Iconic music magazine to turn into a freebie in bid to lift circulation

LONG-RUNNING music paper NME is going free in a bid to boost its circulation.

The weekly, formally known as the New Musical Express, currently sells around 15,000 copies but its publisher’s plans will see 300,000 distributed at stations, shops and colleges around the country. Its editor, Mike Williams, said the move would transform the magazine, which was launched in 1952.

He said: “NME is already a major player and massive influencer in the music space, but with this transformation we’ll be bigger, stronger and more influential than ever before.

“Every media brand is on a journey into a digital future. That doesn’t mean leaving print behind, but it does mean that print has to change, so I’m incredibly excited by the role it will now play as part of the new NME. The future is an exciting place, and NME just kicked the door down.”

The free magazine will launch on 18 September.

Its paid-for circulation is a far cry from its 1960s heyday when it sold in six figures and shared the market with now-defunct rivals such as Sounds and Melody Maker.

In the 1960s it was an essential part of the pop landscape, promoting acts including the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and featuring them in the lineups of its famous NME Poll Winners’ Concerts.

A decade later, it embraced the punk revolution while it also helped to launch the careers of writers including Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons.

Parsons said yesterday: “Anything that keeps this great old title alive is a good thing – I wish them well.”