Close-up Magazine's 220th issue will also be the last of the magazine. The number, which went into print last Friday, has begun to end up with subscribers and the front is all black and is adorned with an up and down cross. Declining sales figures and a loss of subscribers are the reason for the closure.

- It is mainly because of the advertising sales, but I should not underestimate that we have lost some subscribers as well. Sweden is a small country and it is a fairly niche newspaper. It's not Germany, where they have eight hard rock magazines, says Robert Becirovic.

"Start to cry"

For 28 years, the hard rock fan has been able to read about his favorite bands in the magazine, which Robert Becirovic started in his home region Borensberg, then 20 years old.

- I've lived with the newspaper and that's the only job I've had. Hard rock interest has occupied most of my waking time since I was 16. I see people starting to write long thank-you notes about what the magazine has meant to them. I get completely moved and soon I start crying, he says.

Minus last year

In total, Becirovic himself and four employees are affected, as well as a large number of freelance writers, one of whom writes for the magazine full time. In the last issue's leader, Robert Becirovic describes the difficulties lately, where last year's minus result made him go in with an inherited sum of money to keep Close-up afloat.

- We get paid so little for the few ads we have that it does not cover our expenses. I think it is strange, because we have had a niche audience and those who have bought the magazine are the ones who also go to concerts and buy records, he says.

In addition to the paper magazine, he also organizes concerts and cruises in the trademark Close-up's name. The autumn cruise is canceled, but a punk cruise in May will be rid of if everything goes according to plan.