KEY POINTS:
Youth culture is set to lose its iconic ambassador with Pavement magazine shutting its doors after 13 years.
The decision, made last Thursday, means Pavement's final issue will be out in early December, featuring Kiwi actress Amber Sainsbury on the cover.
"The reaction from people has been phenomenal. I've had heaps of people offering condolences. Sadly, our last issue, the special teen issue, was one of the best we've ever done," said editor Barney McDonald.
McDonald told the Herald on Sunday that advertising had dropped away since a high in the spring issue last year. And he simply couldn't afford to keep running the magazine to the standards he wanted.
"It's pure economics. We don't have a bottomless well of money that we can keep delving into to keep spending on each issue. If we did two more issues, we would have gone out of business. It was always on an issue-by-issue basis, and it's like that with independent publishing. It's not just us - all the other magazines are struggling as well."
He's at a loss to explain why he couldn't attract advertisers. He said the recent controversy over the latest issue featuring 11-year-old model Jessica Thompson didn't affect advertising and probably increased Pavement's 89,000 readership.
"It's not like our readership dropped off. Maybe now advertisers don't see the potential in youth any more and market to upper-middle-class suburbanites who watch reality TV shows and want nice Italian basins."
But Martin Gilman, chief executive of Total Media, said Pavement had struggled in a niche market lately - its heyday was probably about eight years ago.
"The 'street' magazine was a hot and fashionable market for a while there, but that's changed now. That sector has gone off the boil, and Pavement has dropped off the radar a bit. It's very difficult for a magazine to reinvent itself in that sector."
Gilman said some advertisers would have been turned off by the latest issue but not enough to force the magazine to be shut down.
McDonald said he was sad to shut down the magazine he founded 13 years ago. But he's extremely proud of what he calls its legacy of breaking new talent.
"We've built Pavement's profile to a degree where it really does mean something to be endorsed by us. We've also been a thorn in the side of mainstream and conservative New Zealanders."
And that would leave a huge hole in the market, said McDonald.
"I feel sorry for New Zealand that they won't have a magazine like Pavement kicking up a bit of dust. We live in very mediocre times in New Zealand, but the one thing Pavement has never been is mediocre. No other magazine has come anywhere near us as far as our impact goes."
Among McDonald's many highlights in the magazine were the first issue - a 48-page, $3 "blank canvas". And the fifth birthday issue featuring supermodel Naomi Campbell, posing for free on the cover.
And his personal highlight was seeing Bernard Sumner of New Order wearing a Pavement T-shirt at the Big Day Out.
"It blew my mind. Having the lead singer of my all-time favourite band wearing a Pavement T-shirt on stage was phenomenal."
But there have been lows. McDonald said he had struggled with the criticism of the latest issue.
"Some of it was quite hostile, and some of it was directed towards me."
But his biggest regret is sacrificing his personal life for work - especially breaking up with a long-term partner some years ago. "I miss her to bits, and I regret that my success with Pavement came at the expense of the success of that relationship."
