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State Issue 10 & an announcement

By on Wednesday, 14 January 200933 Comments | Print this post | Email
State Issue 10 & an announcement

The announcement of a new issue of State is usually a cause for celebration. In this case, our tenth issue is tinged with a certain sadness. This month is a little different to what’s gone before as there will be no printed version of this issue. It has been a real year of ups and downs for the magazine. We’ve had a ball in the last twelve months but circumstances beyond our control have interfered. We always felt the magazine was something which was sorely missing from the dialogue around music in Ireland, which judged Irish artists on the same criteria as international artists and treated music as the important cultural art it has become to us all.

Though State, as a magazine is in a better shape creatively in 2009 than it ever was, there are certain palpable economic circumstances which mean that the costs involved in printing a magazine of such high-quality (in our opinion, as that is our currency) have become even more difficult to meet. We have always been an entity in transition, learning as we went, incorporating that knowledge into making a deserved better product for music fans. Sadly though, State felt the cold, icy hands of the recession in the last two months. Advertising has become an increasingly difficult prospect for any industry which relies on it and the standards which we had set for ourselves were no longer achievable.

Fret not. As you’re reading this on State.ie, you will be all too aware of the resource it can be. So our plans for the future involve us shifting our focus wholly to State.ie, which will now become the hub of all our activity with reviews, interviews, mp3s, news and everything else in the navigation above. As a parting gift from State Magazine and as a way to pass the baton to state.ie, we offer up to you our tenth issue as a digital issue so you can see for yourself what would have looked amazing on paper. State remains free to all… (who have broadband internet access) and we will STILL BE producing a monthly digital issue every month to complement the website.

Fill in your details here to be informed of future digital issues:


 

The last twelve months have brought the State team immense satisfaction in the making and production of the magazine and we hope to you too. We intend to continue as State.ie with the same team of writers and photographers with more joining us in the near future. We plan to produce a regular digital magazine. We’re sad for the printed version but we’re excited that we have (award-winning) State.ie to focus on now. State is a labour of love for us. It was never about advertising or making money. It was always about the tunes and artists which moved, and continue to move us and 2009 is no different so we turned to the sounds emanating from the brightest artists in Ireland today.

For our tenth issue we talked to Conor O Brien, a former member of The Immediate about Villagers, his new solo project which a lot of people are getting very excited about. We talked to the new waves of Irish from Adebisi Shank to Grand Pocket Orchestra, from Bats to Fighting With Wire, Cap Pas Cap to Kill Krinkle Club, from Dublin’s Heathers to Waterford’s Katie Kim, from the dubstep ragga of Prince Kong to the postal service-enthusiast electronica of Mail Order Messiahs. Where possible, we asked eminent photographers Richard Gilligan and Feargal Ward to shoot these bands along with people like Annie Mac and Sinead Ni Mhorda who are making (radio) waves for our issue.

There’s also interviews with Antony & The Johnsons, Dengue Fever, a look at the Autotune phenomenon, a focus on Limerick’s finest indie label Out On A Limb, Animal Collective, what Underworld means to Kara Manning and more. See you on the other side on State.ie in the future.

Niall on behalf of the State Team – Phil, John, Simon, Roger, Aoife and our valuable contributors.

Here’s the issue in the online reader and as a PDF.

Download as a PDF

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  • http://www.ireland.com/blogs/ontherecord Jim Carroll

    Best of luck for the future Team State

  • http://www.markcoughlan.com Mark Coughlan

    It’s a real pity. I thought the print edition was right on the verge of ballooning. I’m studying journalism and most of my class hadn’t heard of State when we left for the summer, when got back in September maybe 10 of 30 had read it, then the last issue the vast majority of the class were raging about how great it was. The news was spreading and I was hoping to see the next edition really cement itself as a must-have in my group of friends, which is a semi-decent sample of the State target audience in my view.

    I hope you still produce the digital magazine to the same amazing design and journalism standards, it’s the best way to read it in my opinion.

    Best of luck with the new move

    Mark

  • http://fuzzyboiler.com Dan Dennison

    Sorry to hear this – I loved picking up the printed version! It’s quality had really raised the bar among Irish music magazines and was both a joy to read and look at.

    Here’s to the future – all the best with it!

    D

  • http://www.entertainment.ie/music_news Lauren

    Sorry to hear that, but best of luck with the website. Here’s to the makings of an Irish Pitchfork?

  • Aisling

    This is a real tragedy, it’s a huge shame to see a high quality publication succumb to recession…
    Best of luck with the site – it started off on a great footing!
    ais

  • http://guesslist.ie/ flynnduism

    This is sad news; the writing and design of State was always top notch (best magazine in ireland since Foggy Notions stopped).

    I’m kinda suprised that you’ll continue to put out digital issues – i don’t think the ‘issue’ format works online, seperate articles makes more sense?

    Over to Analogue (and that other one) to carry the torch now!

  • Jules

    yes it is sad but its not the end..is it? I mean, anyone who reads state magazine, visits the website, reads the articles & then posts comments. There’s a great online music community here, where there wasn’t one before!

    An awful lot has been achieved in just 12 months, so chins up,we still got state.ie!

  • Daithi C

    Sad to hear this, you guys do the most amazing job and we all appreciate, share and support your vision… you are indeed greatly loved by us mere mortals…..
    Thank you
    Caffus

  • http://raptureponies.wordpress.com raptureponies

    Sorry to hear it, I thought it was a really great magazine… best of luck with all the web stuff!

  • http://www.adamlacey.blogspot.com adam

    Genuinely sad to hear that. I work in a newspaper by day and know only too well the difficulties with advertising revenue these days. Hope the onlne-only transition goes well. G’luck.

