The document discusses the state of the British music press and magazines. It notes that while publications frequently argue over which was better in the past, the current market features many competing magazines, websites, and short attention spans. Mainstream publications now also cover music. The document discusses prominent weekly and monthly magazines that take different approaches to music coverage and notes specialist magazines focused on genres like rock, dance, and hip-hop. It acknowledges magazines with independent origins and short lifespans in the industry before concluding the UK has the best music press thanks to its free-spirited and passionate writing.

1. Guardian
Why are we so hard on our music press?
We have the best, liveliest, most honest music press in the world. The trouble is, if we loved
it more, it might not be so good
End of a golden age? After 74 years on the stands, Melody Maker merged with its rival NME
on December 14 2000. Photograph: PA Photos
The British music press is a favourite topic of discussion here, as fans and readers swap
opinions on the numerous publications on the market, each competing for shelf space and -
more insidiously - brand loyalty.
In amongst the posts explaining why NME isn't as good as was it was back in [insert
appropriate decade here] are endless arguments about which publication is the best. Never
before has the British music press been such a competitive market. Not only are magazines
battling against websites and short attention spans; as genre boundaries begin to blur, they
also find themselves competing to cover the same artists. (The success of Klaxons is partly
down to the fact that they can feature in the rock, dance and lifestyle press simultaneously.)
Indie music, in particular, has permeated mainstream culture to such an extent that no
lifestyle, arts-based magazine, broadsheet and tabloid newspaper would be seen dead without
at least some music coverage, even if it is just a 50-word review of Mark Ronson in
Cosmopolitan.
Which magazine do you prefer? An established weekly like NME, or one of the weightier
monthlies? The likes of Word, Q and Uncut all offer different takes on recent music, while
Mojo (my personal favourite) appears to me to be the most informed and least trend-driven.
Every issue I discover a new musical gem - which is what we want from a magazine, surely?
The Wire, meanwhile, stands splendidly alone, with its often scholarly coverage of
innovative bands.
Then there's the specialist music press. Kerrang!, with little fanfare, continues to outsell
NME, its rival Metal Hammer, and the underground hard-rock fans' read of choice Rock
Sound. Mixmag, DJ and Hip Hop Connection cover dance and hip-hop. Then there are the
more buttoned-up magazines based around record collecting, MP3-downloading or specific
instruments. (How does Bass Guitar Magazine fill its pages every month?) And let's not
forget the dwindling pop press, still led by Top of the Pops.
A new breed of magazines have interesting and often independently funded beginnings that
reflect the culture that spawned them. I'm thinking Artrocker, Clash, FACT, the Fly, Nude,
Plan B (run on a shoe-string by loveable music press legend Everett True) and the Stool
Pigeon, whose staff numbers two and whose editor Phil Hebblethwaite hand-delivers every
magazine to shops across Britain.

2. Music magazines are disposable and their readers fickle, which is why publications are
constantly refining their content and presentation. Lest we forget, once flourishing
publications such as Melody Maker, The Face, Muzik and Smash Hits have all gone to dust
this decade, along with many others that have closed after just a few issues. But there's an
upside to this: the UK has the best music press in the world. For me, US music magazines
such as Rolling Stone or Spin just don't compare. They may occasionally offer heftier
features, but they also seem to exist more in fear of the advertising clients whose accounts
keep them afloat.
UK magazines offer some of the free-spirited, funniest, most informed, unflinching,
passionate and comprehensive writing around. We should remind ourselves of that from time
to time.