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And a couple of weeks ago was killed off completely

but it doesn't have the pretty pictures Plan B does and it doesn't smell anywhere near as nice.

What a shame, I really like this mag and have a subscription-booooo!

I loved Plan B a huge amount and will miss them loads. Definitely my favourite ever music magazine.

So young and still fresh. The longest features and the shortest mini reviews were all well written by people who knew and cared. There was no mock cynicism, no smart-arse put downs, no lame puns. Just wonderful writing, beautiful illustrations and well designed advertisements for things that were worth advertising. I will miss it, but I'll be looking for the same quality wherever the people go next.

to bring the magazine to a close, featuring the best pieces from the past five years, in a sort of 'annual' format.

i think its a great idea anyway.

No chance of it becoming a quarterly or something? Or special one offs (like what CarelessTalk and LooseLips kinda became)?

It had its faults, but it was still the sharpest, most beautifully designed music magazine in the country.

Awful, awful news...

I think an era is ending.

Thanks to everyone at Plan B for the pleasure you've given me, and the opinions you've shared. I didn't agree with them all, but they were always honest, well informed, well written and beautifully produced.

I am very sorry. Now what to do .....?

but could they do a 'Save Plan B' campaign like Paste magazine has been doing in the US? Could ask favourite bands to donate a rare track and offer a whole load of them to anybody who donates. It's quite interestesting how successful the aforementioned US campaign has been.

I've been reading Plan B since the second issue and have been a subscriber since they started doing subscriptions. It's turned me on to countless bands and opened my mind to all kinds of stuff.
One of the best things about it is that the writing is often really inspirational; like, many times when I've been in a rut or unable to write a song or whatever, an article in Plan B (usually about a band I've never heard) has reminded me why I love music or sparked something or other in me (real eloquent, huh?). I look forward to getting this same feeling from whatever the contributers (particularly kick, Frances Morgan, Ringo P Stacey, Nicola Meighan (sp?) and many others whose names I've been too lazy to remember) move on to next.

People should buy more (good) stuff.

http://everetttrue.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/day-68-plan-b-magazine-r-i-p/

It was Miss AMP who introduced me to Frances Morgan.

Almost immediately, I got into an argument about her. I wanted to send her to interview Sonic Youth for Careless Talk Costs Lives and the press agent was concerned that I was commissioning an untested music critic (Frances was, and remains, a talented musician) to talk to her flagship band. I responded that I’m just as able to spot intelligence, passion – and something else, being driven – as anyone, and so Frances went down to speak to her favourite band as her first interview as a critic.

Afterwards the PR graciously let me know that she (and the band) thought the interview went great.

For a long time after, I kind of wished I hadn’t introduced Frances into the fold – her writing (like that of Neil Kulkarni, Stevie Chick and Miss AMP, for quite different reasons) always made me feel inadequate, in its ability to describe music so imaginatively.

Right from the start, Frances has been crucial, the main part of Plan B Magazine. I might have helped conceptualise and realise the magazine, alongside Chris Houghton and Andrew Clare (and lesser-sung names such as the wonderful Richard Stacey) but it was Frances, right from the outset, who was the driving force behind the title. My role at Plan B has always been advisory, to a lesser or greater degree. It was her vision and dedication and hard work and enthusiasm that have filled its pages, attracted the contributors, kept the title going way beyond what I (and Chris, I suspect) believed to be its natural lifespan. She commissioned the stories, proof-read the stories, oversaw the content and section editors. Even cleaned the bloody offices!

In the past year she moved into the role of publisher to allow Louis Pattison to take a very able crack at being editor – but simply, she did that to try and give Plan B one last chance to survive following my departure to Australia. Tons of other people contributed – very high on my list would be kicking_k, whose examplary taste (i.e. it often agrees with mine) and enthusiasm and ability to discover great music I’ve had cause to comment on before; but also the ever-reliable and visionary design skills of Andrew Clare, the initial and crucial burst of energy and business acumen supplied by Chris Houghton, and folk like Cat and Sarah and Lauren and Thee Stevie Chick, and Nick Taylor, our ads manager who singlehandedly gave the title at least another year of life, David McNamee, who did so much to help define the character of the magazine at the start, and all the sections editors, and Jesus the contributors, awesome folk who I’m so pleased to have worked alongside, the photographers, interns, illustrators, ad reps, supportive PRs, record industry people…you know this list could go on for a very long time…but without Frances there, every fucking hour of the day, Plan B simply wouldn’t have made it to issue 15, let alone 45.

I’m getting choked up. Obviously, I’ve been aware of the imminent demise of Plan B for some time – but it’s one thing just sharing that knowledge among a few likeminded souls, and another having it made public.

I mean, Jesus, we didn’t do so bad, did we? Built ourselves into a national magazine from scratch with no outside funding, and lasted four-and-a-half years. Folk are already talking about this as one more nail into the coffin of the print media, but actually I think the advent of web 2.0 had little to do with Plan B’s demise. Sure, it’s related to the way the music industry is mutating. Sure, it’s related to the global recession, localised – but Plan B was too much a niche title for web 2.0 to have that much of an effect.

Don’t think of this as an ending. Think of this as a beginning. We’re not going to go away. The website and forum are still up and running – and with no intent to close either. And we’re still going to be out there, thriving, adapting, inspiring, challenging. There’s no fucking way we’re going to go away now.

the only music publication that was readable. I have literally nothing to read now music wise.

I'm still mourning over Jockey Slut

And probably Select, too.