Paste magazine is one of the very best voices in pop culture journalism today, with witty and incisive writing on “signs of life” in film, music, books, and more. They don’t play favorites: the best work gets covered, whether it’s by some obscure indie band from flyover territory or a big-name pop star. Their excellence is well-recognized: Paste consistently wins or is nominated for major awards in the magazine industry and turns out a stellar print magazine each month, plus a heady online presence. The work of Paste was a major inspiration at the start of The Curator, showing us what can be done to promote the very best in culture.

But with the recession, all the magazines are struggling, and Paste is no exception. The good news is that some of the very best musicians working today love Paste so much that they have donated rare and exclusive tracks which you can receive by donating to the Save Paste campaign. Those artists include The Decemberists, Neko Case, She & Him, Cowboy Junkies, Of Montreal, Indigo Girls, Jayhawks, String Cheese Incident, G. Love, Josh Rouse, The Hives, Matthew Sweet, The Avett Brothers, Joe Henry, John Roderick of The Long Winters, Over the Rhine, Bob Mould, Arrested Development, Brandi Carlile, John Doe, Josh Ritter, Marc Broussard and more.

How can you go wrong?

To learn more about the Save Paste campaign, or to donate and receive some rare tracks, plus the chance to win even cooler stuff, click the banner below:

(Full disclosure: I [Alissa] often freelance for Paste, but I was a fan long before I was a contributor, and it would be a true loss to culture journalism for the magazine to disappear.)