Good Charlotte Guts Music Publications

Alternative Press, BrooklynVegan, Goldmine and Revolver hit with layoffs by parent company Veeps

August 5, 2026August 6, 2026 Ron Hart 0 Comments Alternative Press, BrooklynVegan, Goldmine Magazine, Good Charlotte, Revolver Magazine, Veeps

*Goldmine* is one of four popular and established music publications gutted by the Madden brothers and their company Veeps. (Image: eBay)

As if there weren’t enough reasons to hate Good Charlotte, the dudes behind the insufferable pop-punk band are responsible for the gutting of four popular and established music publications.

The news about the layoffs at BrooklynVegan, Alternative Press, Revolver and Goldmine came in hot and heavy this morning on the music industry’s social media network, with several writers, artists and veteran publicists decrying the decision by the Madden brothers’ company, Veeps, to decimate the four renowned and beloved publications. Nearly all the staff at each publication has been laid off and the future for each entity is now in doubt.

Veeps was launched by Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden in 2017 alongside fellow co-founders Sherry Saeedi and Kyle Heller, and has operated for many years as a ticketed livestream platform. They were acquired by Live Nation in January 2021 and has run as an entity under their umbrella ever since.

In early 2025, Veeps acquired the embattled publications from their parent company Project M, a digital media and e-commerce outfit that counted the four among their holdings before the Maddens bought them and pulled them into the Live Nation vortex.

“RIP BrooklynVegan,” wrote Pitch Perfect PR’s Jacob Daneman on X. “Absolutely bewildering. Thinking of all the great people there and the unparalleled music coverage they’ve done over the years. Utterly unceremonious and moronic actions by Veeps.”

Willow Smith on the cover of the June 2021 issue of *Alternative Press*. (Image: Alternative Press)

“Where to begin on the suckitude on this? Hate seeing people I work with getting laid off,” lamented Big Hassle’s Jim Merlis on Facebook. “Hate that I was too naive not to know that Live Nation had their tentacles in these publications. Will especially miss BrooklynVegan, whose staff I especially enjoyed working with. There’s a lot of great talent in music journalism (and journalism) out of work right now and we are all worse for it.”

“I’m extremely upset about the Brooklyn Vegan layoffs/nigh-shutdown,” wrote Jed Smith of Brookyn indie pop greats Jeanines on Facebook. “[BrooklynVegan editor] Bill Pearis is a music institution in and of himself and this is absolutely awful news. Of course a couple of pop punk douchebags are behind it, pop punk bros are practically finance bros/frat boys. Bill has been supporting and spotlighting artists including myself for more than 20 years and this is a major blow.

“I guess it’s to be expected. Corporate America has been slowly ruining popular music starting as far back as the ’70s. America can’t help but destroy good things.”

*BrooklynVegan* has been around since 2004. (Image: BrooklynVegan)

Each of these publications carries the kind of legacy that can’t be manufactured by venture capital or social-media metrics. BrooklynVegan emerged in 2004, right as New York’s garage-rock renaissance was kicking into high gear, with founder Dave Levine documenting the scene as it happened. Revolver launched in 2000 as a Rolling Stone-style glossy but quickly found its true calling as one of the defining voices in hard rock and heavy metal. Goldmine has been the bible for record collectors since the mid-1970s, surviving every format war from vinyl to CDs to streaming while never losing sight of the crate diggers who kept the culture alive. Alternative Press, born in Cleveland in 1985, spent decades championing punk, hardcore and alternative music before eventually becoming part of MDDN, the company behind Veeps, around 2020.

It’s a reminder that while ownership structures may change with the times, the histories and identities of these publications were built long before the latest corporate reshuffling.

Rock & Roll Globe reached out to former staff members of the publications for comment. We are waiting to hear back at press time.