No Depression :: R.I.P. 1995-2008

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No Depression magazine, an alt.country/americana staple, announced yesterday that it will – after 74 issues, and 13 years in existence – be ceasing operations this Spring. June will see the final issue of the magazine and existing subscribers can expect a refund. Excerpt below:

“(The) circumstances are both complicated and painfully simple. The simple answer is that advertising revenue in this issue is 64% of what it was for our March-April issue just two years ago. We expect that number to continue to decline. The decline of brick and mortar music retail means we have fewer newsstands on which to sell our magazine, and small labels have fewer venues that might embrace and hand-sell their music. Ditto for independent bookstores.

What makes this especially painful and particularly frustrating is that our readership has not significantly declined, our newsstand sell-through remains among the best in our portion of the industry, and our passion for and pleasure in the music has in no way diminished. We still have shelves full of first-rate music we’d love to tell you about.” (via)

While not particularly surprising news, it’s a sad day for those of us who followed fringe, roots based, music, often performed by artists skimming under-the-radar from mainstream media. The magazine will be missed and should be heralded as an invaluable and entertaining resource, especially before the proliferation of online webzines, blogs, etc. The magazine will continue, in limited capacity, online at nodepression.net. Back issues are still available.

Further Reading: From No Depression, issue #1, Fall 1995 – Jay Farrar traces a path away from Uncle Tupelo

Download:

MP3: Son Volt :: Windfall
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6 thoughts on “No Depression :: R.I.P. 1995-2008

  1. although this is a sad loss, it’s not surprising. One of this problems from the get go with “No Depression” was the old school attempt of a music magazine. they should have jumped online quite awhile ago. Paste, Harp, and other great music mags have an okay online footprint, but it baffles me that none of them have quite gained the caliber of my favorite music blogs.

    my favorite quote from no depression (whiskeytown cover):

    ND: “so you’re being caled the kurt cobain of alt-country”

    Ryan Adams: ” I guess I have to go out to the barn and hang myself with a banjo string then…”

    at least thats how I remember it

  2. It’s really too bad, because they do satisfy a niche. But like the person above me mentioned, Paste and Harp cover a lot of the same artists and have better online content.

  3. You guys are missing the boat; perhaps it’s true that the magazines you mentioned have better online content. However, as a longtime “ND” subscriber, I must say I read it because it’s a great MAGAZINE. I really couldn’t care less about the quality of their online content. If they had a great website, that would be a bonus; it’s that terrific bound paper product that arrives at my p.o. box every other month that excites me. What a fucking shame.

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