Team Rock, the publisher of print titles including Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog, has gone into administration, with the loss of over 70 jobs, just days before Christmas.
Scottish based Team Rock acquired Classic Rock, Prog and Metal Hammer magazines from Future Publishing in 2013 in a £10.2 million deal and had expanded into an Internet radio station with an apparently flourishing website, www.teamrock.com Reports have suggested the business had debts totalling £11.7 million at the close of 2015.
FRP Advisory LLP were appointed administrators of the Team Rock Ltd on 19th December and in a statement said that the group had been trading at a loss ‘for a significant period of time.’
In a separate statement quoted by the Scottish Daily Record, the Administrators said: ‘Cost-cutting measures were implemented and despite the best efforts of the directors to seek additional investment or a purchaser for the business, no deal could be completed, leaving the company with no viable option other than to enter administration and to immediately cease trading.
‘A handful of staff have been retained to assist the administrators, with all other employees made redundant.’
Meanwhile, Orange Goblin frontman Ben Ward has launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed to raise money to help those who have lost their jobs – 27 staff in Blantyre and 46 in London.
The news highlights the precarious position of traditional print publishing and the dangers faced as publishers try to cope with the impact of the Internet, social media and shifting demographics. It comes just weeks after Music Industry News questioned the MI industry’s heavy reliance on rock music as a source of new customers and growth.