Paste Magazine Comes Unglued

The current market for print magazines, media, and newspapers has been steadily becoming worse in the last few years, and another casualty has been announced today.

"Today Paste Media Group announces, with deepest sadness, the suspension of the Paste magazine print product," reads the first line of the first article on Paste's website.

The magazine has polarized its readership over the last year, but a steady decline in ad sales has finally taken its toll.

Editor in chief John Jackson told the Associated Press, "We thought we could make it, but we ran out of fumes."

Paste has used several models to keep itself solvent in the last few years, including fundraisers, and establishing a pay-what-you-want subscription model in 2007. Paste was in negotiations for a round of funding, but the deal fell through at the last minute according to Nick Purdy, the publisher of Paste. The team is still seeking outside funding.

Paste has a subscriber base of approximately 200,000 readers who will no longer receive the magazine in their mailboxes. While the main editorial staff is staying on to manage the digital operations, the staff of nine has been laid off.

Paste Magazine has been offering its print version since 2002, and each issue included a CD of musical selections. A definitely taste maker for modern culture, Paste sill enjoys around one million visitors to its website.

Paste is just the latest casualty in the publishing business, which is rapidly becoming an outdated business model. In the last two years, many other magazines have either shuttered their doors or gone online only, including Vibe, Blender, and PC Magazine.