Computer Music Magazine has announced that, after 25+ years, it has printed its last issue.
Publisher Future Music had previously announced that it was shutting down its namesake Future Music Magazine. The company says that it plans to merge the content from both magazines into their MusicRadar site.
At its peak, Computer Music Magazine offered a monthly collection of in-depth articles on computer-based music production. It came with a DVD full of samples and software, which complimented the contents of the magazine.
For a generation of electronic musicians, Computer Music Magazine offered access to news and information about music production that was otherwise hard to find – especially in the early days of the Internet.
Here’s the official announcement:
“We’re sad to announce that Computer Music’s most recent issue will be the final issue of the magazine.
First launched in 1998, Computer Music’s existence was spurred by the giddy excitement about the music production power of desktop computers, then becoming an increasingly popular presence in homes around the world.
The momentum built further by the snowballing of home computing, the speed-up of processors and the swelling interest in creating and producing music at home, Computer Music magazine soon became a must-buy for many.
Over its subsequent 25-year lifespan, Computer Music charted the development and evolution of software music-making from its humble beginnings to its omnipresent current state. It inspired many notable artists and producers to pursue their passions and armed its readers with a huge array of free software – most notably the Plugin Suite, an arsenal of tools that stands among the greatest free gifts a print magazine has ever given its audience.
Sadly, the cost of print has increased substantially in recent years, and it became clear that the best strategy was to consolidate Computer Music’s content and spirit into MusicRadar.com, alongside our sister title, Future Music. Meaning that Computer Music’s expert opinion and knowledge will continue to live online.”
Future says that subscribers will be refunded the remainder of their subscriptions, within 7-10 days.
I feel sad for the future generations who will miss the experience of reading physical magazines. Online content is great, but it doesn’t have nearly the same affective and inspiring effect.
Agreed – it seems like a loss where something wasn’t really replaced with something better. I have greatly enjoyed enthusiast magazines for things like musical instruments, music production, computing, games, etc. Even the advertisements are usually on theme and interesting to read.
That sucks. I was just out looking for the last FM copy, and I ran across Computer Music, but I didn’t buy it. Unfortunately I didn’t find the last Future Music issue either.
I find I invest myself a bit more with a print edition (more thoroughly reading the content), so both will be missed. Next we’ll get news that Sound on Sound print edition is tanking.
Nooooo!?
Find another material to print on instead of trees and then continue business as usual
Got a year subscription probably around 2012, and it was great looking forward to the next issue coming in the mailbox but real reason was the sounds and content on the CD discs that came with the magazines, they definitely lasted longer and still have them.
A digital blue light screen isn’t much better for reading
if we are being honest here its probably this site synthtopia that should take part of the blame for the downfall also because its such a good site. And it covers a lot (eg new product releases) that both CM and FM were purchased for. And …its free.
Personally im going to go and re-start my SOS subscription now. They are the bible. I dont want them gone
I guess so, but I’ve read synthtopia *and* CM and FM for years. Magazines seem to do tutorials, in-depth reviews, and buying guides, and they come with goodies like curated (and presumably trustworthy) downloads (CM’s suite is particularly great and I would download the FM stuff if I had enough storage space.)
I even enjoy the paginated magazine format both in print and on tablet. And it’s always exciting to get a new issue.
I’m a bit surprised that they stopped BOTH Future Music and Computer Music magazines at the same time. I could imagine many would switch to buying the other magazine ones one of them was discontinued. But perhaps it was the same personnel making them and they plan to (or already have) cut down on personnel too.
Yeah, killing Future Music AND Computer Music at the same time is miserable.
I wonder if this is the end of Future Publishing in general.
(And on the non-Future front, RIP Guitar Player as well.)
What is sad is that I actually read the advertisements in these magazines because they are for stuff that I’m interested in, and they’re not obnoxious. Internet ads have turned into obnoxious sliders/autoplaying video/subscribe to our stupid newsletter and other nonsense..
My favorite parts of Computer Music were the tutorials. I learned a lot in the beginning by just following them. SOS is my main mag, also love their tutorials, but the world of learning particularly with increasingly complicated DAWs is highly fragmented now, between blogs, for-pay organizations, and then just hunkering down and figuring things out yourself instead of making music. I would be interested in learning the economics of a mag like SOS, what percentage of their income is coming from manufacturers whose products they review.
What about the free synths? They have nice VSTs that you can grab with the official dvd or download they.