Music magazines

BBC Music

In March 1993, a US edition was launched and then a German language edition in autumn 1994. To celebrate its 5th anniversary in 1997, BBC Music used a silver cover and mounted a Yehudi Menuhin CD and postcards on its cover.
BBC Magazines profile

Bang [closed]

Unusually, the Future logo was not carried on the cover. Bang aimed at a 16-24-year-old male rock audience. The launch run was 150,000, which was expected to settle down at 50,000. There was no supporting website – again, unusual for Future.

Barbed Wire [closed]

Big!

The launch was designed to strengthen the group's share of the teenage market. It came out as a monthly; then going fortnightly – to alternate with pop title Smash Hits – on April 11. It focused on TV, music and film celebrities and cost 60p. Big sought out the same age group as Smash Hits, with an average age of about 15. It was promoted in Smash Hits and Just Seventeen.

The managing editor was Bev Hillier, a former Just Seventeen editor; editor David Bostock had been art editor of the same title.

Big! was relaunched in 1994 with a heavier, glossy cover to reflect a more sophisticated readership. It was relaunched again in December 1999 with the Back Street Boys on the cover and the tag line 'Closer to the stars'.

Blender CD-Rom [closed]

Blender (US)

Bullit [closed]

Clash

Classic FM

By 2008, although its monthly ABC figure – at 41,412 – was lower than BBC Music, fewer than 3,000 copies were sold overseas, making it the biggest-selling classical title in the UK.
John Brown profile

Classic Rock

In September 2002, Classic Rock sealed a deal with Sanctuary Records to produce four CDs entitled 'Rock of Ages'. Each CD was dedicated to a decade between 1962 and 2002.

Cream [closed]

There was also a shortlived 1988 men's magazine called Cream

DeeJay [closed]

Digital DJ

Disc [closed]

Encore [closed]

(The) Face [closed]

Flipside [closed]

(The) Fly [closed]

Future Music

Other titles published at the time were SOS Publications' Sound on Sound and Music Technology from Music Maker Publications.

(The) Gramophone

Gramophone is not a title to hide its light under a bushel. The website proclaims: 'From its peerless – and fearless – reviews to its penetrating interviews with the world's leading classical music artists Gramophone magazine is simply unmatched.'

Guitar & Bass

Guitar Techniques

Guitarist

Hip Hop Connection [closed]

(The) Hit [closed]

IPC/Holborn Publishing Group, September 1985
Editor Phil McNeill set out to produce a music and lifestyle weekly for 15-19-year-old men that was ‘Harder than the rest’, such as The Face. First issue included a free four-track vinyl EP with tracks by: Style Council, Jesus and Mary Chain, Redskins and Simply Red. Sales of 180,000 were predicted, but the first issue reached just 100,000, a total that fell to 80,000 by the sixth issue and the title was withdrawn. It was reported as having cost £1m and needing another £1m and a year of losses to break even, an investment IPC was unwilling to make.

Hot Press (Eire)

Ikon [closed]

Kerrang!

Emap launched Kerrang! as a national digital radio station in 2000 and there is also a TV channel. Kerrang! now claims to be the world's biggest-selling rock weekly, having vied with NME for the top-selling UK position since 2002. There are also Australian and Spanish versions.
Emap profile

Kicks [closed]

The editor of the 48-page magazine was Bert MacIver with design by Andy Dark. Only the centre 8 pages and cover were printed in colour. Contributors included Robin Bextor.

Kingsize [closed]

Klub Knowledge [now Notion]

Melody Maker (MM)

Melody Maker was founded in 1926 for musicians. It developed a strength in jazz and was always regarded as more serious than its great rival (and later stablemate at IPC) New Musical Express. As late as 1963, it was described in the Writers' and Artists' Year Book as seeking: 'Technical, instructional and informative articles on jazz and pop music'. By the mid-1970s it was selling 250,000 copies a week but was slow to respond to the arrival of punk and lost sales to Sounds and NME.

IPC claimed to have spent £1 million overhauling New Musical Express and Melody Maker in March 1998. However, sales carried on falling. NME reported a year-on-year decline of 13.5% to 92,367 while Melody Maker's circulation fell 11.5% year on year. By mid-2000 MM was down to 32,206 while NME had stemmed its decline at 76,215.

