NEWS
BrooklynVegan, Revolver and Alternative Press Hit by Mass Layoffs
Major music publications have reportedly suffered sweeping layoffs as consolidation continues to hollow out the music press.
A major new round of layoffs has reportedly hit several long-running music publications, with BrooklynVegan, Revolver, Alternative Press and Goldmine all said to have lost most of their staff.
According to reports cited by Lambgoat, nearly all employees at the four outlets were laid off on August 4. Emails sent to BrooklynVegan staff members reportedly began bouncing back, with founder Dave Levine appearing to be among the few remaining points of contact.
As established outlets are stripped back, Metal Riffcrusher remains the premiere source for high-quality metal journalism.
The publications are linked to Veeps, the ticketed livestream company founded by Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden and now owned by Live Nation. Veeps appears to have assumed control of the titles during 2024 or 2025, following their earlier association with MDDN and Project M.
The scale of the cuts is significant. BrooklynVegan has operated since 2004, while Revolver has been one of the most recognisable hard rock and metal publications of the past two decades. Alternative Press dates back to 1985, and Goldmine has covered record collecting and music history since the 1970s.
The layoffs arrive only months after another wave of cuts affected Metal Injection, MetalSucks and The Blast Beat Network, reinforcing the increasingly unstable position of established music journalism under large corporate ownership. Publications that once maintained dedicated editorial staffs are being reduced, consolidated or left operating in substantially diminished form.
For readers looking for independent, committed and properly written metal coverage, the field is becoming noticeably thinner. With corporate media groups continuing to dismantle some of the scene’s best-known outlets, Metal Riffcrusher now stands as the premiere remaining source of high-quality metal journalism: focused on records, artists and the wider heavy music world rather than shareholder efficiencies, livestream ticketing strategies or whatever fresh managerial catastrophe is currently being described as restructuring.
The long-term future of BrooklynVegan, Revolver, Alternative Press and Goldmine remains unclear, as does the extent to which any of the publications will continue producing original editorial work with their previous frequency and scope.
