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The rock and heavy-metal music magazine sectors both showed a

healthy rise while the dance music sector suffered a 5.1 per cent

decline.

Total sales hit 521,528 in the rock sector, but the new-look NME was the

poorest performer, with figures down 8 per cent on last year and a

slight rise of 0.2 per cent for the past six months.

NME has swapped to what it calls a "consumer- rather than genre-led"

approach to broaden its indie offering and halt the circulation

decline.

IPC Ignite's managing director, Mike Soutar, says the 50th anniversary

next year provides the opportunity for extra marketing and a

reappraisal.

"You can't change things overnight but we've gone through a fast

evolution," he added.

The classic rock monthly Q has improved its performance with sales up by

11.6 per cent for the year, but sales were still 1.9 per cent down

compared with six months ago.

The nu-metal explosion continues to drive the growth in the heavy-metal

sector with both the market leader Kerrang! and rival Metal Hammer

(38,018) showing a 15.6 per cent rise for the year.

Ministry fared badly in the dance music sector. Sales were down by 20.8

per cent for the year and 16.6 per cent period on period. But the market

leader mixmag and Muzik, third in the sector after Ministry, both

increased sales over the past year. However, mixmag suffered a 5.4 drop

over the past six months.

IPC's Uncut notched up an impressive circulation of 63,361, with its

blend of film and music coverage, just 14,757 behind the number two in

the film and video sector, Total Film.

Empire tops the film and video sector, outselling the others by more

than 80,000 copies. It suffered an 8 per cent drop over the past

year.

Verdict Magazines combining music and film content could be worthy of

further exploration, as Uncut shows.

MUSIC, FILM AND VIDEO MAGAZINES

TITLE PUBLISHER TOTAL ABC Period on Year on

period % year

Q Emap 200,159 -1.9 11.6

Empire Emap 160,247 0.1 -8.0

mixmag Emap 100,404 -5.4 4.1

Mojo Emap 87,120 3.7 6.5

Total Film Future 78,118 1.1 3.9

Ministry MoS 75,274 -16.6 -20.8

NME IPC 70,142 0.2 -8.0

Uncut IPC 63,361 19.1 24.5

Kerrang! Emap 52,428 11.5 15.6

Muzik IPC 44,219 1.1 10.3

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations (Jan-June 2001).