One of the finest snowboard magazines in the world has closed due to 'financial reasons' rather worryingly in the US. Despite some of the best journalism in the snow industry, Future Snowboarding Magazine (FSM) has ceased business - online and print - suddenly on Thursday afternoon, alongside it's sister titles The Drift and Snowboard Trade News.
As with all printed media, it seems like the drive to digital is having a serious affect on snowboard magazine sales, but more serious questions are also being asked: despite an epic winter, has snowboarding passed it's pinnacle? Or does the shred media, with a young, tech savvy, forward thinking audience, need to evolve into a more interactive, instant experience?
Despite working in both - as an Online Editor and print magazine journalist - I'm not one to answer that. However this premature death of Future, before it had the chance to flourish, has collegues worried stateside. On the otherhand, this also means there'll be more ad money to distribute to the remaining three US titles - Transworld Snowboarding, Snowboarder and Snowboard.
A staff member at Future Adryan Ritter writes pretty candidly about the closure, as it happens, on her Fuel TV blog.
Rival trade title Transworld Business also reports on the shut:
Transworld Business received word today, June 12th, from several ex-employees of Future Snowboarding Magazine (FSM), that the company has closed its doors and will discontinue its print and online operations effective immediately.According to our sources, who wish to remain anonymous based on the timeliness and delicate nature of the matter, the company informed its entire staff at its Solana Beach office today that their employment was terminated and the magazine was closing. The reasons for the decision by FSM’s parent company, San Francisco based Future US, were cited as financial.
What do you think? Is snowboarding dying? Or has corporate publishing killed off a quality title before it's had chance to bloom? I know I'm personally gutted.
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