Title: Popworld Pulp
December 2000 was a sorry time for the music industry. Bob the Builder was top of the Christmas charts and IPC closed music weekly Melody Maker, merging it into the NME.
More than five years later, Brooklands has launched a rival in Popworld Pulp, a brand extension of the Saturday morning Channel 4 show Popworld and the first new music weekly in more than 20 years.
The publisher lacks the weight of IPC and Emap, publisher of the other big weekly, Kerrang!, but it does have an experienced publishing team.
In the first issue, TV interview fodder such as Scooch and McFly are passed over in favour of more cutting-edge bands such as Klaxons and My Chemical Romance.
The first section, Browser, is largely photo-based, with news highlights.Then there are the usual features, reviews and a live section. Film and game reviews, meanwhile, are similar in style to the lads' weeklies.
It is an advertiser-friendly environment, but what strikes me is the lack of in-depth journalism. Each feature is either a Q&A or a snapshot of the artist.
At £1.49, it's cheaper than the NME, but I'm not convinced consumers are willing to pay more than £1 for such a quick read.
There's less ad money in the press market as entertainment moves online. It would possibly have been wiser to focus more attention on the Popworld website or create an online magazine at a far lower cost base. There are web references to view extra content, but I'd like to see more made of this.
Unless it sells more than the predicted 40,000, it will remain a secondary consideration to the NME.