Former Mojo editor Mat Snow is behind the launch of Haymarket’s new music magazine, revealed this week as Rip & Burn.
Tom Dunmore: had the idea
Billed as a “Bible” for the download generation, the £1.5m launch is edited by Stuff editor Tom Dunmore with Snow in place as editor in chief, after he came up with the idea at the end of last year.
The 164-page glossy monthly is aimed at 17-to-30 year music fans who prefer their ipods to trawling through record shops.
It will feature 70 per cent music and 30 per cent screen entertainment, gadgets and games.
“This is for people who may never have bought a CD in their life. A CD for them is something they regard as a highly over-priced music commodity of the kind their dad bought,” Snow said.
“We were not surprised to discover when we spoke to a lot of people in research that they regard the traditional music rock CD as a rip-off.
“There is a new generation who are the download generation, and existing music titles and indeed, music coverage in national newspapers and listings magazines, don’t speak to them.”
Rip & Burn follows the September re-launch of Q which has also put a new emphasis on ipods to try to halt falling sales.
Snow said the aim was to bring new readers into the market and claimed there was little overlap with Word, suggesting that Word was aimed more at the older 30 to 40-year-old “poddy”.
The first issue has been produced by a team of four staffers and more journalists will be recruited once the magazine is up and running.
Rip & Burn will launch in early October with a print run of 150,000.
By Ruth Addicott
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