With the appointments of Nichola Browne as editor of Bauer's rock weekly
Kerrang! and Krissi Murison to the helm of IPC's NME, the reins of the most influential
new music magazines to maintain a meaningful, if diminishing, presence on the UK
news-stand are now firmly in grip of women.
As the noughties draw to a close, should this eventuality be worth more than
a passing mention? Hell, yes. While Browne is the second female editor of only
eight to lead Kerrang!, Murison is NME's first female editor in its 57-year
history.
And for the male-dominated music industry, often accused of being an institution
in needing an attitude update, in which Murison and Browne's titles reside, the
significance is multiplied.
As one successful female artist manager put it to me today: "The music
industry is totally sexist. There is, even within my generation, a definite
‘boys club' among a large proportion of A&R men and senior executives."
The magazine sector, in general, may have long had its fair share of female
editors and executives, putting it in a healthier place than the music
business, but hearing a former NME staffer talk about her experiences shows being
a woman who chooses to write about music throws up its own unique challenges.
"Female music journalists have been subjected to sexism, whether intentional
or not, in the work place and out in the field for years. And not just the
nudgenudgewinkwink idea that your chosen career was a thinly-veiled excuse for
being a groupie," she told me.
"When I first started at the NME, I was asked in all seriousness who I'd given
a blow job to to get the job. The situation, thankfully, has vastly improved
from the days I was at the title and it is also a lot better in the industry as
a whole.
"But there's still some way to go to stamp out sexism in the music industry and
magazines completely. Having female eds of both Kerrang! and NME can only
help."
The ultimate cynic might suggest a certain token gesture nature to the
appointments, IPC and Bauer handing over two titles in terminal decline, with
neither editor having a real chance of turning around the decline in sales.
As one industry source put it: "It was pretty obvious that NME would go for
a female editor this time round as they are desperate for an angle to
invigorate interest in the title, or at very least, get some publicity on the
back of it."
Overall figures for the sector add weight to this argument, suggesting perhaps
that the music magazine business may not be long for this world, (down almost
10% year on year for the first half of 2009), stuck in a long-term downward spiral
that will see the majority of titles partying at the great after-show in the
sky sooner rather than later.
Bauer's monthly Q still tops the ABC figures in the music sector, just,
recording a January to June 2009 figure of 100,172, while the weeklies of NME,
with a circulation of 40,948, and Kerrang, with 43,253, are down about 27% each
- a far cry from their glory days.
Take a more optimistic view, however, and the new hires take on a greater
significance. Alongside Rolling Stone, NME is up there as one of the most
influential music brands in the world.
The weekly paper may not have the impact it has previously enjoyed, but as
the flagship of a brand which extends across TV, radio, mobile and the
internet, both the magazine and its editor maintain an enviable position of
power. Ditto Kerrang.
Having had the good fortune to work with numerous female music journalists, rock
photographers, designers et al, at various points during the last decade, my
experience has always been that they could convey the bigger picture importance
of music without falling into the trap of many drippy indie boys, obsessing
about time signatures and production techniques.
Add to that lead-lined stomachs that could out after-show the next man,
though the next man was usually me, and the nous, not to mention the ferocity
in some cases, to head-off any inappropriate behaviour directed their way, and the
decision to finally put leading music magazines under their charge is a long
overdue one.
Can Murison and Browne make their respective titles the media properties
they once were? No, sadly. Halting the rate of decline and maintaining
relevancy and influence, with consumers and advertisers, if not actual copy
sales, is probably the most they can hope for.
But should either end up presiding over the eventual demise of the NME or
Kerrang, and despite the continuing slump in sales this eventuality remains,
thankfully, unlikely, the question should not be ‘Why did they put a woman in
charge?' but ‘Why didn't they do it sooner?'
