State magazine has announced that it's going to be an online only buzz from now on."The announcement of a new issue of State is usually a cause for celebration. In this case, our tenth issue is tinged with a certain sadness. This month is a little different to what’s gone before as there will be no printed version of this issue. It has been a real year of ups and downs for the magazine. We’ve had a ball in the last twelve months but circumstances beyond our control have interfered. We always felt the magazine was something which was sorely missing from the dialogue around music in Ireland, which judged Irish artists on the same criteria as international artists and treated music as the important cultural art it has become to us all..."
17 comments:
can't say i'm very surprised. State has been on my deathwatch list since the first edition. the target demographic don't consume paper media, just online. and even at that, there's a lot better global online sites that stomp on state.ie They're really just muse.ie v2. adieu state, we won't miss you!
Wow, what a bitch...
I quite liked having the print edition but i suppose times are tough and now we're just gonna have to make do with the onlin version.
Shame
I liked what they were trying do.
imagine having a deathwatch list..
I'm sad to see the print version of State go. I really liked the design and it was a brilliant physical read. Hopefully that quality will be kept up in the digital version.
Maybe if it had launched three or four years ago when the industry was in better shape, it would have stood a chance. But the way things are at the moment in advertising, it's not surprising that the print version is now unsustainable.
There are far more bigger print entities suffering hugely because of a complete fall-off in advertising, and State certainly won't be the only victim of this.
I would be surprised if a handful of other Irish magazines didn't cease publication this year. It's just too tough a battleground at the moment.
I wish all the State homies the best in the future, and look forward to reading the digital version alongside the already great blog. It's a good resource for music news and features, and definately added some much needed quality to the Irish music print media scene.
Onwards and upwards.
Are you going to have to pay for the digital version?
thanks Una. I'm kinda done with talking about the print version after the last week talking to writers and contributors etc. I've no energy left to argue with yer man from drop-d or anyone else who could be arsed being negative about it. Nothing will be gained. If people didn't like it fine.
I'm happy to say I was involved in an attempt to enrich the irish music mag industry. Sad, that it didn't work out but as I said we had an amazing time and for me, personally I learnt so much over the past year or so.
I can see this happening a lot more this year. It was simply the case of last in, first out with advertisers. Sure, we made the decision to not pay ourselves in September so we could keep it going. Six months earlier and I believe we could still be printing. Still have state.ie tho so focusing on that as well as my own bloggy blog
Rock on nialler.
@Nialler9: dont let the shit get you down. going to be a tough year for everyone, im pretty sure my jobs gone come april to india. i bought slate whenever i was home and it was a good read, shame about the state of everything right, just bad timing.
@Anonymous: "State has been on my deathwatch list since the first edition." Your a complete tool, you or someone close to you will lose there job in the coming months and i hope its you.
It's sad that it didn't work out for the people involved who obviously put a lot of effort into it. I didn't see the printed magazine working from day one myself either, but fair play to everyone involved for doing something about testing that presumption!
I don't think there was anything wrong with the execution of it, that was great, just the initial premise that there was a market for such a publication.
People only have a finite amount of time to read about music and there is more excellent content free to read online (Nialler9 being a good example!) than most people can fit in already without paying for a printed magazine.
Magazines that are working commercially are either for a bigger market than Ireland or for a less niche market of music than State's.
i wanna set something straight coz some people are only reading the first paragraph and throwing a wobbler.
i liked state i honest to jaysus did and it's unfair that it's gone. i only wrote the thing for the banter, stir things up a bit ya know, be a journalist. I don't mind the flak, i've been at this long enuff that it's water off a duck's back. But the response has been surprising to say the least. It's gotten some good and bad comments in a few places but read the article again, i clearly put into words that i wanted ye to win. i pointed out things I didn't agree with and yea I used lots of colourful language, so fuckin what, if that offends people big deal.
Look the web was full of people liking arse about the whole thing and that's crap, if half those people bothered buyin the mag in the first place then this would not have been the situation.
"be a journalist"
Har har!
Drop-D, I'm not sure if you really know what this means! Do you interpret the job of a journalist to involve publishing a mean-spirited and pointless piece that reads like a 15-year-old with Tourette's wrote it?
How would you feel if Drop-D went tits up for whatever reason and State published something calling your staff "dunces", saying you published "Bullshit", stating "I can't believe you lot call yourselves music journalists", screaming "Idiots. Morons. Fools." and most impressively "ninny-goats".
Do you think the piece that was published was informative, balanced, entertaining, reflective, well-written, revealing? The attributes that a comment piece like that should be?
Anyway, I guess you can rant all you want because it's not as if many people are listening, but perhaps you would earn more respect if you displayed an ounce of gravitas in the future.
i disagree una,
i was informative of my opinions, i was balanced, read it again, i was on state's side, entertaining...well come on, some loved it some didn't, certainly got heads talkin. reflective,. yes, well-written, ever heard of peotic licence and revealing is the same as informative, where did you study jounrnalism?
as for earning respect, fuck respect, that's just pride fuckin with you, i dont want people to "like me" coz i go with everyone else's opinions.I tells it likes i sees it if you dont like that well that's your problem not mine
meh, I couldn't be arsed wasting time arguing with someone who makes no sense.
Best of luck.
that's coz you are better than me, i know, sure i'm only scum
get over yourself, homie.
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