In 1999, Melody Maker relaunched as an A4 glossy magazine. The 22 December 1999 edition was a double issue to cover the fortnight over Christmas and New Year. At 112 pages it was described as the biggest ever issue by IPC and cost £1.70. However, the change failed and a year later it was taken over by NME.
IPC profile

Metal Hammer

Ministry [closed]

Mix [closed]

Mixmag

Mojo

Mojo Specials

Muzik [closed]

The idea was sparked by the dance pages of Melody Maker. Muzik sought an audience of '18-to-30-year-old men with disposable income who are obsessed with music and looking good' said Campaign ('IPC reveals plans for dance-music launch,' 10 March 1995, p7). It was also expected to appeal to readers with a similar profile to Loaded, which had launched a year earlier. Advertisers were guaranteed an initial circulation of 35,000 copies. Its first ABC came in at 40,544. Sales were 42,034 in 1998, though it was overshadowed by newcomer Ministry, which saw a first ABC of 61,395. It fell back to 40,097 in 2000. By 2001, though, dance music was back in vogue and magazine sales reflected this, with the market as a whole growing 20%. Emap's Mixmag saw its sales rise by nearly half, to 106,111. Ministry was at 90,235, despite a dip of 5% period on period. Muzik reversed a two-year downturn with a 9% rise to 43,748.

The April 2002 issue was relaunched for men in their twenties who were more serious dance music fans and budding DJs, and moved away from covering fashion and youth culture. It reflected Muzik's position behind Emap's Mixmag, selling 100,400, and Ministry at 75,200. Editor Conor McNicholas saw the title as as the serious voice of the sector, like 'a dance music Q' ('Radical editorial revamp for Muzik,’ PR Week, 9 November 2001, p9). It carried a covermounted CD. In June 2002, McNicholas became editor of NME, but his relaunch had not worked: by August Muzik was seen as 'troubled', having dropped 11.2% in sales to 36,018. This was due to a downturn in the clubbing sector – Ministry closed before the year ended.

The sharp decline in the sector was demonstrated by Mixmag losing 34.7% of its sales year, from 91,944 to 60,070. Muzik sold just 36,089 copies.
IPC profile

Neon [closed]

• Corn Pops;
• 2 Twiglets;
• Jolly Ranchers;
• Riesen choc chews;
• Beautiful South bar mat.

New Musical Express (NME) [closed]

In May 2006, an IPC press release claimed: 'The NME is the biggest-selling and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, wittiest, most authoritative coverage of the very best in music.'

No 1 / Number One [closed]

No 1 was a pop weekly aimed at the 13-to-19 age group. Reports said £343,500 was spent on TV advertising for the launch and the title was selling 146,302 copies a week by 1988. (Chartbeat was launched as a fortnightly on alternate weeks to Emap's Smash Hits at the same time but soon folded.)

At the start of 1989, No1 was selling 130,721 copies a week – but fortnightly Smash Hits was roaring away at Emap with 786,886. No1 was redesigned with a more sophisticated look and logo under editor Colin ‘French Kiss’ Irwin. Columnists included Pete Waterman with a Hitman! piece, Help!, with Pat Thomas answering queries and Parlez-vous Pop?

Notion

Observer Music Monthly

Observer profile

Opera

Opera Now

Play Music / Pickup [closed]

The magazine changed its name to Play Music Pickup, with the masthead stressing the final word, suggesting it was trying to change its name. It was published by Standfirst Media and the editor was Tim Slater, who closed the print edition. It survived for a time as an online magazine.
Facebook.com/playmusicpickup is no longer updated

Pop Ten [closed]

Pop Ten was a pocket format title (1/-; 32pp; editor: D. Cardwell) printed in black and white with spot blue on the cover. Its big selling point was a chart based on votes by readers. In the May issue shown here, Cliff had taken over from Elvis in poll position (as at April 1). Readers' top artistes were: Cliff (2,829 votes); Elvis (2,640); Billy Fury (1,368); Bobby Vee (1,119); Shadows (1,110); Adam Faith (750); Eden Kane (693); Helen Shapiro (579); John Leyton (405); Kookie (288). The chart ran to 20 names (Russ Conway was 19th with 96 votes and Chubby Checker 20th with 78).

