VIBE Magazine Closes

On Tuesday June 30, Steve Aaron, Vibe Media Group's chief executive officer, announced that Vibe, the 16-year-old urban music and culture magazine, founded by entertainment mogul Quincy Jones in 1992, was folding immediately and will no longer produce print issues or publish its website, Vibe.com.

In a statement to the staff, Aaron said, "The collapse of the capital markets has impacted us greatly. Over the past several months, we have actively pursued investment resources while working intensively with our bank to find a solution. But the deal market right now remains very poor and at the end of the day, the lack of investment resources to restructure the huge debt on our small company has made this outcome become a reality.“

Danyel Smith, former chief content officer of Vibe Media Group and editor in chief of Vibe, issued this statement:
"On behalf [of] the VIBE CONTENT staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It’s a tragic week overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine’s sixteenth anniversary, it’s a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you."

With the closing of the title, effective immediately, there now remains no large circulation print publication dedicated to covering hip-hop, R&B and fashion on a mainstream level.

Vibe's influence and impact on the worlds of hip-hop and R&B has been both immense and enduring.