Spin Media Buys Vibe Magazine

SpinMedia, a group of music and pop culture Web sites that includes Spin magazine, has bought Vibe, the 21-year-old R&B and hip-hop magazine.

Vibe was founded in 1992 by Quincy Jones and Time Warner, with a focus on hip-hop and R&B music and the culture surrounding it, and it became one of the most influential publications of its kind. It was shut down abruptly in 2009 after advertising revenue plunged, but within months it was bought and revived by private equity investors.

Vibe had an average print circulation of 301,000 for the first six months of 2012, according to the Alliance for Audited Media, and SpinMedia said that each month Vibe’s sites have 1.4 million visitors and serve 1.6 million video streams.

Vibe will stop print publication and be available online only similar to GWOP.