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"Maker Media Inc ceased operations this week and let go of all of its employees — about 22 employees" founder and CEO Dale Dougherty told TechCrunch. "I started this 15 years ago and it's always been a struggle as a business to make this work. Print publishing is not a great business for anybody, but it works...barely. Events are hard . . . there was a drop off in corporate sponsorship." Microsoft and Autodesk failed to sponsor this year's flagship Bay Area Maker Faire.
But Dougherty is still desperately trying to resuscitate the company in some capacity, if only to keep MAKE:'s online archive running and continue allowing third-party organizers to license the Maker Faire name to throw affiliated events. Rather than bankruptcy, Maker Media is working through an alternative Assignment for Benefit of Creditors process.
"We're trying to keep the servers running" Dougherty tells me. "I hope to be able to get control of the assets of the company and restart it. We're not necessarily going to do everything we did in the past but I'm committed to keeping the print magazine going and the Maker Faire licensing program." The fate of those hopes will depend on negotiations with banks and financiers over the next few weeks. For now the sites remain online.
LINK:
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/07/make-magazine-maker-media-layoffs/
(Score: 1) by CheesyMoo on Monday June 10 2019, @03:57PM
Okay so print media is dead (or dying, if you insist) and corporate sponsors didn't help out at the Faire this year.
My question is, how much of this is market forces versus how much would be incompetence by the company?
I have been following MAKE nearly since its beginning, and I volunteered at the Maker Faire in San Mateo this year. There was no shortage of vendors, attendees (LOTS of parents with children) or skilled volunteers even with all the rain. It seems to me there is enough interest in this to make it a viable business, perhaps the old model doesn't work, fair enough, but this seems a bit dramatic, no? It doesn't sound like Dougherty wants to give up either, I find this a bit surprising is all.
Some other random thoughts:
-"Makers"/hobbyists/etc. do not need branded content to satisfy their interests
- The previously stated problem that every "kit" seems to be an introductory level, MAKE never really seems to teach advanced concepts. You get interested in "technology" enough to buy a kit, but they don't really want to empower you to be able to make your own without them? (Or maybe its not nefarious but that is just the case)
- I'd be curious to see numbers of folks who self-identify as makers... the community has certainly grown since ~2005, but did it peak and taper off? Or are these skills just subsumed into other internet hobby sectors?