Stereogum persists amid streaming, AI and dwindling ad revenue as ads dry up

(The Verge launched its own subscription program in December of 2024.) As advertising revenues have dried up and AI overviews have crushed search traffic, many sites have looked to their dedicated fanbase to help keep them afloat. Lapatine says there has been some limited backlash, but "hopefully our audience understands that, to get what they feel is unique from Stereogum, you know, they need to support us." He notes that, while people have gotten used to getting everything online for free over the last 25 years, people used to pay for music magazines. In the 1990s, you had to go to a store and pay for a copy of CMJ New Music Monthly.

Stereogum will still offer some content for free but, "there's some percentage of readers we need to pay to exist. We need to pay our writers," Lapatine says. He knows there are a lot of places vying for your subscription dollar these days.

Websites, podcasts, Substacks are all shifting to a paid subscription model. "We think there's like a future for music writing done by humans," Lapatine says, "and to be clear, like there's a lot of places that do this. There are like awesome newsletters and other independent sites." But he points out that a lot of major music publications are owned by giant conglomerates.

And he doesn't believe that those outlets are always above board. "I think a lot of people don't realize how much of the music journalism that they see these days is either secretly paid for or is not done with integrity." Lapatine says his goal has always been to operate with transparency. He wants Stereogum to feel like talking to a friend who goes to shows and tells you about cool stuff on Bandcamp.