Spin Magazine apparently
isn’t going anywhere, despite the failure of a purchase deal.
Owner Next Management Partners, a venture capital firm, had a deal to
sell Spin to Airtab, an events platform and middleman between bookers and artists at the local level.
But as The Hollywood
Reporter writes, the wire transfer didn’t go through, and the agreement is null and void, although Airtab says it is still interested.
If nothing else, this shows that
Next Management would entertain an offer, but it wasn't seeking one. And Spin is " going forward, stronger than ever," says Next Management CEO Jimmy Hutcheson. "We
17x’d the revenue in five years and we are thriving. We have a solid business with a diversified set of revenue streams including a record label with Virgin, branded merchandise in Urban
Outfitters, events during Coachella, Art Basel etc, a music tech incubator and a TV/ film desk with 101 Studios, the creators of Yellowstone. We also just hired a senior executive from Maxim,
Adam Webb. We’re doing well, and we hadn’t even been on the market."
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Airtab supposedly had big plans for Spin, like upping its
print frequency from quarterly to monthly.
Bob Guccione, Jr., the legendary editor who founded Spin almost 40 years ago, would have welcomed that. Returning as editor
earlier this year, he soon oversaw the first print issue since 2012.
When asked why Spin chose now to return, Guccione said: “Why not now? It’s a great time to
manifest Spin physically again.”
But Guccione felt that Spin had to return to quality journalism, ”not cheerleading for every artist that
has a press agent.”
Hutcheson agreed. “We are bringing journalism back to music and culture,” he said at the time.”Our intention is to be the greatest
music magazine in the world, covering what matters most in culture, as well as featuring the musicians you know and those you have never heard of.”
(This story has been
updated).