A couple of music publications owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group have been sold by the company, with Spin Media getting sold to a private equity firm Next Management Partners, and Stereogum being sold back to its founder and current editor-in-chief Scott Lapatine, who will take on the role of CEO for the publication.
Next Management Partners will “assume all assets and has engaged the current team to continue publishing,” according to Pitchfork. Both Spin and Stereogum experienced layoffs during September of last year, which has been a recurring trend across various digital media companies.
The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group bought both of the companies as part of the Spin Media Group back in 2016. This deal also gave the company ownership of the hip hop media outlet Vibe, which is still owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group.
Lapatine founded Stereogum back in 2002 as one of the first “MP3 blogs” which offered downloads of MP3 files from musicians. The publication focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and irreverent commentary regarding the music industry and hosts a “Band to Watch” award which has gave prominence to artists such as Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend and Lily Allen years before they achieved a large amount of popularity.
“It’s been a privilege to watch Stereogum grow over the past 18 years—the site saw record traffic in 2019—and I’m thrilled about our next chapter as an independent, music-only publication,” Lapatine told Billboard. “Also, launching later this year, a robust new user experience will be sure to delight and infuriate Stereogum’s dedicated commentariat in equal measure.”
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