Malcolm Campbell, a longtime sales executive for national music publications including SPIN, Blender, the Fader and Rolling Stone, died on April 29 at his home in City Island, New York, surrounded by his family. Campbell, 61, had been battling a recurrence of pancreatic cancer that had first been identified the previous year.
A beloved industry figure with a bearlike frame and a larger-than-life personality — a byproduct of his Tennessee-by-way-of Scotland roots — Campbell is warmly remembered by friends, family, and colleagues for his “huge heart,” “magical ability to connect with others,” and “unquenchable thirst for spreading fun and good cheer,” as experienced by the many who knew Campbell from the legendary events he helped host at South By Southwest and other industry conferences.
In 1991, he began what would become a three-decade run working on the business and sales side of iconic music magazines, joining SPIN as a midwest sales manager and moving up to associate publisher and eventually publisher within nine years. Based in New York City, Campbell grew the title’s business through an ownership change to reach circulation peaks in the 1990s. Of his experience building and nurturing a national sales team at SPIN, Campbell wrote on LinkedIn simply, “We kicked ass.
A move to competitor Blender magazine followed in Feb. 2001 as the Dennis Publishing-owned title launched that year to much fanfare, landing on AdAge’s “Hot List.” Campbell served as publisher for nearly four years before returning to SPIN for another five-year stint as publisher, from 2006 to 2011.
Ach!! Rest In Peace. My age. Horrified. Good works whilst living. Thank you for the body of work.