Metal4
Metal4 is a German-language online magazine that has existed since 2011 and is based in Bremen. It offers news, reviews, interviews and concert reports from the fields of death metal , black metal , progressive metal , symphonic metal , gothic metal , melodic death metal , pagan metal and rock .
The supraregional parent magazine Metal4 and its branches for regional news and events in Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne and the Ruhr area are updated daily.
history
founding
The Metal4 project was launched on September 15, 2009 under the name Metal4Bremen by David Pfeil, Simon Lindner and Jens Martin Baumgartner. The basic idea was to create a platform that provides information about regional events and bands in the Bremen area. In October of the same year the first page of Metal4Bremen went online and in the summer of the following year the first accreditations for festivals followed, from which the magazine reported and published photos. The spectrum subsequently expanded to include news and reviews, for example. However, the focus was still on the local level, although a first step towards supra-regionality was taken when the editorial team decided to no longer just publish news about acts and events from the Bremen, Bremerhaven and surrounding areas. This reorientation found expression, for example, in the division of the reviews into scene reviews, which dealt with regional bands, and reviews, which were dedicated to the other publications.
change
The response that Metal4Bremen provoked, as well as the ever broader focus of the regional magazine, led to a growing interest from bands, organizers and readers who were not in the actual catchment area, but who contacted the magazine more and more often and B. asked for specials, expressed wishes or made suggestions. Based on this, the three founders developed the concept of a supra-regional parent magazine, which is dedicated to the main topics and to which several regional magazines should be affiliated. In this way, the respective regional editors should be able to perform the task again that Metal4Bremen magazine was no longer able to adequately fulfill due to the range of topics that had become too large: reporting on regional bands and events and the more effective support of the underground in the corresponding region, which the original goal of the project. On October 15, 2011, the developed concept was finally implemented and Metal4 established as a national online magazine. Metal4Bremen remained as a regional magazine; With the branches in Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne and the Ruhrpott, four more regional online magazines followed, which are affiliated with Metal4 as sub-magazines. Two more regional magazines are planned for May 2012, as well as an online radio, which is expected to go on air in early April.
vision
In addition to reporting in the form of news, interviews and reviews, Metal4 aims to inform and educate musicians, organizers and readers about current developments in the music industry. This includes e.g. B. general information about GEMA or contributions to the controversy about copyright . In this context, advice for bands as well as topics are presented that only indirectly affect the metal genre, but offer added value for the bands and interested readers. The aim is to create a contact point for the community as well as bands and organizers that is characterized by a complete, all aspects of metal comprehensive presentation on the Internet and promotes contact between musicians and organizers.
Regionalization
The creation of the parent magazine Metal4 made it possible to take up the idea of the regionalization principle again and pursue it further. By outsourcing the national content to Metal4, the focus of Metal4Bremen could be put back on the regional events. At the same time, the first steps were taken to establish additional regional magazines. A short time later, Metal4Hamburg, Metal4Hannover and Metal4Köln were launched. The preliminary conclusion was the launch of Metal4Ruhrpott at the end of 2011. Further regional magazines are being planned.
editorial staff
The Metal4 editorial team is based in Bremen. The individual sub-magazines maintain their own editorial offices in their region; the editorial work is carried out by freelance employees, the number of whom has now grown to over 60 editors.
Festival Metal4Splash
The Metal Splash Festival was held for the first time in 2008 in Rotenburg an der Wümme. It will take place in the summer of 2012 for the first time in cooperation with Metal4.