Whether listening to it, dancing to it or making it, music plays a huge part in the lives of many people, and the music magazine market has something for everyone. It is also one of the most competitive sectors. The recent round of ABC circulation results revealed some notable successes alongside some clear causes for concern. Retailers will see plenty of activity in the sector over the next six months as publishers either try to consolidate a title's success or pull it out of the doldrums. The music market's flagship title is undoubtedly Q. While other general music titles suffered, Emap's monthly glossy delivered a stable ABC figure of 211,000 ­ more than 160,000 of them through the newstrade. Q is a major title for the trade, delivering almost £6.5m in revenue through the news stands every year. But like other publishers, Emap is well aware that there is no room for complacency if it is to maintain that position. Like all other music titles, Q is not only competing with other magazines, but also with the fast growing range of media offering people access to music. The days when people would listen to music on the radio and read about it in the music press are long gone. Now, dedicated TV channels such as MTV allow fans to hear and watch their favourite bands 24 hours a day. The internet ­ as in so many other areas ­ is also set to have a huge impact on the music industry. There is already a large amount of music content available on the internet, including the chance to download entire concerts and the latest songs by major artists. For magazines not to be left behind, they need to be a part of the action. With this in mind, Q is preparing for expansion into digital radio and plans are being drawn up for the launch of Q Television. While Q gets ready to face the future from a position of stability and high sales, things are more turbulent for two of the most famous names in UK rock journalism ­ the New Musical Express and fellow IPC Magazines title Melody Maker. In their heyday, the NME and Melody Maker were the undisputed bibles of rock and pop fans. But times have changed, and both these venerable titles have seen alarming declines in sales. IPC has unveiled a range of plans to halt the slide, including activity with the magazines themselves and, inevitably, on the internet. Last autumn, Melody Maker was relaunched in a smaller magazine-size format and moved from the news plinth to the main magazine run. Early results are promising according to IPC, which estimates Melody Maker has sold just under 38,000 copies per week since its revamp. This compares favourably with its last ABC figure of 32,000, and publisher Bruce Sandell believes it represents a sound base to build from. Sandell said: "Our aim is to build on this success by continuing to raise the profile of Melody Maker through a dedicated promotional campaign that includes CD covermounts and our highest retail spend." NME is also pushing hard to turn around its sales decline, and a new editor, Ben Knowles, was recently appointed to spearhead the efforts. While sales of the printed magazine decline, NME's online presence goes from strength to strength. IPC claims nme.com is Europe's most successful music site, with 800,000 users. Unfortunately for magazine retailers, the internet makes them no money ­ but the publisher has pledged to use the brand's heritage to drive interest in all its formats, printed and electronic. Knowles said: "The recent NME Premier Awards issues attracted an amazing amount of attention, which shows the readers are still out there. My immediate challenge is to make them buy it more often." It's a sign of the times in the music sector that a glossy magazine spin-off from a nightclub can sell more copies per issue than the once all powerful NME. Ministry ­ the magazine published by the owners of the Ministry of Sound nightclub ­ delivered an ABC figure of more than 83,000 compared to NME's 76,000 for the last six months of 1999. The fact that the former is a monthly and the latter a weekly should not detract from Ministry's achievement ­ it is now second only to Q in terms of copy sales. Along with rival magazines Mixmag and Muzik, Ministry has helped push sales of dance music magazines to 200,000 per month ­ a significant chunk of the total music market. Ministry's stunning 36% sales increase is testament to the growing appeal of dance music, and its publisher Richard Johnstone claims this is a sector retailers now ignore at their peril. Johnstone said: "We are targeted at dance music fans and clubbers, and that is now a massive consumer market. Around 3.5 million people go clubbing every weekend, and dance music is rapidly becoming the biggest music genre." According to Johnstone, the purchasing habits of Ministry's target audience should have retailers dancing too. "They are willing to spend. They pay premium prices to get into clubs every weekend, and for the things they buy once they're inside, so paying a premium price for a magazine is not a problem for them." He added: "They are also not naturally inclined to take out subscriptions. This market is very young and very driven by impulse. The cover and the free CD are extremely important, and display at store level is a crucial element of our success." At the other end of the musical spectrum, classical music magazines have also carved out a thriving subsector for themselves. A decade ago ­ with the exception of the long established Gramophone ­ the classical sector barely existed, but now it accounts for sales of 235,000 per month and grew 22% last year. The highest selling classical title on the news stand is Classic FM ­ The Magazine, the magazine brand of the radio station Classic FM. Launched in 1994, the Classic FM magazine, like the radio station, aims to bring classical music to a wider audience. Susanne Smith, spokesman for publisher John Brown, said the mass market love affair with classical music that began in the early 1990s shows no sign of running out of steam, with sales of classical CDs still growing. Classic FM magazine, although based around music, also includes a degree of lifestyle' content such as travel and cookery. The publisher believes this is vital in linking readers' interest in music with other enjoyable leisure pursuits. One other sector of the music market should not be overlooked by retailers. Tens of thousands of magazines are sold every month to musicians themselves, whether accomplished players or beginners. The guitar market is particularly active thanks to titles such as Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Techniques. Many guitar titles suffered sales declines last year, demonstrating again how magazines are linked to the trends driving the music market as a whole. There was a fall in popularity of guitar-based music in 1999. One interesting launch into the music market has been Future Music. The title ­ which sold 23,000 copies per issue in its first full year of publication ­ aims to tap into the growing influence of technology on people's ability to make music themselves, often armed with nothing more than a computer and access to the internet. {{CTN }}