ENTITY · PUBLICATION
The Beat magazine
Well supported
The Los Angeles magazine (1982-2009, first as The Reggae Beat) that covered reggae and world music for the American audience across nearly three decades. Its interviews and scene reports are now a primary archive of how the music reached and read in the United States.
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How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
commentary
The end of the specialist reggae magazine: critical loss or natural move online?
Long-running print titles that once anchored reggae criticism and reporting - The Beat (US, closed 2009 after 28 years), Reggae Report (Miami, ended print in 1999), Black Echoes/Echoes (UK) and Germany's Riddim (ended print in 2026) - have each given way to digital-only coverage. Some see the closures as a loss of edited, long-form criticism and advertising-supported reporting; others note that sites such as DancehallMag, United Reggae, LargeUp and Reggaeville have kept specialist reggae/dancehall journalism alive, and reach a larger, faster-moving global audience than print ever did. Sources: World Music Central; Reggaeville; Jamaica Gleaner; Wikipedia (Black Echoes).
Stance: a loss of edited long-form criticism vs a natural, more accessible move online