Vibe Magazine shutting down

Vibe, the music magazine founded in 1993 by legendary producer Quincy Jones and FAMU grad Keith Clinkscales is the latest victim of the media recession.

“We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news,” Editor-in-Chief Danyel Smith wrote.

The magazine blames its failure on the sagging economy and the collapse of print advertising, a common woe of other print journalism products, according to Steve Aaron, former CEO of VIBE Media Group.

“There are very few magazines with the richness of history and breadth of talented visionaries who created the powerful lens in which VIBE viewed and shaped urban music and culture,” Aaron wrote in a memo to staff members.

Revenue growth from its web site, www.vibe.com, was not enough to offset the magazine’s losses, Aaron said.

“It’s a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand,” Smith said.

Vibe enjoyed significant success in the late '90s and early part of this decade as hip hop and R&B became the nation's predominant forms of pop music. But in recent years the title has fallen on hard times under its new owner, the Wicks Group, which bought it in 2006. In February, it reduced its circulation and publishing frequency, cut salaries and moved employees to a four-day workweek to save money.