international news _ JONTY SKRUFFF _ 11th November, 2005
Mixmag Sold Into Development Hell
Mainstream publishing EMAP announced this week that they've sold Mixmag to Development Hell, with next week's issue becoming the last produced by the British corporate giant.
Rumours that the long running monthly dance music magazine was being sold to Scottish rival mag M8 first surfaced six months ago, though the new buyers are Development Hell, an independent magazine company run by ex EMAP executives.
Mixmag Clubs Editor Duncan Dick welcomed the change, telling Skrufff 'like the rest of the team I'm very excited and looking forward to the new challenge.'
"Development Hell obviously have a lot of faith in Mixmag - effectively they are doubling the size of their company by taking us on, and it will be a big change in status for us as a magazine, from being one of many titles at EMAP, competing for attention with scores of other titles (from Angling Monthly to Grazia), to being a very important part of a much smaller company," he said.
"Obviously Development Hell will have their own vision for the future of Mixmag, but for now all they've talked about changing- and improving- are things like the production values of the mag - i.e. the paper quality and returning the spine," said Duncan.
DJ Magazine business chief Charles Ward was also positive about his arch rival's ownership change, telling Skrufff 'EMAP's exit should be good for Mixmag, providing the new owners handle the title with care.
"I'm a strong believer that you have to have a passion about your magazine and I know for a fact that the reason DJ magazine is still running is that the team that we have are passionate about what we're doing. And even though we've been bought and sold three or four times we've always been left alone, and never interfered with that much," said Charles.
(Jonty Skrufff)
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