We're In This Together

You hold the third issue of Vortex Music Magazine in your hands—well, you could be holding it right now.

This is our baby and we couldn’t be more proud. It represents lessons learned and the direction we will continue to develop in the future as we strive to produce an adroitly curated publication for Portland’s vibrant music community—and beyond.

There comes a time in every issue’s life where the countless Google Docs, InDesign files and shared Dropbox folders must be made presentable and pushed out into the world. And as we gently let our baby make its way into your life, it’s most important to us that it finds a good, caring home—the kind which we know abounds in our audiophilic city.

As we look forward to 2015 and our second year, we want to raise this magazine into a wobbly toddler—curious and engaging, relentlessly getting into everything and exploring the nooks and crannies of Portland’s music scene. We also want to raise this magazine amongst others who’d like to see it grow into an active and inspiring adolescent.

For now, it’s still young. But we want to see our baby take steps forward and make its way toward those who want to look after it.

Reality has taught us a few parenting lessons. We’ve realized how to not raise our baby, and neglectfully plopping it in dim bar corners so battered copies can become someone’s coaster is exactly what we’d like to avoid. Instead, we’d like to see our little one surrounded by healthy environs—record stores, instrument retailers, venues, music schools—that’ll nurture it.

We’ve learned that we need to build a better system that directly delivers vortex music magazine to those that seek to raise it alongside us—or just simply read it.

In an attempt to avoid too much information, we’ll just say that we spent a lot of time conceiving this magazine so we’d like to see others spend time enjoying it as we grow. And while a vast army of eyes pouring over these pages sounds mighty fine, that’s not the entirety of our mission.

Our goal is to build a better community.

As the tide rises, we’d like to ensure that we all rise together. That’s why, utilizing the Portland-made pay-what-you-want platform Generous, a percentage of our proceeds from subscriptions will go toward supporting local music nonprofits.

You can choose free digital or physical delivery, or you can chip in a few bucks to pay for your postage or more for a yearly subscription. Pay as much or as little as you want. What matters to us is that you’re able to participate in Portland’s music community.