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The magazine industry's struggles have hit a Silver Spring jazz monthly, which has suspended publication and temporarily dismissed staff as it tries to sell its assets amid financial problems.

Jazz Times has been published in Silver Spring for more than 20 years and has a circulation of roughly 100,000.

"The brand and operation will undergo reorganization and restructuring in order to remain competitive in the current media climate," according to a statement on the magazine's Web site. "Print publishing is expected to resume as soon as a sale is closed."

Editor-in-chief Lee Mergner declined comment.

Jazz Times and Down Beat magazine of Illinois are two of the major jazz publications in the country.

The magazine had only two full-time editorial staffers in Silver Spring but used freelance writers around the world.

"They have roots here, family here, but they were a national-looking magazine," said Steve Feigenbaum, owner of Cuneiform Records, a jazz and avant-garde record label in Silver Spring for 25 years. "They were a big deal and it was kind of cool they were in Silver Spring."

Feigenbaum called the news "a very bad thing," citing the Internet's impact on publishing and the music industry, as well as Jazz Times' niche audience, for the magazine's struggles.

Scott Crawford knows the feeling. After working as art director for Jazz Times, Crawford, of Silver Spring, launched Harp magazine in 2001, looking to tap into an audience that strayed from mainstream music.

In March 2008, the magazine's financial backers, which included Jazz Times, pulled the plug on Harp after Harp and Jazz Times' parent company, Guthrie Inc., filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Shortly after, Crawford launched the music Web site Blurt-Online.com.

This March, amid the folding of several national music magazines, Crawford published his first issue of Blurt magazine, with the financial backing of friends and his own money.

Crawford said there's "very little comparison" between Blurt and Jazz Times, but "it's really not surprising that a magazine that represents 2 percent of the music-buying public would have problems," given the nationwide publishing landscape.

"Their advertising base is mostly record labels and small labels," Crawford said. "It's tough when you're depending solely on a very small segment of the record industry to support the magazine when you don't have any other real advertising base other than that."

Music magazines aren't the only ones to fold this year, as advertising continues to move online and circulation falls. Among the national publications to stop publishing this year, according to Advertising Age, are Condé Nast's Portfolio and Domino magazines; Rodale's Best Life; Travel & Leisure Golf; Hallmark Magazine; and PC Magazine.