The era when the dance magazine market could do no wrong is officially over. After the quiet closure of DMC's seminal 7 Magazine earlier this month, now the bastion of the glossy club mags, Ministry, is to close down. That said Ministry deny the magazine is making a loss, and recent ABCs of 65,000, while down on its peak readership, compares well with other music titles. The official line is that the magazine is being closed to make way for a "new branded concept" - quite what remains to seen.
Writing on the Radio 1 website Dave Pearce has given his reaction to the demise of Ministry's magazine: "It's a magazine that I have enjoyed reading - it reflected the fun side of clubbing. What does it mean? Well - whilst there's been a bit of a slowdown in UK clubbing things are not as bad as people have been saying. The whole international thing is really blowing up, and there is an opportunity to really get a foothold in America and Tokyo and all those emerging markets, creating a worldwide global youth brand. I think that's where Ministry want to be and they're moving forward and looking towards the future."
The gap being left by these dance titles may well be filled by b4beats, a new free music magazine being launched by UnLimited Media. More details in the Daily soon - but if you have releases that you want to promote through a mass distribution free music medium next month check www.unlimitedmedia.co.uk/allaboutb4beats for more information.