There goes VICE.com
In another media bloodbath, VICE Media, a company once valued at US$5.7 billion, went bankrupt last year. It announced yesterday (February 22) that it is stopping publishing on vice.com. When? Unclear. At some point. Several hundred jobs are in jeopardy.
This doesn’t necessary mean the end of Vice. Instead, the company says it will “partner” with other media companies when it comes to distribution and “fully transition to a studio model.”
This comes on the heels of other media shutdowns, including The Messenger, Jezebel, and BuzzFeed news. The LA Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal have recently cut jobs. And let’s not forget the carnage at Bell Media.
It’s not clear when Vice.com will disappear. But before it does, you need to read this brilliantly funny piece called I Played ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ on a Bar Jukebox Until I Got Kicked Out. It’s so well done.
Whenever I’m feeling miserable, I scrounge a few dollars out of my jacket pockets and tromp up to the bar I don’t like. The bar is about three-quarters of a mile from my apartment and wholly forgettable, but ostensibly a metal bar.
The first time I visited, I did what I do whenever I find myself in a new bar: Go to the jukebox and see what record is number 69. Here, it was Thin Lizzy’s thoroughly nonseminal Jailbreak. I’ve never listened to that album the whole way through, and by the grace of God I know I’ll never need to, for I know that Jailbreak features at least two songs: “The Boys Are Back in Town,” and whatever song comes after “The Boys Are Back in Town,” which reminds you that you need to hit rewind.
Let me make one thing excruciatingly clear: “The Boys Are Back in Town” is an incredible song and I love it. I love it so much. My heart beats bwaa-da, bwaa-dadada DAAH dah to match Scott Gorham’s guitar riff, and this leaves my physician furious and unable to speak. When my roommate leaves for work in the morning, I genuflect toward his wonderful dog, who respects me. I press my forehead to his flank and I whisper “the boys are back” over and over again. The dog turns his furry brow to look into me and I know he respects me even more, for I have done as Messrs. Lizzy commanded. I have spread the word around.
Further proof that if you are a college or university and still offering “Radio And Television Arts” or some similar program, then you are stealing their money…the market has spoken loud and clear for this career path, and except for a very tiny sliver, this career has as much life as my old Blackberry…