The campaign to raise money for the 73 former employees of music publisher Team Rock has raised more than £70,000, exceeding its target by £50,000.
Last week it was announced that Team Rock, which owned leading rock titles such as Metal Hammer and Classic Rock, was to go into liquidation. As a result, 73 members of staff were laid off with no severance pay. The campaign initially aimed to raise £20,000, which was met at about 5pm on Tuesday.
The fundraiser was lead by British metallers Orange Goblin, who have announced a fundraising gig at the Black Heart in Camden, London, on 5 January.
“A few days ago, when I heard the news that my good friends at Team Rock were being made redundant with no pay during Christmas week, I just felt that I had to do something,” Orange Goblin’s Ben Ward said. “That night my girlfriend and I set up the Just Giving page and within two days we had raised almost £60,000, and we were blown away by the response and generosity of people all over the world.”
There will be a minimum £10 donation to get into the show, with admission on a first come, first served basis at the 120-capacity venue.
Ward said: “All proceeds for the night will go to the Just Giving page in hope that we can give something back to the journalists that have supported our band and our scene for many, many years.”
As well as support from rock fans all over the world, donations have come from musicians such as Avenged Sevenfold, Black Stone Cherry, Asking Alexandra and Tesseract. Meanwhile, Frank Turner has set up an auction in the hope of raising money for the 73 affected.
Donations to the campaign can be made here.
