Plan B magazine

Huh?

http://www.drownedinsound.com/community ... ic/4181998

I didn't want to be the first to say anything, but since the cat's out of the bag, Ned Raggett over on ILM said that all the freelancers were e-mailed that same message. To which I say: nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Hello.

Yes, it's true I'm afraid - next issue, out June 1, will be the last.

More news soon.

well, that sucks.

Bollocks. Really, very sad news. Will the forum go as well?

Woah what the F************!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Surely not! Right I haven't posted on here much but the one time I do come on this Is what I find out. I'm really saddened by this....


Edit: Its going to be missed no doubt ,the range of music it's covered, while not always to my taste, is staggering (a magazine that has britney reviews next to Keiji Haino is well up my street), always interesting articles from people who care more than how sexy this singer/what good clothes this band wear (time for that too on occasion mind). I hope everyone involved goes on to bigger and better things.

poo

Very sad news. I hope the writers (kicking_k, Frances Morgan, Miss AMP, etc) can use this forum to keep us posted on their future activities. I cant possibly express how much gratitude I owe you for the amount of excellent music you've turned me onto since Plan B started.

hopefully it will act as a spore-scatter - and our contributors will go on to do great things elsewhere. in a day or so, i'll start a thread for contributors to make people aware of their future projects - which i'm sure will be many, varied and hot. the plan is to remake the site around it as a PDF archive so our wtfs + megalols can never die.

all love to all of y'all on the forum plus any lurkers or casual readers seeing this. the magazine was always well-supported, and it was youse guys that made all the grinding work worthwhile - it was dwindling advertising from struggling indie labels that did for us...

Hi everyone,

Sadly, yes - we were preparing a nice statement to go on here for you all after telling all our contributors and contacts, but sadly the gossip machine has beat us to it. I'm sorry you've found out via hearsay.

We've come to the decision to close Plan B Magazine after the June issue after a lot of deliberation. The current economic climate, combined with the situation of the music industry - to which, whether we like it or not, the fortunes of a commercial monthly music mag are inextricably linked - has made it ever harder for us to continue producing the magazine the way we want to. To keep going, we'd need to make cuts in staff, content, size, frequency, print quality - and we're not prepared to do that. We're still above water, we're making some beautiful magazines, and we are quitting while we're ahead.

This forum has been a hugely important part of the magazine. At present, we'd like to keep it going as long as there's a will to do so, as the site will be continuing for a while. We are hoping to archive all our back issues as PDFs, and will be continuing to sell back issues for a limited period of time.

Subscribers will be refunded in due course - Richard and I will be in touch about that once the June issue has been sent out to you.

If you are a contributor and were not notified about this by email, our apologies. We tried to contact everyone today, but our mailing list messages do end up in junk mailboxes sometimes.

I'm you all have questions about this. If we can answer them, we will try to do so.

Thank you
x

this is horrible horrible news.... I feel so gutted. Plan B is the only music magazine I read now, and certainly the only one i've subscribed to...

But I just wanted to say thank you so much to all the Plan B staff for putting out such a quality magazine for the last few years, it's been a great read, and miles ahead of the competition. Not just in the writing and content, but also the artwork and design which just reeked of care, quality and great taste. I hope you all feel justly proud of what you've accomplished, it was a great mag. I will miss you greatly.... what the fuck am I going to read now?

R.I.P. the mighty Plan B

Oh no, no, no, no NO....oh God! Sorry if this sounds melodramatic, but ARGH I can't believe it! This means that there are now zero music magazines out there that I can truly believe in. it's only now there's going to be no Plan B that I realise how spoilt I was when it was out. I know there's the internet but it will never be the same. oh BOLLOCKS, BOLLOCKS, BOLLOCKS.

I'm really shocked and saddened to hear this news. It's totally unexpected to me, I had no idea that things were quite that difficult for the magazine. I for one will certainly miss it, it feels like a niche that noone else is filling in print at the moment.

Very sorry to hear that this is the end for Plan B as we know it. All the best to everyone involved for their future endeavours.

I'm gutted. My band will never be on the cover of Plan B! But in all seriousness, I feel like I've lost a house.

Argh. I can't help feeling responsible. A reader of every issue since Issue 12 (i.e. the first one) of CTCL, a lover of every little facet of the various incarnations of the mag, and yet I've never been a subscriber. Until my housemate bought me a subscription two weeks ago, for my birthday.

I don't really know what to say - I've never really contributed anything to the forum, so I feel weird chiming in now, but y'know - this is my favourite/only trusted magazine and my enjoyment of, and discovery of, music will just not be the same without it.

Good luck to all involved and I really hope more likeminded endeavours result from this. And hopefully in print, because old fashioned or not, it matters.

Things are difficult everywhere. Print advertising revenues are down about a third industry-wide (jobs going at Johnston Press because of that). TV advertising's down about 20% (400 jobs at Yorkshire TV gone because of that).

It's shit all round at the moment.

Terrible news.

BTW just want to point out, just in case anyone was wondering - there's no link between this and subscribers not receiving the May issue! That's strictly a matter between us and the postman.

This is sad news... a real shame.
The magazine, site and forum (keep it alive) have been a great source for discovering new and old music/ other stuff that I might not have encountered otherwise.

I wish all the Plan B folk the best of luck.

I don't want a refund, I want my Plan B!! There must be something that we can do. Can't we have a fundraiser? Every week if necessary!

