NME magazine to be given away for free

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-33408435

 

I still wouldn't read it

 

Just heard this a few hours ago on the radio, used to buy it religiously back in the 90's showing my age now! Now it's free I'll be grabbing a weekly copy. I hope it's available in newsagents etc?

Nige

 

As someone who bought their first NME back in 1974 this is sad news. To be honest, it hasn't been readable for a good 15 years, but turning it into a generic cover-all-subjects rag (like Ireland's woeful Hot Press) is likely to do it no favours whatsoever.

 

Only time I ever buy the NME is the week of Record Store Day to see what they're giving the thumbs up to. I loathed it in the 70s. Pretentious tosh. Give me Sounds any day.

 

Even this won't help combat the horrendous "writing" and short list of acts they incessantly prattle on about (Noel Gallagher, Taylor Swift, the Libertines, et al).

 

NME used to have an excellent news section in the seventies, but I stopped reading it when new wave/punk happened and it became anatgonistic to my musical tastes so I switched to Sounds and occasionally Melody Maker. Nevertheless I hope it continues as it will be sad day when physical media disappears.

 

I haven't read NME in years and I never really liked it. But they are crossing the Rubicon with this move. Once people get used to getting it for free, they're not going to want to pay for it when it's no longer free....

 

They could try to do the physical media equivalent of the Apple/U2 thing and stuff it in everyone's letter slot/mailbox...

 

It'd be good for getting the fire going

 

25 years ago, was essential reading for me, was packed with interviews, a great read. Sounds and Melody Maker were decent too.

I've probably bought one issue in the last couple of years, it's awful. Reminds me of Smash Hits magazine (reference for UK people!) for indie music.

Doubt I'd look at a free copy even.

 

Danny Baker just said "the fire's gone out".

 

"NME magazine to be given away for free"

Still too much...

 

I'm in Florida, USA so that works for me!

 

Are you referring to the print or online edition? They are both different. As a Yank do you/did you buy these on import?

 

Not surprising I suppose, given the death of all their competitors and the crisis of print media more generally. I used to read it fairly regularly from the mid-'80s (even despite their insufferable politics at the time) until the mid-'90s with all their Britpop boosterism. Hadn't looked at a copy in almost a decade, and it seemed to be way too Maxim-ized for my tastes, all listicles and side boxes and "multiple entry points" with big colourful photos in lieu of actual articles. It doesn't appear that anything much changed since that time. Oh well.

 

I thought it was just one week/month, but no, it's now the Metro (UK freesheet) of music magazines.
Handy if traveling on rail.

 

How does this make any sense? I just can't.

 

I refer currently to the online edition. I used to buy the print edition in the 1990s/early 2000s here in the US...my UK friends would either send me copies or I could buy them at local magazine shops (but months behind...they'd have the June issues for sale in August, for example).

 

Interesting. I guess they have enough advertising revenue to be able to afford it.

I read the NME from September 1986 to December 2006. I started reading Melody Maker concurrently, then Sounds a month later (until it vanished in May 1991) and the glossy Record Mirror, which disappeared in 1988. I enjoyed them, though I was becoming less and less interested as time wore on.

Toward the end of 2000 I was wondering if I should stop reading either the NME or Melody Maker. Then a copy of the latter had a card inserted that said it was merging with the NME, effective January. I love it when a dilemma solves itself.

 

Lots of hate here for the NME it seems - hopefully referring to recent years? I live in the US and started reading NME and Melody Maker, Sounds and other music mags pretty religiously since I lived near a fantastic newsstand in Charlotte, NC at the time. This would have been late 1978 to probably the early to mid 80's. Loved knowing about all the obscure <to America> releases - I bought a lot of the records I love to this day after reading about them in the British weeklies.

 

I managed to save full sets of -76, -77, and -78 issues from a rubbish bin a few years back. Apparently the owner had died and somebody had been cleaning up in his house. Fantastic reading there. I've only bought one NME about 15 years ago, and felt that it was rubbish at that point.

 

Bad sign...

 

stick a fork in it, it's done.

will be online only within 6 months.

 

Really sad to see how NME has ended up. I used to read it almost every week in the 90s, along with Melody Maker. NME has been rubbish ever since an idiot called Conner McNicholas (or something like that) became the editor and started really dumbing it down.

Then in the last couple years it's started having bands like the Beatles on the front cover and basically becoming Mojo Weekly for dummies ( I LOVE the Beatles but NME should be about new music, or at the very least a new Beatles release).

This talk of diversifying also writing about fashion, gaming and movies is really stupid. So it will cover music in even less depth than it does now?! I very much doubt I'll bother picking up any copies now (even if they are free).