One of the UK’s most famous music monthlies will print its last issue in August, bringing an end to nine years of rock ‘n’ roll journalism. The latest in a long run of major titles to collapse under the strain of falling readerships, it’s another sign of the changing face of the magazine industry.
The old guard of paid for music mags have almost all seen better days; in 2011 NME reported a 14.3% fall in circulation, with Mojo losing just under 5%. In contrast, national freesheet The Stool Pigeon continues to attract more readers, posting its first results last summer with an impressive 50,000 copies doing the rounds each month, whilst The Fly, another free to pick up publication now in its 13th year as a national, tops the lot with over 100,000 per issue. More food for thought on the whole ‘will people pay for lifestyle journalism’ quandary, if one thing’s for sure it’s that the next and final issue of The Word will be something of a collector’s item.