''Blender'' was an American
music magazine
A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and culture in music cognition, music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with ...
published from 1994 to 2009 that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to pop culture". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities. It compiled lists of albums, artists, and songs, including both "best of" and "worst of" lists. In each issue, there was a review of an artist's entire
discography, with each album being analyzed in turn.
''Blender'' was published by
Dennis Publishing. The magazine was created by founding Editor-in-Chief
Regina Joseph as the first digital magazine, delivered entirely on
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...
disc and before the development of graphical browsers required to view the web.
She brought in co-founders Jason Pearson and David Cherry, and Blender's original publisher, Felix Dennis/Dennis Publishing, UK.
Joseph's CD-ROM editions of Blender also featured the first forms of digital advertising.
Felix Dennis published 15 digital
CD issues, and launched a web version in 1996. The final CD-ROM issue was published in June 1997, issue 14. Dennis started publishing a print edition again in 1999 which became the final distribution format of the title. Blender CD-ROM showcased the earliest digital editorial formats, as well as the first forms of digital advertising. The first digital advertisers included SonicNet,
Time-Life/Philips,
Calvin Klein,
Apple Computer,
Toyota
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
and
Nike.
In June 2006, the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' named it one of the top ten English-language magazines, describing it as "the cool kid at the school of rock magazines".
Owner Alpha Media Group closed ''Blender'' March 26, 2009, going to an online-only format in a move that eliminated 30 jobs and reduced the company's portfolio of titles to
''Maxim'' alone. ''Blender'' final print issue was the April 2009 issue. Subscribers to the magazine were sent issues of ''Maxim'' magazine to make up for the unsent ''Blender'' issues.
Indian edition
The
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
n edition of ''Blender'' was the title's first venture outside the United States. It commenced publication with its May 2008 issue, which featured
Mariah Carey on the cover. The magazine was targeted at educated male city dwellers aged between 18 and 34.
The magazine was launched through Dennis Media Transasia India, a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
between Dennis Publishing and Media Transasia, which also publishes the Asian versions of ''Blender'' and ''Maxim''. The joint venture was based in New Delhi
with offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai.
References
{{Reflist
2008 establishments in India
English-language magazines published in India
Magazines established in 1994
Magazines disestablished in 2009
Magazines established in 2008
Magazines published in Delhi
Magazines published in New York City
Music magazines published in India
Music magazines published in the United States
Ten times annually magazines
1994 establishments in the United Kingdom