The Observer has chosen Observer Music Monthly to be its next magazine publishing venture.
It will be edited by Caspar Llewellyn Smith, who was previously assistant editor of the Telegraph Magazine.
OMM will sit alongside the award-winning Observer Sport Monthly and Observer Food Monthly, which have been credited with boosting the paper’s sales.
Llewellyn Smith said: “The magazine will provide a great opportunity to review the way music is covered in the print media.
“Most newspaper coverage of the pop scene is terribly bland, and the specialist publications cater for very small readerships.
“We are going to cover a wide range of acts, and I will be just as keen to chase that interview with Justin Timberlake as go on the trail of a lost rock legend.
“I read lots of magazines, from Mojo to Heat, but it’s frustrating to have to buy five or six a week to satisfy my tastes. I will have a lot of freedom with The Observer and this kind of magazine.”
Prior to working on the Telegraph Magazine, Smith was editor of the Saturday Arts & Books section. He worked there for almost 10 years, leaving City University’s post-graduate course mid-term to join the desk as editorial assistant.
Observer editor Roger Alton said of the new magazine: “OMM will offer an original, vibrant and exciting look at the music world and, like OSM and OFM, will tackle the subject matter in its broadest sense.”
By Mary Stevens
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