brands", would be the tonic needed to get the title back on its feet after years of decline following the fall-off in interest in dance music.

Rival titles Ministry and Muzik closed since in 2000 and 2003, while sales of Mixmag fell at the last ABCs by 8 per cent year-on-year, to 46,470.

Development Hell, which was set up in 2003 by ex-Emap executives Perkins, David Hepworth, Mark Ellen and Andrew Harrison, currently only publishes The Word, the grown-up music title that focuses on music legends and their lives.

But Perkins said Mixmag would fit alongside The Word and pledged to spend until the end of the year integrating the new title into the company, with all staff due to move to Development Hell's offices in north London.

Perkins said he could not reveal the cost of the purchase, although it has been reported as a seven-figure deal.

He added: "We're delighted we've got it because it's an important magazine and it has been a prominent magazine on the dance scene.

"Our initial plan is just to give it the bit of TLC that we think it's been missing.

"We're all about magazines here, not brands, and we think that Mixmag could really benefit from getting back to basics, getting back to what makes it a great magazine. It's a market-leading magazine and we're really looking forward to publishing it.

"Our first aim is to tidy it up a bit and integrate it into the company, and then we will come out in January with what the plan is."

Mixmag recently went from the perfect-bound to saddle-stitched format and has undergone a number of revamps over the years, but has suffered as the music market has changed, with dance music in decline since the boom of the late 1990s.

Perkins said: "The dance music scene and clubbing scene is currently not what it was at the end of the century, which created a great big wave for Mixmag to surf in on. But it's analogous to Kerrang!, I suppose ? there will always be a market for dance music that isn't mainstream and we aim to deliver to that market."

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/101105/development_hell_pledges_tlc_for_exemap_mixmag

[rewing3]

Re: mixmag sold

Sad news but the mag still sucks. I used to read mixmag all the time but know I like dj times. It seems dj times has less glam to it and talks more about the music then mixmag does.

[shan]

Re: mixmag sold

my sentiments exactly. mixmag was a waste of money. DJ times us much better

[DJJEFFJONES]

Re: mixmag sold

I have been getting Mixmag for the last couple of years and it is so expensive here in the states!!! Hopefully I can find a vendor with DJ times here. Thanks for posting this topic!

[jeffrey collins]

Re: mixmag sold

Just as long as they bring it into more B&N stores in Ohio and return the spine like it used to be. It's nice to have a magazine that isn't stapled together. It's kinda cheap.

BTW, anyone got the new issue with Mylo doing a mix cd?

[dasbooyah]

Re: mixmag sold

it needed a change anyways.