Not As Easy As ABC

The recent music publication figures from British media tracker ABC show that Uncut and The Fly are the only magazines upping their circulations, while sales of dedicated rock monthly Kerrang! have dropped by a third.

Circulation of The Fly, which is owned by the company that runs the Barfly venues and manages acts including Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand, is up 11.1 percent to 105,212 per month. It is the only free-issue magazine on the ABC list. It’s widely available in record shops and venues throughout the U.K.

That Uncut is the only paid-for magazine increasing sales – and only 1.2 percent up to 86,925 – could show that Britain’s interest in the music press is diminishing faster than analysts expected.

NME’s circulation fell a further 17.4 percent to 56,284, but IPC – which owns the paper – has made it clear that it’s focusing on its online business.

The Web site attracts 3.5 million unique users per month, which means more people than ever are engaging with the NME brand. The paper is also expanding its brand presence via radio and digital TV platforms.

A week ago the Financial Times reported that young people are shunning TV in favour of the Web, where hundreds of blog sites perform the same function as the music industry’s print media.

Kerrang! has suffered the most, with a 27.9 percent drop. It looks worse when considering that Classic Rock and Metal Hammer, which operate in a similar market, have dropped about 1 percent each. Classic Rock is selling 66,632 and Metal Hammer 48,540.