  • http://thisiswhatido.org Darragh

    A real pity guys and gals. Genuinely liked the magazine though I’ll happily profess to knowing nothing about Irish music. Glad to hear the site won’t suffer though – still a big fan of that too.

    Best of luck!

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/strangelove1981 Aaron

    Sorry the big R hit the magazine but glad to see State keep in business regardless. The printed mag was great to bring home but having State online is better that having no State at all.

  • http://www.guesslist.ie Joe

    Haven’t much more to say that hasn’t already been said – I’ll miss picking up my copy of State but keep up the good work here regardless.

    Best wishes for the future.

  • sssso_what??????

    What would you say for that?
    There are a lot of not happy people out there

    http://www.drop-d.ie/article.php?article_id=849

  • sssso_what??????

    check out drop-d website
    you made some people very angry

  • http://www.myspace.com/lpxireland Leigh O’Gorman

    @sssso_what?????

    I wouldn’t worry about Paddy. Admittedly, his letter gave me a bit of a laugh, but it is a shame that he was so delusional about the magazine’s possibilities Vs financial obligations.

  • lrandc

    Shame, shame, shame. It’s a real pity that the physical mag won’t be available any more. Best of luck with the site, though!
    p.s. drop-d. In fairness… shut yer hole.

  • http://www.cluas.com/indie-music/Blogs/French_Letter.aspx aidan

    Pity the printed edition didn’t work out, but hopefully the site can stay viable. Will you continue to post an online reader version? That’d be, like, so post-modern and stuff! :)

    All the best.

  • http://ronan-johns.blogspot.com/ Rojo

    It’s a sad day for music fans in Ireland. We’ve lost a great entity but I’m sure this place will gain a better sense of community as mentioned above.

    Best of luck to all the staters!

  • http://www.drop-d.ie Liam

    Best Wishes for the future lads and lasses.
    Hope the online only venture brings you all to bigger and better things.

  • http://www.state.ie Niall Byrne

    Thanks to everyone for the nice and not so nice comments. We’re big boys and girls, we can take it.

  • http://wordpress.hotpress.com/offherrocker Nay

    Just glad you’re not going anywhere. The magazine was a lovely thing and I’m sure the quality will reflect in future digital issues. And sure, Electronic is the way of all things for the future.
    Best of luck!

  • http://www.musicfromireland.org angela

    you guys are great and im sure will continue to be great online kisses from all at fmc

  • Ruth Medjber

    absolute shame, the printed edition’s wer top quality and raised the bar for Irish music photography recently.

    i’ll have to change my to do list now.

    wishing u all the online luck in the world x
    R

  • http://thosegeese.blogspot.com Karl

    This is a pity, the magazine was beautiful, had a couple of great interviews over its short life, and I especially thought the review section was excellent in terms of breadth and depth as well as quality of writing.

    I too would prefer to see individual articles a la Pitchfork on the website rather than an online issue I think. But I’ll be reading either way.

  • http://www.state.ie Niall Byrne

    Karl, we’ll probably be doing both.

  • Rob

    Sorry to hear that the recession has hit yet another corner of the market. The last thing music need’s is another area to close.

    Best of luck with everything in the future guys, hopefully this will all pass soon.

    Best wishes,
    Rob

  • http://www.goldenplec.com Aidan Cuffe

    Hey Guys

    Very sorry to hear about the recession hitting the mag. Its the whole reason we over at goldenplec dont get ourselves a decent team together and try something similar. Its been done over and again and its just not sustainable in the long run without some massive sort of revenue to kickstart and continue it when things go wrong.

    I always enjoyed perusing your mag and so did most of the GP members that i talk to. Its an shame that we wont have a printed version, but as a site thats been around 6 years now, its proven that its possible to being around online on a budget.

    The biggest thing now will be finding time in your lives for 9-5 and to run articles as good and regular as you were doing. For us we dont do the interviews and reviews so much as there are no real journalists among our ranks and time has become a major factor in the lives of all the admin team involved.

    Here’s hoping that you guys can keep it together and not suffer Site-Fade and drift away over time as so many before you have done.

    If we can do anything to help let us know, Irish Music needs journalistic ventures like this. I really hope it stays alive

  • http://www.gasun.net Enda Casey

    Decisions, Decisions ….. Good luck for ’09 PLUS …… Will miss the gloss but am getting used to tucking into the on line version larger than life on my big IMAC Screen ..E.

  • http://BifSniff.com Frank P

    Really disappointed about the print version – while I love your site, I am sick of reading things online and State magazine was such a good read and beautifully presented.

    I was really looking forward to the next issue.

    I’m sorry to hear of it’s demise, but I hope that maybe you guys won’t just forget about the print option, but continue to keep an eye out for ways to bring it back… surely there must be at least one music loving millionaire out there who could patronise the magazine – Bono, where are you we need you after all… :)

    Thanks for the mags to date, they helped me discover so much music in the last months and best of luck with the site.

    Keep up the excellent work!

    Frank

  • http://www.meleebeats.com Nic Bertino

    I caught on to State after being interviewed for it… Must say that I definitely enjoy the layout and writing. Maybe when the time is right a paper version can be reborn.

  • Paul Maye

    In fairness it was never going to last. Starting a magazine in an already fledging industry which just seemed to take nods from Pitchfork was never going to work. Still fair play for having a go and I hope your website works out for you.

  • http://toofamoustogetfullydressed.blogspot.com/2009/01/bono-makes-his-new-york-times-debut.html Dave

    That was a backhanded compliment if ever I saw one.

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