No Depression magazine, which has chronicled American roots music since 1995, will shutter after the release of its next issue, its 75th.
Team behind the indie bi-monthly reported that advertising revenue for the March-April issue was down 64% from the same issue two years ago.
No Depression served an clearly defined niche, supplied comprehensive coverage of a genre  and goes out with a list of problems no different than the reasons the majors can't sell albums by superstar acts.
Record label advertising budgets are drastically reduced;  businesses that "replace (or transform) record labels will have much less need to advertise in print"; and decline of brick and mortar music retail and independent bookstores means  fewer newsstands.
Paper costs and postal regulations have hurt both business as well, though ND has more at stake there.
In their letter, the editors make an excellent point about the limitations of the Internet: "Whatever the potentials of the web, it cannot be good for our democracy to see independent voices further marginalized. But that's what's happening. The big money on the web is being made, not surprisingly, primarily by big businesses.
"What makes this especially painful and particularly frustrating is that our readership has not significantly declined, our newsstand sell-through remains among the best in our portion of the industry, and our passion for and pleasure in the music has in no way diminished."

Q Magazine has polled 50 recording artists, among them Michael Stipe, John Legend and the leader of Travis, to create a list of "Perfect Songs." (Since Leonard Cohen wrote "Hallelujah," they actually mean perfect records).
The winners, in no particular order:

Bitter Sweet Symphony - The Verve
Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dylan
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley
Life On Mars - David Bowie
Perfect Day - Lou Reed
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
Strawberry Fields Forever - Beatles
Sympathy For The Devil - Rolling Stones

A few of the indidviduals provide their picks here while Q provides the videos.
Personally, I'll agree with Blowin' In The Wind, Born To Run, God Only Knows and Hallelujah and throw in Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, John Coltrane's Naima, Paul Simon's Graceland, Thelonious Monk's 1947 version of 'Round Midnight, R.E.M.'s Nightswimming, Otis Redding's I've Been Loving You Too Long, NRBQ's Riding in My Car and Junior Murvin's Police and Thieves. Naturally, the list changes depending on the day.