This blog is quite the fan of Companies House. Whenever anyone is boasting about their business making lots of money, a quick look on the website can often give you an idea of whether their own accounts back up their claims. And more often than not from experience, the truth is rather more sobering than anything else.

At the year ending 31st December 2019, Mixmag’s owners Wasted Talent made a loss after taxation of £4,828,988. By anyone’s measurement, that’s a pretty hefty loss. Statements by the company made afterwards – and also available for anyone to access on Companies House – reveal the company had £3million of new money put into it during March and April 2020 to help sustain the company through an uncertain period.

And in this blog post, I promised I’d have a look once 2020 accounts became available. That’s exactly what I’ve done – and I have to admit I was surprised by what I read…

During 2020, Wasted Talent made a loss of £2,480,975. At a time when the print magazine has been mothballed, numerous staff placed on furlough, and many advertising campaigns not taking place due to the pandemic, I wasn’t expecting to see a juicy profit from the company.

Yet last year, Wasted Talent actually managed to reduce their post-tax losses to almost exactly half the level it was in 2019. In other words, the company has proved itself more resilient than I expected it would be.

Will I see similar results when I head to Companies House to see the accounts for other dance music publications? Right now, only time will tell…