Timeless Communications Corp. (TCC) – a Nevada corporation – announced today the acquisition of the assets of Symphony Publishing, based in Needham, Mass., publishers of Musical Merchandise Review (MMR), School Band & Orchestra (SBO), JAZZed, and Choral Director publications.LAS VEGAS – Timeless Communications Corp. (TCC) – a Nevada corporation – announced today the acquisition of the assets of Symphony Publishing, based in Needham, Mass., publishers of Musical Merchandise Review (MMR), School Band & Orchestra (SBO), JAZZed, and Choral Director publications. TCC currently publishes three business-to-business magazines serving the international live event technology industry and theater markets.
“We’re excited to receive the stewardship of four exceptional magazines,” states, Terry Lowe, president. “It’s a perfect fit because currently we serve the professional entertainment world with our Projection Lights & Staging News (PLSN) and Front of House (FOH), and the professional, educational, and community theater worlds with Stage Directions. With this acquisition we’ll apply our business model and high level of service to the musical instrument industry and music educators sector. Symphony was a wholly owned subsidiary of Cleveland-based Zapis Capital Group. John McGovern, senior associate, W.B. Grimes & Company, represented Zapis in the transaction.
TCC founder Terry Lowe is a lifelong veteran of the publishing industry. In 1979 at the age of 24, he started an alternative monthly magazine in Indianapolis. He went on to work for Performance and Mix magazines before starting his own publishing firm. He founded PLSN in 1999, launched FOH in 2001, and purchased Stage Directions in 2007. The combined magazines have a circulation of 60,000 subscribers, of which 6,500 are in 120 countries outside of North America. With the addition of the Symphony titles, TCC will have over 100,000 professionals in music and event production subscribing to its seven magazines. Lowe is also co-founder and executive producer of the Parnelli Awards (parnelliawards.com), which is in its 13th year of honoring live event professionals.
Rick Kessel, MMR Associate Publisher and publisher of SBO, JAZZed and Choral Director added, “This is an exciting time for our magazines to become affiliated with a publishing company so closely aligned to ours. There are tremendous synergies between the two companies which will bring enhanced value to our customers. I am sure our subscribers and advertisers will be very pleased with the new energy and vitality this merger brings to our titles.”
MMR was founded in 1879 and is the oldest continuously published music trade magazine in the musical instrument industry. During the last decade and a half Symphony added SBO, which serves band and orchestra teachers; JAZZed, which serves jazz educators and is the official publication of the Jazz Educators Network; and Choral Director. All of these titles, along with the current TCC magazines, have a full complement of digital media products associated with them. Each magazine has its own website, email newsletter, and digital edition and is accessible on all mobile devices.
TCC will be enhancing all of the newly acquired titles with a redesign within the next 12 months, along with a revitalization of the infrastructure of digital transmissions to provide subscribers with more options and better ease of use.
The new magazines will be referred to as the Musical Instrument and Education Division of Timeless Communications Corp. With the acquisition, the current Needham, Mass., office will be closed as of June 1, with the production and business office of the magazine being transferred to Las Vegas. The new phone number as of June 1 will be 702-479-1879.
