Save Paste! Decatur-based music mag in need

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A quick disclosure: The co-founder and president of Decatur-based music magazine Paste, Tim Regan-Porter, and his wife, Leila, are some of my dearest friends in the city. But even if they weren’t, I would still heartily endorse the “Save Paste” campaign, which the magazine recently launched to help them continue to survive.

It’s hard out there for a print—including Atlanta. And while Paste has some other brilliant profit-making initiatives going right now (including the Shepard Fairey–inspired Obamicon.Me app and merchandise that swept the nation earlier this year), advertising sales have not been what they should in order for Paste to thrive.

You can donate anything you like to help Paste stay afloat, but you do get something in return: the ability to download more than seventy rare mp3s from contributing musicians such as The Decemberists, Indigo Girls, The Avett Brothers, and The Hives, among others. Also, for every $25 increment donated, the donor is entered into a drawing for an ocean-view cabin on 2010’s Cayamo cruise (which, with artists such as
Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, Robert Earl Keen, and John Hiatt, looks absolutely awesome).

You know, it’s probably pretty scary to put yourself out there and say, hey—brother can you spare a dime? What if subscribers don’t respond? What if all you’re met with are crickets? But, as is inscribed in a book to George Bailey by Clarence the Angel in It’s a Wonderful Life, “No man is a failure who has friends,” and it looks like so far, Paste may get by with a little help from their friends. Donations are averaging around $29 a pop, but the Paste crew says it needs in the low six-figures to keep truckin’ as it has been. I hope it happens. In the meantime, they seem hopeful. From the official press release:

“While the current situation is dire, long-term,
Paste expects to emerge from the recession in good shape. 2008 was the
magazine’s best year across the board—print subscribers, print ads,
online readers and online advertising were all at record levels.
PasteMagazine.com consistently draws more than 900,000 visitors each
month, and the magazine has grown into the third largest rock magazine
in the world. Meanwhile new advertisers have come on board and more are
ready to begin doing business when their advertising budgets return.

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