It has not been a good week for music media properties. AOL Music was shuttered today (April 26) and it’s entire staff has been laid off.
Mediabistro’s Fishbowl blog reports:
AOL has shuttered its AOL Music division and laid off its staff, according to pink-slipped employees on Twitter.
Spinner.com, a rock-music news site under the AOL Music banner, announced suddenly on Thursday afternoon that it was shutting down. Minutes later, it said in a tweet that the entire music editorial division of the media giant, which owns The Huffington Post, was closing, too.
All of AOL Music is shutting down. Thank you all for your support. We had such a blast.
— Spinner.com (@Spinner) April 26, 2013
AOL Music operates the main homepage music.aol.com along with the sites The Boot and Tour Tracker, which appear to be on the chopping block.
Dan Reilly, the site’s editor, said on Twitter that he was “sitting in an HR meeting right now, trying to negotiate keeping our computers for a few more days.”
AOL’s Music’s Hip-Hop site was The Boombox blog.
Just yesterday, SpinMedia purchased VIBE magazine and all its website properties. However, its likely that SpinMedia (formerly Buzz Media) will shutter the magazine to focus on the brand’s website.
This story is developing.
