Rock Fans Come to Aid of Jobless Journalists

A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than £43,000 for journalists left jobless after music magazine publisher Team Rock fell into administration.

According to media reports, 73 staff were sent home with no pay days before Christmas after administrators were called in. Team Rock publishes a number of high-profile hard rock and heavy metal publications including Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Prog Magazine.

A skeleton staff has been retained to assist the administrators find a buyer for the publishers’ titles.

A spokesperson for the publisher’s administrators addressed the issue of journalists not being paid and said: “All staff had been paid up to the end of November.

“We have provided the information to employees to make claims to the Insolvency Service for arrears of pay, payment in lieu of notice of redundancy, and holiday pay.

“Claims are made online directly by the employee and are capped at £479 per week and it can take three to six weeks for claims to be processed, so it will be late January before employees receive payments for December wages directly from the Insolvency Service”.

The Crowdfunding campaign to support the redundant journalists was set up rock musician Ben Ward, the frontman of heavy metal group Orange Goblin. The campaign has seen widespread support from within the rock community with members of Steel Panther and Avenged Sevenfold promoting and donating to the cause.

Ward states on his JustGiving page: “Today, 73 members of the Team Rock staff were told that the company is going into liquidation and that they are being made redundant with immediate effect with ZERO pay. These are good, hard-working, committed people that through Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Prog Rock, TeamRock Radio and more, have supported the rock and heavy metal scene in this country for decades and now we, the rock community, need to pull together to help give something back.
“Please spare what you can so that everyone may enjoy the festive spirit.”