''BrooklynVegan'' is an American

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

music magazine A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with recorded music. Notable mu ...

founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, United States and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, before broadening its scope to covering musical artists and events worldwide. Since 2011, ''BrooklynVegan'' operates two subsidiaries dedicated to other cites: ''BV Chicago'', which serves

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois; and ''BV Austin'', which serves

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas. In 2013, ''BrooklynVegan'' acquired German-American webzine ''

Invisible Oranges ''Invisible Oranges'' is an American online music magazine dedicated to heavy metal news, band interviews and album reviews. It was founded by Cosmo Lee in September 2006 shortly after emigrating from San Francisco, California, United States t ...

'', moving its headquarters to the United States. In 2015, ''BrooklynVegan'' and its subsidiaries became affiliates of

Townsquare Media Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

. In 2021, ''BrooklynVegan'' and its subsidiaries were bought out by Project M Group.

History

''BrooklynVegan'' began in July 2004 as a blog that also covered

vegan food Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

options in

, New York before founder and editor-in-chief, Dave Levine, shifted its focus to more exclusively documenting the live music community of the greater New York City area. The domain was purchased by Levine in early 2004, and the first blog article was posted on August 24, 2004. The blog helps give exposure to new and upcoming artists, such as with its installment in the ''Artist Discovery Series'' of blog posts hosted by ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...

'' and

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

, and their program on

Sirius-XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius ...

. The blog also showcases artists at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

and at

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

's annual music festival in New York, when in the summer of 2007, they invited the then-

self-released Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

Justin Vernon Justin DeYarmond Edison Vernon (born April 30, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the primary songwriter and frontman of indie folk band Bon Iver. Known for his distinct falsetto voic ...

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...

to play the

Bowery Ballroom The Bowery Ballroom is a New York City live-music venue located at 6 Delancey Street in the neighborhood of Bowery in Manhattan. The Bowery Ballroom holds something of a cult status among musicians as well as audiences. ''Rolling Stone'' magaz ...

. At the end of 2008, ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' considered it the best music blog of the year. In 2009, ''BrooklynVegan'' commissioned American journalist and editor of ''The Obelisk'' webzine JJ Koczan to cover Roadburn Festival on their behalf with a series of exclusive articles. In 2011, ''BrooklynVegan'' expanded its locale with two new imprint blogs. ''BV Chicago'' was launched in early 2011 and is devoted to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, while ''BV Austin'' was launched in late 2011 and is devoted to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. On January 4, 2013, ''BrooklynVegan'' officially acquired ''

'', a German-American heavy metal blog, and writer Fred Pessaro, ''BrooklynVegans heavy metal journalist, became editor-in-chief of ''Invisible Oranges''. In July 2015, ''BrooklynVegan'' and its three subsidiaries became affiliates of American

mass media Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

conglomerate

, under its division Townsquare Music. At the time, Townsquare Music also owned ''Consequence of Sound'', '' Hype Machine'', ''

Ultimate Classic Rock Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

'', ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

,'' '' Gorilla vs. Bear'' and ''

Noisecreep Noisecreep is a hard rock and heavy metal music news and media website based in the United States. The site was created by AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an Ameri ...

''. In January 2021, ''BrooklynVegan'' and its three subsidiaries were bought out by American digital media brand and e-commerce company Project M Group (which had previously bought out ''Revolver'', '' The Hard Times'', ''

Metal Edge ''Metal Edge'' was a magazine covering heavy metal music published by Zenbu Media. The magazine was founded in the summer of 1985, during the height of glam metal's success. Zenbu Media acquired ''Metal Edge'' in February 2007. Both ''Metal Edg ...

'', ''Inked'' and ''Goldmine''). As part of the new partnership, ''BrooklynVegan'' and ''Invisible Oranges'' launched a new webstore selling vinyl records, band shirts and apparel, as well as toys and collectibles. The stores are identical across ''BrooklynVegan'', ''Invisible Oranges'', ''Revolver'', ''The Hard Times'', ''Metal Edge'', ''Inked'' and ''Goldmine'', with content controlled and curated by Project M Group.

References

External links

*{{Official website 2004 establishments in New York City 2004 establishments in the United States American blogs American entertainment news websites American music websites Companies based in Brooklyn Heavy metal music Heavy metal publications Internet properties established in 2004 Magazines established in 2004 Magazines published in New York City Music blogs Music magazines Music review websites Online music magazines published in the United States Project M Group brands