Today in print industry death marches: Spin lays off a third of its staff, cancels November issue

In an unsurprising development following the news that Spin was bought by Buzzmedia, the magazine has laid off about a third of its staff—including its editor in chief—and announced it will be cancelling this year’s November/December issue. (Confoundingly, Buzzmedia recently told the New York Times that, despite the layoffs, it hopes to double Spin’s editorial staff in the next year.) The moves are ostensibly aimed at phasing out print altogether at Spin, which has been struggling amidst a wealth of online music sites—some of it already affiliated with Buzzmedia—such as Idolator, Stereogum, Gorilla Vs. Bear, PopMatters, Pure Volume, Punk News, RCRD LBL, and XLR8R.  Last year, Spin’s website drew about half the monthly visitors that Pitchfork did and about a sixth of what Rolling Stone’s site drew. Spin's August/September print edition, which features rapper Azaelia Banks on the cover, will come out in late August as planned. It could well be its last.