NME will end its free weekly print edition

The British music media group will focus on digital operations.

March 07, 2018
<i>NME</i> will end its free weekly print edition Wiley attends the VO5 NME Awards 2017. February 15, 2017.   Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images

NME has announced the end of its run as a free print magazine, Music Week reports.

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NME (or New Musical Express) became one of the U.K.'s best known and most influential music publications after its debut in 1952. It transitioned from a paid weekly in 2015 – the current issue will be the NME's final free publication. "We have... faced increasing production costs and a very tough print advertising market," Time Inc. UK group managing director Paul Cheal said in a statement, adding that "the free weekly magazine is no longer financially viable."

Cheal said that NME will focus on an expansion of its digital sector with a weekly online cover feature called "The Big Read," as well as two music channels available online called NME 1 and NME 2. "NME 1 will champion new talent on NME’s radar and NME 2 will feature a range of artists and NME classics," Cheal's statement reads. NME plans to continue exploring options for print editions, including through NME Gold, a premium paid print edition.

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Read the statement in full at Music Week.

NME will end its free weekly print edition