Something on my mind

My thoughts on various popular culture events and phenomena

The Word is no more

published June 30, 2012

Sad news yesterday: David Hepworth of The Word announced that the magazine will fold after the next issue. Reading news stories about its demise, I was shocked to learn that there were only 25,000 of us reading The Word. I’m not ashamed to admit that I experienced a moment of genuine grief when I heard the news: for me, it was a highlight when this mix of music, literature, film and cultural and media commentary arrived in my mailbox each month.

As Hepworth has written elsewhere, the future of music magazines looks very bleak indeed: too many music consumers these days feel that they can get all the information they need on the Internet, and with diminishing advertising budgets at record companies, meaning that an important chunk of financing has been taken away from these monthlies, it seems to be a negative spiral that can only have one final result. For me personally, the death of The Word means that the world just became a little less like I want it to be, something, admittedly, that middle-aged people probably have experienced since time immemorial.

When The Word first appeared on newsstands back in 2003, I will admit that I ignored it, feeling that I didn’t have the time for yet another music monthly. It was only when I bought an issue in...whatever year it was and read this opinion piece by David Hepworth that I realised that I had to buy every issue of this magazine (I soon started subscribing). I urge you to read it (it has a tiny ABBA reference in it as well). It's the kind of thing you will seldom read elsewhere.

The Word magazine.

Current issue of The Word magazine.