Shea: Saving Paste Magazine gives hope to music print journalism

In a dire economy that has little compassion for the written word, times are tough for small… In a dire economy that has little compassion for the written word, times are tough for small music magazines.

Over the past few months, small independent magazines like Harp, Resonance and No Depression and the much larger Blender have neatly folded their pages, and their writers and editors have somberly moved on to more practical professions, leaving music fans disheartened and pining for physical embodiments of musical journalism.

Despite the unfavorable climate for small music magazines’ survival, one up-and-coming publication is determined to stay afloat by any means necessary.

Paste, a small music magazine out of Atlanta, Ga., started printing seven years ago and has been making waves ever since.

Known for its music sampler and talented writers, Paste’s claim to fame is its commitment to “signs of life in music, film and culture.”

But like all other companies in the business, Paste saw rough waters ahead and had no choice but to batten down the hatches and sail right in.

After the magazine cut back to publishing every other month and making its monthly sampler a download instead of a physical CD, the advertising revenue wasn’t what it used to be, and Paste still struggled.

In May, Paste’s editor-in-chief, Joshua Jackson, wrote an editorial reassuring readers that despite the cutbacks, Paste wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

And he was right.

Once Paste realized it was still in trouble, it did some brainstorming, made a few calls and pretty soon, it came up with the “Campaign to Save Paste.”

Paste released another online letter to its readers, promising that the magazine was in good shape for the long term but facing a short-term crisis. The magazine asked readers for their help.

The campaign took a huge amount of humility on the part of Paste, who asked readers to help it stay in business by making monetary contributions.

But for readers, their contribution did not go unrewarded.

Paste created an epic sampler that featured more than 70 artists, like The Decemberists and Neko Case, who donated rare and previously unheard tracks to Paste’s cause. Donors received a free download of the sampler with even the smallest contributions.

In July, Jackson wrote another editorial, but one with a much different tone than his online plea.

He gratefully announced that Paste had received more than $200,000 in less than a month and that the readers had “literally saved [the] company.”

This situation, if nothing else, is evidence that music print journalism isn’t quite ready to die.

Paste’s campaign showed that all three parties involved in the publications — the publishers, the readers and the musicians — aren’t ready to see all music coverage transfer to the Web.

Most fans will probably agree that stumbling upon an article online about their favorite band doesn’t compare to the excitement of seeing the band members’ faces plastered across the cover of a magazine on the racks of newsstands.

Ultimately, Paste proved that people still care about print journalism and that sometimes it takes an indie-rock village to raise some awareness.