| The cover of the 200th edition of "The Musical" Courtesy of The Musical |
By Park Ji-won
A 20-year-old magazine focused on musical theater said Friday it will suspend publication due to financial difficulties amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The publication company said on its website that, "following the 207th edition to be released in December, publishing of 'The Musical' will be indefinitely suspended.
"As mobile platforms and social media have become central to the publication industry, the paper-based publication had to survive in this new situation. Also, because of the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, we suffered a financial burden. So we decided to suspend our publication in the same year we celebrated our 20th anniversary.
"Even though there were ups and downs, we kept releasing editions as we were determined to serve as the only genre magazine on the theme of musicals. The power of the publication came from the participation of production companies, actors, staff and readers."
Established in July 2000, the magazine contributed to the expansion of the Korean musical industry and included in-depth interviews and news from overseas. It published 5,000 copies a month and had about 1,000 subscribers.
According to data from the Korea Arts Management Service, ticket sales for musical performances were valued at 218 billion won in 2018, up 29.3 percent year-on-year. In 2006, ticket sales amounted to 51 billion won.
This is not the first time the coronavirus has affected a company in the industry.
"Stage Talk," a web portal on information about the arts, shut down its website Oct. 15 after six years and six months of operation, citing financial difficulties created by the pandemic.
It had been holding online and offline events about musicals, plays and concerts while providing opinion pieces by columnists to its 65,000 members.