29/04/2020
🚨 SAVE LOUD AND QUIET 🚨
Dear readers. First things first, our new subscription package is available here: buff.ly/2VE6U1U
Since the COVID-19 crisis hit we’ve been trying to work out how to keep Loud And Quiet going. Or, should I say, *if* we can keep it going.
With the cancellations of festivals and live shows, the delay of record releases, and general uncertainty across the board, our advertisers (and therefore our revenue stream) disappeared overnight as soon as the lockdown kicked in in March.
We knew this was going to happen, just as we’ve known for the last 15 years how vulnerable our position is in making a print magazine that we’ve always given away for free.
For a long time (until 2018, in fact) we felt too embarrassed to ask our readers for help. Since we have, many of you have responded by subscribing to the magazine, for which we are extremely grateful. But the truth is that we need more of our readers to sign up, to be able to break away from an unsustainable model where we’re banking on advertisers each month and undervaluing our work. This is especially going to be important once the pandemic is over, as many companies will have even less to spend on advertising than before.
Of course, we’re not the only ones in real trouble within the music industry. From venues and promoters who feel like they can’t put a ticket price on the door anymore, to artists playing for low fees and battling with streaming services, it’s all felt like it’s been hanging by a thread for years. Hopefully, one of the positives to come out of coronavirus (within society as a whole, but especially within the arts) will be a reset in what we consider a fair price for the things we love.
So this is what we’ve come up with as a new subscriber package. It really is our only chance of survival. For less than £1 a week, you can help us champion the most exciting new music and culture all year round.
Check out the full details here: buff.ly/3bKYk7k
If enough people sign up, Loud And Quiet will continue from August. If not, our issue released last month will be our final edition and we will close down.
If you are a reader/listener who enjoys what we do, and if you can afford it, now is your chance to save us.
Thank you for reading and supporting independent music journalism. Underground media and culture can survive COVID-19 if enough of us really want it to.
Stu and the L&Q team. x
