This was posted on the Vice website: http://www.vice.com/read/the-nme-is-going-free-the-music-magazine-will-charge-a-cover-price-for-the-last-time-this-week-552
I stopped reading the NME almost 30 years ago, and I don’t know any youngsters who do, but if it was to become a music-fans “Metro”, it might have a function. The US has lots of advertising-funded freesheets acting as independent media guides for their cities, along with specialist music freesheets. So it may not be a disaster.
http://buzz.bournemouth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/NME-1972-213×300.jpg
Don’t see many young ‘uns buying these days tbh. My son buys it occasionally and I sometimes have a flick through, but it’s not like the old days.
From http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/nme-denies-reports-that-it-will-go-free-after-slump-in-sales-10052156.html
Venerable music magazine NME has denied reports that it is to become a free publication, after its sales crashed to a record low.
Vice.com reported earlier today that newspaper stockists had been told that next week’s edition would be the last to charge a £2.40 cover price.
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the NME, founded as New Musical Express in March 1952, recorded an average weekly print circulation of 13,995 in the second half of 2014 – a 23 percent decrease in the figures for the same period in 2013.
The last of the weekly “inky” music magazines, NME sold 300,000 copies during its 70s peak. However a gradual decline in its readership has been accelerated by the digital age as readers migrated to rival web sources of music news and reviews.
I always preferred Melody Maker myself
Sad to see, decline down to changing times, but poor management and editorship too no doubt
The ‘give a shit’ factor on this is pretty low.
The only weekly I ever read was “Sounds”.
I don’t really remember my thinking behind that, was Sounds more rock-orientated?
Sounds certainly got behind the NWOBHM.
Completely. Back in those inky days Sounds was the rock paper, NME for punk/indie/new fads, Melody Maker for those clinging to the past and Record Mirror for dance/chart nerds.
I bought Sounds and Record Mirror being a rock loving chart nerd!
I have fond memories of buying NME in the late 70s through to the mid 1980s. Used to buy Melody Maker and Sounds as well. I think it was Q that got me out of the habit.
These days, since the demise of the Word, I probably buy a rock mag one month in three. Mojo and Uncut are too backward leaning, with cover artists too often being some wrinkled old dinosaur rather than this week’s up and coming band. It’s shame what’s happened to the music media.
I was a Sounds man – and still have over >300 copies in the loft. Must get round to doing something with them…..
Don’t suppose you’ve got the feb 8 1975 issue…?
I got down from the loft loads of copies of Sounds just the other week. I thought of scanning some of them, but the style of writing seemed so poor (very earnest and elitist) and hasn’t aged well, so I was happier to stick with my memories & give them to the recycling.
Earnest and elitist?
Sounds great to me….!
Then that will be it. I was hugely into NWOBHM. The advent of Kerrang issue 1 was a Damascus-like moment for me and my circle of friends.
….ah, yes….but before NWOBHM, Sounds was into Progressive….they even interviewed that Peter Hammill…..
It was Kerrang that ultimately killed Sounds. The Rock fans all migrated to it and it lost a lot of its differentiation from Melody Maker and NME. When I was buying Sounds in 1987, it was a skinny, emaciated thing putting Grebo bands on the cover.
Kerrang was an incredible success story precisely because it dealt with music that MM, NME and Record Mirror weren’t touching but was nonetheless popular. I think that the limited succcess of MixMag and to a lesser extent Hip Hop Connection in the 90s was modelled on that of the ‘Rang. In the 80s I didn’t like ANY of the music it covered (at the time) but a mate’s brother was a subscriber and I found it very readable.
I agree that in the late 80s Sounds was essentially the poor man’s MM… some good writing, but quite po-faced.
Loved MM back in the day
I have a battered supplement from 1995 with a series of articles on lost classic albums, the writing is superb
Interesting to see that IPC are keeping going with NME when sales are down to 13K, MM was canned when sales dropped to 30K in 2000 – just shows the level of expectations for print titles these days
I used to love the NME. It was my favourite. It made me laugh because it was so blatantly spiteful and cruel at times. I never had an older brother to introduce ‘proper’ bands to me so it served that purpose really well. It also introduced ‘nihilism’ and ‘anarchy’ into my vocabulary. I still see it because I work in radio and I flick through it now and again. They recently tried to bring in a more ‘retro’ feel (Lennon covers etc.) but, generally, the pages were a lacklustre parade of dull indie bands. Perhaps there are no ‘younger versions of me’ around to salivate over this kind of thing anymore. Or not enough of them at any rate.
http://spinalbap.blogspot.nl/2015/02/nme-to-be-free-with-fish-and-chips.html
Arf!