Why, Why? Why!

On Monday of this week I ended Concrete Disciples’ affiliation with Ray (MRZ) and Christian (BLKPRJKT) and people want to know why.  It was the hardest decision I’ve had to make in regards to Concrete Disciples. If you think letting go of the best skate photographer and writer is easy, you’d be fooling yourself.  It isn’t. We have built up a great friendship and did some really cool things together.

I’ve spent the better part of 14 years making this website happen. I saw it rise but now I’ve also had to watch it fall.  The past 5 years our #’s (page views) have dwindled steadily (70% overall). There are many reasons for this including, everybody has started their own website, rivalries have developed between friends, scenes have become a lot more local, not to mention Facebook has gobbled up almost everyone’s free lurking time, and we no longer get the editorial rant from Concussion Mag in each issue.

Concrete Disciples is still a big website drawing in over 60,000 visitors a month.  Roughly 75% of CD’s income, which is generated solely on banner ad revenue, has been going to Features creation which generates less than 10% of our already less than adequate revenue. A business can’t sustain itself under those conditions.  Attempts have been made and solutions proposed, but little common ground has been found.  I have had to make the decision to do what is best for Concrete Disciples.

In an effort to survive and re-grow the site I’ve had to put aside my emotional attachment to some great guys. It sucks. I truly wish them the best and I hope to see them create more great things.

I created Concrete Disciples to serve skateboarding and you, our readers. Some things will change, but Concrete Disciples will continue to inform and entertain.

Thanks for listening, visiting, and your support,
Jeff Greenwood