The “Happy New Year” that we all wished for each other may not have started too well. The wars around the world continue with unabated frenzy. Man’s cruelty is apparently infinite – as is his stupidity, if you ask Einstein. We are helping each other to destroy the only habitable planet we know, and we are being led by politicians who are totally incapable of making the important but uncomfortable decisions needed to reverse this trend.
Like a small bacon in this sea of woe and misery, Musikermagasinet has stood out – at least for those of us who see music as a healing and unifying force. After all, music is a language that can be understood in all the countries of the world, regardless of the spoken language you otherwise use.
Churchill is known to have said something along the lines of: If we cannot defend ourselves to preserve art and culture (where music belongs to the highest degree) then what do we have to fight for?
He also said: “It would mean a thorough political reform if common sense could spread as quickly as stupidity.”
It is perhaps this paradigm shift we have all been waiting for.
It may sound a bit presumptuous to compare oneself to such a giant as Sir Winston, but for those of us who have worked with this magazine, which has existed in one form or another since the end of the 70s, it has had enormous significance. Judging by all the appreciation we’ve received from our readers over the years, I think we’ve been, at least once in a while, quite right.
However, everything comes to an end, and unfortunately that also applies to those who make magazines.
We have just completed the very last issue of MM. I myself have written for the mag for over 35 years, and several of my colleagues have struggled for almost as long. Our responsible publisher, and founder of the magazine, Björn Hansen, has of course fought the longest of them all. But now it’s over.
Almost all advertisers have recently failed us – but there are exceptions; many thanks to Toontrack, EBS, Lundgren Pickups and a few more! I don’t want to sound bitter, but it feels like too many companies believe that the polished surface, represented by so-called influencers, who only reside in a completely digital world, is more important and can give musicians more, than well-founded hands-on tests from active musician colleagues can do.
The entire music industry is of course having a rough time, but without advertising revenue it is not possible to make a magazine. If at the same time you are opposed by forces that do not value culture very highly, it becomes really tough.
All this entailed the end of Musikermagasinet’s more than 30-year old history.
So surely the new year really could have started better.
