2600 Distributor Withholds Money, Magazine's Future In Limbo

First time accepted submitter themusicgod1 (241799) writes According to 2600, their distributor (Previously known as "Source Interlink", now recently renamed to "TEN: The Enthusiast Network") has decided to consolidate its resources and is keeping the money retailers paid for the last two issues of the quarterly magazine. 2600, in the meanwhile, is still busy trying to organize the upcoming HOPE X conference. However, according to the link: "In the worst case scenario, being ripped off at this level would make it almost impossible for us to continue publishing. We would have to make a lot of painful choices and cut back on things for no reason other than some outside company's mismanagement. Our readers have supported both our print and digital publications and we've been doing quite well overall." Note: As it says at the linked explanation, 2600 is not a charity, and they're not seeking donations -- but they would like you to buy the magazine (in print or Kindle form), and to attend the upcoming HOPE X conference. (I wish I could make this year's HOPE but can't; as conferences go, HOPE is a wildly good bargain.)

Source Interlink Distribution shuts down

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From the letter Source Interlink sent to their publishers here [foliomag.com]:

As I am sure you are aware, over the course of the last five months, Source Interlink Distribution Company has been vigorously engaged in discussions with publishers and national distributors across our business in an effort to correct the inefficiencies and unnecessary redundant costs that currently plague the wholesale distribution channel.

In conjunction with that effort we:

* Circulated a Summary of Terms to each national distributor in mid-March as a basis to begin that dialogue, and
* Met with each of the national distributors and certain publishers on multiple occasions throughout the last two months in an effort to reach common ground.

While we have made significant progress in finding mutually agreeable solutions with publishers and national distributors alike, one of our largest suppliers has recently decided to cease supply and move in a different direction. As such, it's with a heavy heart that I am writing to advise you that Source Interlink Distribution Company will be discontinuing all operations in the near future.

In other words, they tried to Wal-Mart strongarm their distributors/vendors, and when the biggest one said "fuck you" and went elsewhere, their business imploded. And so an uber-distributer middleman dies. So sad.

Re:Did you bother to read the story?

[gbnewby]

Advertisers: not so much. In fact, the 2600 marketplace section (2 pages at the back of the magazine) is free, and only available to subscribers. There is no paid advertising in 2600 Magazine.

Re:Did you bother to read the story?

[jythie]

Two basic problems.

(1) such lawsuits are expensive to mount, if 2600 is hurting for 100k in the first place, chances are filing a civil suit would hurt them pretty badly too... which brings us to...

(2) while slimy, this is a legal practice. If you do the paperwork right you can even buy a company, transfer your debt to them, then split them off again. Poof your debt is gone and some other company is ruined. So if 2600 DID file a lawsuit, their chances of winning would be slime unless their distributer messed up the paperwork.

SID vs SIM/TEN

[Anonymous Coward]

I actually worked for TEN up until ~May. The 'legal' side of things is that Source Interlink was a single company. It then split into Source Interlink Distribution (whom owes 2600 money and does/did the distribution for magazines) and Source Interlink Media (who owns a ton of magazines).
SID lost the Time Mag deal and decided to close its doors. Sadly, 2600 is now needing to extract blood from a (dead) stone. SIM underwent some major internal upheaval and renamed themselves to TEN and laid off a ton of people.

At this point, the people 2600 needs to talk to are part of a company that is closing/closed. I dont know what their options are as IANAL, but I think they're going after a company that has nothing to do with the distribution of their magazine and therefore nothing to do with said profits. This happens all the time when companies go under and its sad. My heart goes out to 2600, as I was an avid reader back in my high school days of learning to phreak.