APN launched its weekly street-zine Volume on September 6, 2011 and started competing head-on with Groove Guide and a host of other online outlets. But the tough music/youth/pop culture media market has claimed another victim, because APN has decided to discontinue the print edition after just 33 issues—and on the first day of NZ Music Month.
Beware the rumour propelling ways of the Twittersphere. The latest to catch our attention is that APN is getting set to launch its very own free music street press, competing face-on with the recently sold Groove Guide, purchased by Juice TV programme director Grant ‘Grunta’ Hislop back in May. But this looks to be more than just a rumour.
The winds of change have blown for two titles in the Tangible Media stable, with the rejigged weekly Groove Guide set to launch with a renewed pop cultural zest and a new but familiar editor at the helm, as well as a relaunch and an editorial reshuffle at sustainable living magazine Good.
It lasted 196 issues, 18 years, was close to folding on a number of occasions and has been holding on for dear life for a while now. But Real Groove, a publication that long time contributor Gary Steel calls “New Zealand’s only serious music magazine”, couldn’t hold on any longer, so the October issue featuring Leonard Cohen on the cover will be the magazine’s last in its current format. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, because the best of Real Groove is set to move sideways into a pimped out version of its free weekly street press publication The Groove Guide.