Two Country Music Magazines Close

Radio & Records, a major music industry trade publication founded in 1973, and Performing Songwriter, a Nashville-based magazine established in 1993, are closing, their owners announced Wednesday (June 3). Both covered a wide variety of musical genres, including country, and attributed the closures to the current economic climate. R&R, headquartered in Los Angeles, was acquired in 2006 by VNU, a company that also owned the predominant music trade magazine, Billboard, as well as the Hollywood Reporter and ACNielsen. VNU changed its name to the Nielsen Company in 2007.