The Pop Corporation

Music, Saturday Night Live, football seasons, video games and the NME – they all have one thing in common in that, old people say the exact period they indulged most in them is obviously, unbiasedly, the best period for them. That’s complete cobblers of course, so keep that in mind when we tell you that the NME will be returning to physical print and appearing on newsagent shelves.

Unsurprisingly, the print version as we all knew it closed down in favour of being an online entity. It wasn’t necessarily anything to do with the quality of the pieces in it and what they were covering – rather – everything was just being read online and young people weren’t going down the shops to buy it, because they were looking for fun stuff on their phones.

However, we love actual magazines in whatever form they come in – everyone really should be buying copies of Shindig! magazine for example, as it’s a beautiful thing to hold in your hands, and it’s important to put your hands in your pocket when someone is doing something cool. Anyway, does this mean that the NME is coming back in a weekly?

Nope.

It’ll be returning as a bi-monthly, fancy looking magazine, which we think is a very sensible approach. There’s going to be a July/August issue and it’ll focus on new artists and it’ll be a limited run, because scarcity isn’t always a bad thing. You assume back issues and the like will be available to buy online and subscriptions will be a thing.

NME’s Holly Bishop says: “We aren’t relaunching the magazine to build an audience of hundreds of thousands of print readers, or even to drive substantial newsstand revenues – instead, it’s going to be about super serving our super fans through that physical medium, and creating a pop-culture bible to capture a moment in time.” So, more like a fashion magazine model, where hipsters will want to be seen with a copy in their hands and influential sorts, reading them in hot spots and cafes. We’re not mad at it, honestly.

“We know NME has an incredible print legacy, it’s arguably one of the most recognised music titles on earth in print. We’ve had the biggest icons across pop culture gracing our cover, but it’s obviously no secret that in the digital world we’re now in, print is facing challenges on all fronts — not just in terms of audience engagement, but on the production side too, which isn’t helped by market conditions.”

“We’re inspired by the incredible resurgence we’ve seen in vinyl and — dare I say it — cassette tapes, and that’s really shifted over the last few years. For me, this demonstrates that our multigenerational audience, they’re not 100% digital natives like we may be led to believe. They still really care about the quality of experience that only physical media can bring.”

“We’ll be featuring and interviewing the biggest names in music and pop culture, but from the cover perspective, that’s now exclusively reserved for emerging and that’s consistent across all our channels.”

“It’s a show of strength to bring back such an iconic brand in the print space and to do it in a way that no one else is. So hopefully, in the same way that we’ve led the charge for 70 years, we will continue to do so. There’s hope that others may follow and it provides a new and sustainable model for media.”

We’re into this. We think magazines and print journalism is fantastic and there’s nothing quite like poring over great photoshoots alongside words written by people who give a shit. If this in any way encourages other publications to go analogue to complement their digital offerings, that’s cool. And y’know, if you’re annoyed by what they’re covering and you’re a writer, then hopefully, this means you’ll have a fire lit up your behind and you’ll make some anti-NME fanzine, because it’s all good for the culture.

We look forward to picking up a copy.