Back in August 2004, the first issue of Decibel was independently published in Philadelphia. Considering the climate at the time, this was a truly terrible idea.
The music industry was awkwardly transitioning from physical to digital mediums while print media was soon to be overthrown by social media. And while we had some magazine experience, none of us had ever published a commercial newsstand publication.
Through limited resources and unlimited will, we slowly pushed forward. The rest of the story is for another day, but 22 years and over 260 monthly issues later, Decibel still stands. Still fully independent.
Like many of you, we’ve seen this week’s layoffs atBrooklynVegan,RevolverandAlternative Press, as well as the downsizing atMetal InjectionandMetalSucksearlier this year. These are people who dedicated their lives to promoting the music that defined ours, and they now face a market more uncertain than one we stepped into decades ago. Though we do suspect that you’ll see some of them contributing to the pages of Decibel very soon.
Of course, that defies the prevailing narrative that “independent music journalism is dead.” Alongside a handful of indie outlets, we operate without a single penny from outside investors. Maybe that means our margins are thinner. Maybe that means we don’t post as many selfies with Nergal. But at least we don’t have to pretend Sleep Token are good or stock Ghost dildos in our webstore. It’s the deal we’ve enthusiastically made.
Ultimately, to ensure independent journalism, you must support independent journalism. So, ahead of our 22nd anniversary issue, please consider subscribing toDecibel. Like you, we’re in this for life. Only (Independent) Print Is Real.
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