Hey Sound reader. We’ve got some bad news and some good news. Bad news first: the September issue of Sound will be the final issue of the magazine, as you know it. The good news: In October, Sound will be combining talents and resources with City Arts magazine to create a new kind of monthly culture mag for the Puget Sound area. The magazine will be free, in more locations and there will be a lot more of them (60,000 to be exact!). The magazine will also cover a wider array of culture in the city, along with the extensive music coverage that Sound readers have come to expect. Please, read the press release below for more info, enjoy the September issues of both Sound and City Arts, and then look out for the new publication on October 1.
Press release:
Encore Media Group and Media Index Publishing are thrilled to announce that Sound magazine has merged with City Arts magazine. Both Sound and City Arts will publish their respective issues in September. The first combined issue will debut this October.
This exciting partnership immediately strengthens both Sound and City Arts, creating a formidable voice in local music and arts coverage.
Readers of both magazines will continue to get similar comprehensive, local arts and music content, only now in a larger four-color magazine with wider distribution of 60,000 monthly magazines at more than 1,000 locations.
The core Sound staff, including associate publisher Jake Newman, editor Mark Baumgarten and ad executive Donna Pluta, join the City Arts team to publish monthly editions for Seattle, Tacoma and the Eastside.
“Our audiences are neatly complementary: arts and music. Both magazines strive for a voice that makes reading about the arts approachable. We were beginning to branch out to providing broader coverage of arts and lifestyle.” says Jake Newman, who launched Sound with publisher James Baker at Media Index Publishing in 2006. “This gives us an ability to dramatically expand our coverage and reach in the market.”
The merger is also the logical next step in the steady growth of City Arts. City Arts magazine celebrates its third anniversary in Tacoma in September–and just recently celebrated first anniversaries for both its Seattle and Eastside editions in July.
“You’re bombarded with bad news about publications failing today,” says Paul Heppner, publisher of City Arts magazine, “This is the opposite: two strong magazines joining forces to keep growing in the natural directions in which they were already headed.”
“We’ve got a bigger tent for a bigger party and everybody’s invited,” says Heppner. “We have the pieces in place to offer the strongest arts and music coverage in Seattle, Tacoma and on the Eastside.”
Visit www.cityartsmagazine.com for more information. Or contact info@cityartsmagazine.com 206.443.0445
Media Index Publishing can be contacted at 206-382-9220 www.Media-inc.com, or email sound@soundnw.com