I've been absent from the boards for a while now (part of a general move to cut down the amount of time I spend on the internet), but CTCL, Plan B, and the Plan B boards have been a relatively big part of my life for the past few years.

CTCL, and later Plan B, introduced me not just to some fantastic, exciting, alien music I would never otherwise have heard, but also genuinely lifted a week out of each month with some beautiful, entertaining writing and gorgeous illustration, design, and photography.

Until relatively recently, the Plan B boards kept me sane through some mind-numbing temping jobs and personal crises, large and small, overwhelmingly thanks to the awesome, intelligent, funny, warm people who write for the mag and populate these boards. When the rest of the internet seemed to be populated by fascist capitalist conspiracy junkie sociopaths, I could always rely on some sanity and smarts here. I got some great compilations out of it as well! Hopefully the boards will continue in some form, and I'll be back more regularly in future.

So, thanks SO MUCH to you guys, on the mag and off. Particularly to Frances, Kicking_K, Louis, ET, Kulkarni, AMP, Chris H. and the rest, it's difficult to describe how epically heroic you've been in not only keeping the magazine going, but in keeping it independent, bright, talented and energetic. I mean, you know how hard you've worked better than anyone.

Quick question - any chance of the mag continuing in on-line form, a la Pfork, The Quietus or Good.is?

Oh, and I think the cover photo of the final issue in June should be of all of you.

This is awful news, but I respect your decision. The print media is in a terrible state right now. It's very sad that something as vibrant and exceptional as Plan B has to be a victim of that.

I share many of 13SM's sentiments. This forum has kept me going through many a crappy temp job and more importantly it's introduced me to some awesome people. It's not an exaggeration to say CTCL/Plan B has changed my life!

And I'll miss the magazine hugely. There's nothing quite like it.

Anyway, best get back to work, but I'll chip in more later on.

Baws! I'm really sorry to hear this. As everyone's said, the magazine's been consistently great, and the community that's sprung up in this here forum's been really fantastic. I've discovered loads of fantastic music and people as a result, and have had lots and lots of good times. I reallly, really hope the forum manages to continue in some form or other.

I'm staggered.
I knew I'd wake up one day and it would all have been just a dream.
Quite at a loss here. Thanks to all who so selflessly gave it their all and I look forward to a phoenix rising from the ashes one day not too far off.
x

SUCKNESS.

thanx for a great magazine, people, even though i've only been reading it properly for a year.

this has proper ruined my day.

best of luck to all the staff and contributors for the future; i'm sure that sounds patronising as all hell, but you all did one fine, fine job, and you knocked the spots off very nearly every other music publication seemingly without even trying.

Ah bollocks, this is sad sad news. I will really miss this magazine.

To all those involved over the years: thanks very much! You did something very special.

Thanks to everyone involved for the clearly immense effort which has gone into making CTCL and Plan B such essential reading over these past few years.
You've turned me on to so much excellent music I wouldn't have otherwise stumbled upon, most recently the new Drones album thanks to ET's feature in the latest issue.
Clearly print journalism is under severe threat, and closure at this stage looks a pretty shrewd decision if readership is shrinking.
Yes, that's 1-0 to head over heart.
Good luck in whatever ventures you get involved in next. I look forward to reading more passionate writing from your excellent band of contributors on other platforms for many years to come.

Really sorry to hear that. I've been a casual reader - picking it up every couple months - and always enjoyed it when I did.

Very sorry to hear this news. Thanks to all the staff and contributors for a wonderful magazine, good luck for all your future ventures.

Sad news, good luck to all staff and contributors in future endeavours. I don;'t think there's anything else I can add to what has already been said.

definitely cool that you have decided to quite while your ahead but, still very sad to hear this news. i really hope all you guys are ok ! i hate this recession so many bad things happening to people i know.

I've written a few words over at Beard.

So sad to hear this.

sad news indeed. i've not been on the forum much lately but i cherished every issue i got hold of, and since subscribing that's been every issue. in fact plan b is the only magazine i've ever subscribed to. hmmm.

i wish you all the best with yr future endeavours.

i don't want my subscription back either. i'd like a couple of missing back issues though if you've got some lying about?!

godspeed you good people of planet b! you dun good.

a
x

Let me know which ones and I'll see what I can do! That goes for any other subscribers with outstanding issues, we'll do our utmost to make sure everyone gets as many mags as they paid for, or a refund.

But please do it soon! We're moving out of the office in a couple of weeks time, so back issues will not be readily available indefinitely...

thanks dude. will do.

jesus it's just sinking in how much i took that monthly dose of plan-b-ness for granted. i'm really going to miss it. just perused the back issues and realised i've only missed a couple since day one. dark days indeed.

please let us know what you're all getting up to in the future. it would be great if the occasional nights could continue too.

i'm off down the mucky pup to see if john d's about for tearful snifter.

a
x

Oh gosh. Miserable news. Not sure what else to say except thanks for everything, everyone.

Shit the bed. I didn't even get my May copy.

This is indeed miserable news for the people involved and the readers.

fantastic, exciting, alien

It's such a shame. I bought just about every copy of Plan B from the first one (and before that Carelesss Talk). I kept on buying it even though you didn't feature that many bands I liked because of the quality of writing and there was a certain luxe quality to your print quality that I loved. But I think what you achieved was amazing and you should all be proud of that and hopefully we can see/read more from you all in the future.

Sorry to hear of this, but definitely a wise move to go out on a high rather than diminish the quality of the magazine.

Good luck to everyone involved with Plan B, hope you all move on to even greater things.

Alex x