Blogs were held in low regard to the traditional print feature. But music magazine sales are falling year on year as more readers are turning to the likes of Pitchfork and Stereogum for their fill of music gossip. The only magazines that were worth buying are increasingly catering to an ever more commercially diluted market. And with the price tags on all the decent mags hiking so there’s little change from a fiver, the willingness to fork over any cash for news is dwindling.

 

Even the NME has undergone a radical change in recent months. Shamelessly adopting the successful Rolling Stone model down to minute detail. The once reputable mag, has in more recent years used a more trashy gossip tabloid style, tuning in on Doherty and Borrell related shenanigans and over hyped one album wonders. Now more feature based the NME has drastically changed its content and style, realising that people won’t pay for dated information when twitter can provide it on a happening now basis, for free.

 

So what does the future hold for the print press? Murdochs philosophy may unfortunately soon spread, the pay per view news in Newscorp press could prove too successful for other publications to ignore. With the web being the format for easily accessible news, print should focus more on feature writing, and leave the news to the online realm. Rolling stone has done it successfully for years; cover features including politics and music, less gossip and news, more substance and analysis.