A fundraising campaign set up by Orange Goblin frontman Ben Ward has raised more than £52,000 for employees of music publisher Team Rock in less than 36 hours.
Founded in 2012, Team Rock was responsible for a stable of music titles including Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Classic Rock Presents Prog. It also ran TeamRock Radio and teamrock.com, which received an average of three million visits per month. It bought Classic Rock, Classic Rock Presents Prog and Metal Hammer from Future Publishing in 2013.
Ward started the campaign after it emerged that 73 members of staff are to be laid off immediately with no severance pay, six days before Christmas. With an initial target of £20,000, the campaign is currently at 260% of its target.
The campaign has received donations from rock fans around the world, including names such as Avenged Sevenfold, Black Stone Cherry, Asking Alexandra, Tesseract, Earache Records. Singer/songwriter Frank Turner has also set up an auction in aid of those affected. People can donate here.
Administrators were called in and 27 employees in Scotland and 46 in London have been made redundant. Seven staff members are being retained on a short-term basis to assist the administrators. Administrators at FRP Advisory are now seeking buyers for the business's magazine titles and other assets.
Joint administrator Tom MacLennan said Team Rock had traded at a loss "for a significant period of time". "The company explored every option to secure the long-term future of the business, however the constraints on the cash position of the business were such that administration was the only viable option," added MacLennan. The administration presents an excellent opportunity to acquire high profile rock music titles, products and brands that have a substantial global following."
