Arguably the planet’s most famous music magazine, NME (new Musical Express), has announced it will close its print edition after 66 years. The famed British title will live-on online, however.
The weekly print edition has been in decline for some time and in 2015 the publisher, Time Inc UK, moved from a paid magazine to a free, advertising driven model.
Initially, the move was a success and the giveaway edition shot up from 15,000 paid subscriptions to 300,000 free ones.
Clearly the advertisers were less enthusiastic following today’s announcement.
There’ll still be one-off print specials apparently to cater for band’s tastes of seeing themselves in print.
Time is consulting with the NME’s 23 editorial and sales staff about possible redundancies.
Commenting on the print closure, Paul Cheal, the UK group managing director, music, at NME publisher Time Inc UK, said: “We have also faced increasing production costs and a very tough print advertising market. It is in the digital space where effort and investment will focus to secure a strong future for this famous brand.”
