BETH – “No, they’re probably not as popular as the used to be, but I have faith that people will carry on buying them, in particular middle aged, ABC1 males who enjoy collecting literature that is appropriate to the music that they enjoy.

AMY – “Yes definitely, I have never seen anyone with a music magazine nor have I ever purchased one myself. They seem to have shrunk behind hoards of lifestyle magazines that offer people more variation.”

HANNAH – “Yeah, you only see older people or emos with music magazines, so they’re not exactly the people that you aspire to be really.”

Music magazines have somewhat died into the background recently, with the amount of them decreasing, and the newsstand space they occupy also decreasing.  The point of the humble music magazine was originally to update and be a side aspect to a genre of music that the reader favoured. The main difference that time has shown, is that favoured music magazines are no longer the low budget magazines that were issued weekly and responsible for the a decrease in the amount of pocket money left over. Yes, the days of magazines written by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts and printed on something that was near enough tracing paper have gone. In their place are monthly published magazine, written by ‘morph-able’ journalists and printed on fancy paper all held underneath the glossiest cover you ever did see. This has lead to music magazines being viewed as a luxury, rather than an item made for everyone. Music magazines have been shifted up a class, connoting that you must be of a certain ABC1 demographic to purchase it, and to show a genuine interest,  you must purchase it, which shows a vicious circle of exclusion (and a vicious circle of middle class teenagers pretending to be kerrang! devotees)

I think that the success of music magazines was due to the fact that they were all encompassing, and suited every demographic. But I feel a certain level of snobbery has been introduced in recent magazine publications, and to buy a music magazine you must suddenly be niche, trendy, unusual and quirky, as opposed to just fancying spending an hour reading a review of Coldplay’s new album. Partially, advances in technology are to blame. People can read all about their favourite artists, and read an album review on itunes on their phone whilst doing something else, which is a vital part of this argument. The fast pace of the modern day has left us unable to do something , unless we can do it at the same time as something else.