The centre spread carried a picture of Presley in Blue Hawaii. Other full-page photos were devoted to: Billy Fury; The Shadows; Bobby Vee; Adam Faith; the Everly brothers; John Leyton; Helen Shapiro; Eden Kane; and Cliff (back page). The articles carried details of the latest singles and addresses for the artiste's fan club. Readers could also print off some of the images.

Popworld Pulp [closed]

Q

In September 2001, Emap Performance Network announced it was to launch a masthead TV show based on Q . The show will be called QTV. And Radio Q will be broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week across north London, starting in October.
Emap profile

Rave [closed]

Raw (Rock Action Worldwide) [closed]

The editor was Malcolm Dome; managing editor Dante Bonutto; and the design was by Mike Sinister. The associate publisher was former pop star Jonathan King, shown dressed in a schoolboy costume playing a guitar. In 2001, King was jailed for four indecent assaults and two serious sexual offences on boys aged 14 and 15. He served half of the seven-year term.

In April 1989, Emap bought the title, which claimed a circulation of up to 35,000. Sales rumbled along at 25,00-30,000 but the title always trailed behind Emap's weekly Kerrang (which it had bought when United Consumer Magazines was closed by the Express newspapers group in 1991). In 1995, Emap took Raw off the shelves for several weeks and relaunched it with a sample issue free with a boxed edition of monthly Select. The aim was to base the title on pictures and news to complement Emap's Select an additional, more frequent, read. However, it closed within five months.
Emap profile

Record Mirror (RM) [closed]

Record Mirror published the first UK album chart in 1956. In the 1970s, it was selling 136,000 copies a week, though it always lagged behind the likes of NME and Melody Maker. Like all the tabloid 'inkies' its circulation fell in the mid-1980s. Between 1985 and 1988, it dropped 28 per cent. It switched to a glossy magazine format to try to compete with the likes of Smash Hits and the many launches of the period.

The editorial strategy and design switched as well. However, this did not halt its decline. Although advertising was healthy and it had found a niche in the dance scene with a readership among DJs, it was selling just 31,000 copies a week. So it was taken into the business title Music Week as a charts supplement in 1991, at the same time as the company closed Sounds. The publisher, Daily Express owner United, was by this stage pulling out of consumer magazines to concentrate on its business arm. It sold its other titles to Emap.

Revolver (US)

Rhythm [closed]

Rhythm

Rip and Burn [closed]

The offer of a free 30-day trial with the new, paid-for version of Napster, and Eminem on the cover are clear signs that this launch aimed at MP3-carrying youth. However, it only lasted for a handful of issues.

Haymarket profile

Rock Sound

1. Freeway Press. Rock. Monthly. April 1999-? [closed]
   The first issue was launched at a £1.95 offer price with subsequent issues costing £2.35. It came with a CD and bound-in poster just under A3 inside.
2. Rock Sound Ltd, London. Monthly. Rock. 2006-
   Rock Sound website

Rolling Stone

Rotations [closed]

RWD

Select [closed]

Select was taken over by Emap. In December 1995 (£2; 148pp. Ed: Jon Hotten), the magazine came in a box with the Stone Roses on the front in a graphic style reminiscent of washing powder. As well as the magazine, the box contained:

• Raw launch issue;
• Nik Naks;
• Twix;
• Twirl;
• Tango;
• Blur scratch card.

Smash Hits! [closed]

Smash Hits! was a springboard for many journalists, including founding editor Nick Logan (The Face), David Hepworth and Mark Ellen (who together founded Word publisher Development Hell), Barry McIlheney and Heat editor Mark Frith.

