New Editors of Kerrang! and NME appointed as music magazine circulations plunge

 

UK music weekly magazines Kerrang! and New Musical Express (NME) have both recently appointed new female Editors.

 

Nichola Browne is to be the Editor of Kerrang!, the UK’s biggest selling music weekly title and will replace outgoing Editor Paul Brannigan.

 

Last month, it was announced that Krissi Murison, the former Deputy Editor of NME is to succeed Conor McNicholas, who recently announced his departure from the title to become the Editor of BBC Worldwide’s Top Gear Magazine.

 

Murison, who had relocated to New York for the role of Music Director for Nylon magazine is set to be the first female Editor in the publication’s 57-year history.

 

Browne started out on Emap’s consumer magazine business journalism traineeship scheme before progressing within the now Bauer owned media group, joining Kerrang! as news Editor seven years ago.

 

Browne will be the eighth Editor of the title in its 28-year history and the second female Editor since Robyn Dorian helmed the magazine in the early 1990’s.

 

Managing Director of Kerrang! Stuart Williams said in a statement: “For 28 years Kerrang! has been at the very heart of the rock scene in UK and around the world and it came as no surprise that there was a lot of interest in the role from across the industry. Nichola’s wealth of experience with the magazine and her vision for the brand made her the standout choice to lead Kerrang!”.

 

 

Meanwhile, the recently published annual ABC circulation figures painted a somewhat bleak picture for many music consumer magazines, with the entire sector suffering a combined circulation drop of 10% in the first half of 2009.

 

The average sales of Kerrang! fell 28.3% year on year to 43,253 whilst IPC Media’s NME, had an average weekly circulation of 40,948 in the first half of this year, down 27.2% year on year.

 

Future Publishing’s monthly Metal Hammer also lost 5.2% of its sales year on year, down to 46,004.

 

Bauer Media’s Q remains the market leader despite losing 11.5% of its sales year on year, down to 100,172. Mojo also lost sales, down 8.1% year on year to 97,722.

 

Future Publishing’s Classic Rock was the only paid-for music title to record a year-on-year increase, up 5.5% to 70,301.

 

Channelfly Enterprises’s free music monthly The Fly remains the sector leader with an average distribution of 107,771, up 2.4% year on year.

 

ABC independently verify and report on performance across a range of media platforms, providing detailed information regarding circulation, distribution, attendance and web traffic. To find out more, go to their website.