Research - Magazine Sales.

An ABC circulation report showed that magazine sales from January to June in 2008 had begun to decrease and people were finding their music elsewhere, for example, online. Here are some magazines, of a similar nature to my own, and their decreasing sales:

Q Magazine.
Sales Jan-June 2008: 113,174
Previously: 131,330

NME Magazine.
Sales Jan-June 2008: 56,284
Previously: 64,033

Uncut Magazine.
Sales Jan-June 2008: 86,925
Previously: 91,028

These decreases are a result of music lovers looking elsewhere for their updates. A prime example is www.myspace.com/music. Myspace allows any artist, whether mainstream or simply a group of friends, to upload their music for anyone to access. This is a considerably cheaper way of looking at music, as the artist can post blogs, updates and bulletins. Here are three examples of lesser known, indie artists using online ways of promoting their music:

• Little Man Tate: www.myspace.com/littlemantatemusic
  
• Milburn: www.myspace.com/milburnmusic
  
• The Sunshine Underground: www.myspace.com/thesunshineunderground

With online networking sites taking over music updates, during the production of my magazine I will look into ways to add an edge to it, creating advantages over the internet. During further research I will look into other magazines and their style of music journalism to see what I can add to my own, whilst keeping to the conventions of my own genre.