Cut Out Kid

CMJ Returns! But, Is It Too Late?

I got an email saying “CMJ Returns!” At first, I was excited! College Music Journal was a staple of my youth. A magazine you received, by mail, every month, that included a CD, packed with new music. I read every article, whether I liked the band or not, and I listened through every CD, to every single song. Whether metal, pop, rap or rock, I took it all in because I trusted CMJ’s tastes. They were the true purveyor of college music, of cool music.

But now I’m wondering, “Is it too late?” In a world where we get our new music delivered digitally every week, instead of monthly by snail mail, can CMJ still be a source of new music? Can CMJ still be relevant?

Who’s curating the music? Will it be diluted? Will they have an app or a weekly playlist on Spotify? Is it just digital radio? I have so many questions, and hopefully, this fall when it’s slated to return, all will be answered?

CMJ is now part of Amazing Radio, a British radio station that has introduced people to new music and broken cutting edge acts since 2009, much like the CMJ of yore. I’m listening now to the test station and I’ve liked everything I’ve heard so far.

Amazing Radio is calling this merger the “perfect fit,” and I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I have missed flipping through the magazine while setting the disc in the tray, and pressing play. Those were the days.

The days of finding new acts like The Longpigs, Murs, Sage Francis, or Sheila Divine. Acts I continued to see in concert and to lay down my cold, hard cash for. Can CMJ carve a niche in the rapidly changing musical landscape again? I hope so for the sake of future generations.

I still have the magazines and the coinciding, numbered CDs. I’ll be clutching them in my coffin.

Welcome back CMJ!