CMT News

Radio & Records, Performing Songwriter Are Closing

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. The acquisition converted R&R's music charts to Nielsen BDS airplay data, the same technology used for Billboard's charts. R&R's final issue is dated Friday (June 5), and the Web site will be taken offline in the near future. Performing Songwriter, owned by Performing Songwriter Enterprises LLC, provided substantive stories about major songwriters. It will cease publication with its June issue.