A book, The Best of Smash Hits by Mark Frith (editor), was published by Little, Brown in 2006.
Emap profile

Songlines

Launched in 1999, Songlines is published eight times a year and 'looks at the world through its music'. It is edited by Simon Broughton, co-editor of The Rough Guide to World Music. Coverage is from traditional and popular to contemporary and fusion; from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe; from Miriam Makeba to Mariza; from Gilberto Gil to Gogol Bordello and from Bjork to Buena Vista Social Club. Each issue is distributed with a world music sampler CD. Cover price: £4.95.

Songlines on Facebook

Sound (Australia) [closed]

Sounds [closed]

Sun Zoom Spark [closed]

Tense [closed]

Tense. July, 2003-?.
Focus on (black) urban music and lifestyle. Good range of interviews (photographer Rankin, attitude from DJs Trevor Nelson and Tim Westwood, and actress/singer Michelle Gayle: 'Men have to shower at least twice a day. If he wants something then he's gotta clean up before bed.'); professional feel to design and writing. Price label graphics used for bylines and on cover (£3; 100 pages; editor: Toussaint Davy).

Terrorizer

Terrorizer bills itself as 'the world's number one magazine for extreme music of ANY kind ... Whether it's Metal, Hardcore or Industrial'. The list includes Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal/Grindcore, Doom/Stoner Metal, Hardcore, Punk, Industrial, Noise, Ambient/ Experimental and Gothic.

Top of the Pops

BBC Worldwide, London. Fortnightly. March 1995-
Brand extension from the long-running television series, launched with Peter Loraine as editor (£1.25; 52 pages). It came with a cassette and poster to challenge, and ultimately defeat, Emap's Smash Hits, which closed in January in January 2006 after its sales halved in a year to 92,398.

Total Guitar

Touch [closed]

Star writer was Troy Convers (an alias gleaned from 'controversy'). His column Troy's Tales continued from Free! and 'caused the most distress and ... has consistently been the most popular of our contributors'. The magazine was a breeding ground for photographers, Eddie Otchere, Rupert Sanders – who was art director and took the photograph of Snoop Dogg seen here, Will Bankhead and Simon Bower.

Trash [closed]

Contract title for Ministry of Sound by Conde Nast. July/Aug 2003
Former Dazed & Confused editor Rachel Newsome was brought in to pep up this Conde Nast launch for the clubbing company (£3.95, 168 pages with MoS CD). MoS had folded Ministry magazine in 2002. The move to Conde Nast took MoS back to where it had started – Ministry was originally produced as a contract title (by Dennis) before the clubbing group it took the title in-house.

Uncut

IPC profile

Unzip CD-rom [closed]

IPC profile

Vox [closed]

Record Hunter relied on classified advertising and would have become a standalone title had it succeeded.
IPC profile

The Wire

Namara Group (1984-2000); The Wire Magazine Ltd. Non-mainstream. Monthly. 1982-The Wire started as a jazz magazine but broadened out over the years to embrace alternative, underground and non-mainstream music across the globe. Coverage includes avant rock, electronica, hip hop, new jazz, modern composition and traditional music. Its tagline is ‘Adventures in Modern Music’. In 1984, the title was bought up by Naim Attallah, a former foreign exchange dealer and book publisher, who was the backer for The Literary Review and also later The Oldie (a certain irony here in that during his tenure as Private Eye editor, Oldie founder Richard Ingrams had lampooned Attallah as the ‘The Ayattallah’). By the time Attalah retired at the end of 2000, The Wire was established and was bought out by publisher Tony Harrington and the staff. The Wire is widely distributed internationally and is involved in running international music festivals.

Word [closed]

For the 50th issue, editor Mark Ellen discussed what issues had sold in an interview with Ian Burrell in the Independent. Ellen, a former editor of both Q and Smash Hits, said the September 2003 edition with Dido as the cover star remained 'both nailed and glued to the shelves'. A Prince cover had a similar effect, but for Tom Waits 'extra forests were felled to sustain monumental sales boost'.

X-Ray [closed]

Zig Zag [closed]

Mentorbridge, London / Emap. April 1969-198?

Emap tried to relaunch Zig Zag in 1990 with a distribution deal through Our Price Records, but it folded after just one issue. The relaunch would have put the Emap Consumer Magazines division in competition with Emap Metro's successful Q, though it would have aimed at a slightly younger audience.