Future Music magazine has announced that, after more than 400 issues, they have printed their last issue.
They shared the news via Facebook:
“Future Music issue 414 is on sale now, which we must acknowledge with a heavy heart will be the final issue of the magazine.
For our final issue, we wanted to leave you with a selection of tried and tested mixing advice to help you nail that final mix. To that end, we’ve curated some of the most timeless and essential advice from our team of experts.
Future Music first launched more than 30 years ago in the autumn of 1992 and since the early-’90s, FM has played a role in the creation of some truly incredible electronic music. In that time, the magazine has released sample packs that have gone on to become bonafide classics, given early coverage to artists as diverse as Aphex Twin, Four Tet and Avicii, reviewed thousands of cutting-edge synths, plugins and studio tools and charted the rise, fall and revival of numerous sub-genres and styles.
Sadly, things change, and the concept of a print publication focused on something as forward-thinking as music technology has become an increasingly difficult proposition in recent years.”
At its peak, Future Music published thick issues, featuring profusely illustrated, in-depth articles about music production. It was accompanied by a DVD that was full of free music software and royalty-free loops and samples. In its day, this was an amazing resource, because the magazine offered complete hands-on tutorials, and they provided many of the tools discussed on the disc.
The company says that they will be contacting subscribers regarding refunds, and that they are shifting their resources to Music Radar, a gear-focused site for musicians.
Farewell, old friend.
I’m old enough to have had FM, Keyboard, Sound On Sound and other magazines teach me a lot I couldn’t have learned in any other way. I don’t think reading online sinks in quite as readily as it does when its physically in your lap. There’s some tactile experience to it. I’m grateful to all of those who did such great work.
This is really a very sad news!?
While this is sad news, it’s not entirely unexpected.
Especially as Future publishing has a few magazines that essentially are the same. Computer Music and Electronic Musician are just 2 that I can think of that are very similar to Future Music. They’ll probably just consolidate them into one.
End of an era. I used to have huge stacks of FM, EM, CM, Mix and Keyboard back in the dark ages. Sad to see, but the writing has been on the wall for a long time that physical information formats are dying.