Paste editor Josh Jackson has confirmed reports of the publication's troubled finances in a letter to contributors apologizing for late payments and an announcement of a fundraising campaign to save the music magazine.

From: Josh Jackson
Date: Wed, May 13, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Subject: A letter to Paste contributors
To: Josh Jackson

Hi all,

I know you're all very aware of the financial troubles Paste has been in, as many of you are still owed money for articles you wrote, illustrations you drew or photographs you took several months ago. We've continued to make payments to the printer and the Post Office to keep the magazine alive in hopes of digging out of our hole and have made a lot of progress on the expenses side-getting rid of the CD that accompanies Paste, cutting out most all of our travel, taking across-the-board paycuts, shrinking the page count and assigning less freelance work-all of which have kept us going, but not really helped to dig us out of the hole and make us right by you guys. The last months have been particularly hard on our cash flow and have taken us to the point where we can't get out of it on our own.

Rather than shut our doors, we're launching a reader appeal today to help save Paste. Many of the artists we've worked closely with over the years-folks like Neko Case, The Decemberists, Of Montreal, She & Him, Josh Ritter, The Avett Brothers, Brandi Carlile and the Indigo Girls-have donated rare and exclusive tracks to give to anyone who donates to the cause. Sixthman has donated a cabin on next year's Cayamo Cruise and bands like R.E.M. and Band of Horses have donated signed posters to be given away to random supporters, as well.

Our hope is that we'll raise enough to catch all of you up to current. Short of that, we'll be catching you up as much as we can. We've hated falling further and further behind with the people who've made Paste what it is, and we know most of you rely on freelance work for your living. We can't thank you enough for your patience. And our deepest gratitude goes to those of you who've continued to write, photograph and illustrate for us as our debt to you has grown.

More information can be found on the reader appeal page, which will be going live in about 30 minutes at http://www.pastemagazine.com/savepaste, but you're also welcome to call me on my cell (404.xxx.xxxx) with any questions. If you'd like to help, the best thing you can do is share the appeal with anyone you know who enjoys seeing your work in the magazine-or anyone who might want to donate just to get some really great and exclusive music.

We look greatly forward to the days where Paste is growing in pages (and assignments) and is once again known for always paying folks on time.

Thanks for all you do for us,
Josh

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Josh Jackson
Editor-in-Chief
Paste Magazine
Signs of Life in Music, Film and Culture