NME sales falling off the charts

In its heyday it sold more than 300,000 copies but the circulation of the New Musical Express, the last of the old-school music weeklies, has dipped below 20,000 in the latest industry sales figures. The 62-year-old magazine, which relaunched last year promising more reviews and more new music, had an average weekly print sale of just 18,184 in the second half of 2013. One industry source described the figures as a death knell.

Down more than 20% year on year, the NME now has barely half the circulation its defunct IPC sister title Melody Maker had when it closed in 2000.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations figures, published on Thursday, once again painted a grim picture for much of the paid-for magazine industry.

Former men’s monthly market leader FHM, which sold more than 600,000 copies at its height a decade ago, dipped below 100,000 for the first time. Q, once the biggest-selling music magazine, which sold more than 200,000 at the turn of the century, just kept its head above the 50,000 mark.

Published by IPC Media, the NME has looked to take the fight to online rivals and social media with a digital edition, bought by an average of 1,307 people a week, and a website that the publisher said gave the brand a reach of more than 3 million people a week. The publisher is planning to launch a new NME app and makes more changes to nme.com.

First published in March 1952, the NME relaunched for the second time in two years in 2013 with David Bowie on its cover. It was a bid to address criticism that it had become two obsessed with celebrity, dubbed “the indie Hello” by some critics.

When Melody Maker was axed in 2000, in the wake of the 1990s closure of Sounds and a month after music monthly Select was shut – the NME was still seen as its “hip younger rival”. Now the competition has moved online.

Writer and broadcaster Andrew Collins, who was features editor of NME and edited Q between 1995 and 1997, said: “Looking back we were so lucky because there was no virtually no internet then, we were a direct link between bands and the readers.

“The amount of other places you can get your music news now is a massive problem for the music press. It’s the technology that is doing for these newspapers.

“If I’m a young music fan I don’t care what other people think about music – I can listen to it myself and write about it on my own blog. There’s no need for that third party anymore, which is tragic.”

But if the latest sales have some readers fearing for the future of its printed edition, IPC remained bullish, saying print advertising revenues in the second half of last year were up nearly 50% on 2012.

NME’s publishing director, Jo Smalley, said: “2013 has been a hugely successful year for NME. It continues to be a tough trading climate for most publishers, but the NME brand, its 60-plus years of heritage, its overall reach across multiple platforms and the way we help brands connect a young and valuable audience with live music experiences and events keeps NME in revenue growth.”

Source: The Guardian