Fresh Off Spin Magazine Purchase, BUZZMEDIA Buys 4 Top Punk Rock Sites
(UPDATED) With music magazines shutting down and music sites rolling up, is music journalism loosing the diversity and independence that fans expect?
Today, BUZZMMEDIA which recently acquired Spin Magazine, added four punk rock sites including Under The Gun Review, Alter The Press! and PropertyOfZack to their expanding online music portfolio. The three will be rolled into BUZZ's top rated AbsolutePunk. The company also just acquired Punknews.org, and will include it as part of a new online punk music destination be dubbed AbsoluteVoices.
In addition to Spin, BUZZMEDIA also publishes Stereogum, Videogum, Buzznet, Idolator, PureVolume, Hype Machine, Gorilla vs. Bear, RCRD LBL, Brooklyn Vegan and 30 other music blogs. BUZZMEDIA's existing porperties make them the fourth largest digital publisher of music content in the U.S., according to ComScore, alongside MTV, Yahoo! Music and AOL Music.
The four aquired blogs:
- Punknews.org, founded in 1998, is one of the pioneers in online music news and fan community-building around punk, ska, hardcore, emo, metal and indie genres
- PropertyOfZack is the leading punk destination on Tumblr, and promotes the best known and breaking bands on the pop-punk spectrum through in-depth interviews, reviews and exclusive content
- Alter The Press! is an online alternative music publication featuring exclusive video content including acoustic sessions and live recorded features; album and song streams; and the latest news, interviews and reviews with today's relevant artists
- Under The Gun Review covers entertainment for today's generation, expanding beyond alternative music to film and standup comedy
Can someone please clarify. News sources say Buzzmedia owns Hype Machine, but Hype Machine say its just an advertising deal. Plus, im sure a lot of the other sites you mentioned are only advertising based and havent been acquired.
Here is the statement from BuzzMedia: “BUZZMEDIA publishes more than 40 authoritative brands whose voices define categories and culture, including SPIN, Celebuzz, Stereogum, Videogum, Buzznet, TheSuperficial, Idolator, PureVolume, Hype Machine, AbsolutePunk, What Would Tyler Durden Do?, SocialiteLife, Go Fug Yourself, Just Jared, Pink is the New Blog, Gorilla vs. Bear, RCRD LBL, TheFrisky, Concrete Loop, Brooklyn Vegan, Punknews and XLR8R.”
I know they dont actually own RCRD LBL.. so im guessing with most of those titles they just have control over the publishing and advertising.
A spelling mistake in the title of the article, a spelling mistake in the bold print, and a spelling mistake in the article. And you want me to take Hypebot seriously? C’mon, man! Step up your GAME! This is crap!
Who you calling a porperty?
You’re just a looser looking for the way to Maigaizne.
Did I understand the article correctly?
I work at a competitor of Buzzmedia, and I can say that they didn’t actually BUY those four sites. We actually repped PunkNews.org a couple of years ago, so what this means is that they signed an exclusivity deal to sell advertising on these sites. Usually, smaller sites will be repped by various ad networks, but if it’s a big enough site, then these ad networks will signed exclusive deals, as they did with these sites.
There’s a big difference between ‘buys’ and ‘reps their ad inventory exclusively’.
I’m sure that Bruce will ask the right questions and correct his headline if BUZZmedia did not, in fact, buy these blogs.