Feature: Staff Departures At IPC Music & Sport Follow Falling Circulations

IPC’s Music & Sport division was last week hit by the resignation of its managing director, Andy McDuff, and has subsequently been forced to deny rumours that the stable might be offered up for sale. McDuff’s resignation follows hot on the heels of two other senior departures at the group’s flagship lads’ title, Loaded: editor Tim Southwell and publisher Adrian Pettett recently announced plans to join an internet start-up business called Switch2.

The brain drain at Music & Sport follows a period of relatively poor circulation figures across the portfolio. Loaded, once the standard-bearer of ‘new laddism’, is now bearing the brunt of a general downturn in sales in what appears to be an ailing sector. According to the latest circulation figures from the ABC, Loaded lost more than 85,000 copy sales year on year for the July-December 1999 audit period. Whilst rival titles like EMAP’s FHM (down just under 50,000 copies) and Dennis Publishing’s Maxim (down 7,000) also saw sales slip, it is Loaded that is currently being hit the hardest.

At the same time IPC’s key music weeklies, NME and Melody Maker, have both been suffering a relentless slide throughout the Nineties. Melody Maker has seen its sales fall from 70,000 in 1990 to just over 30,000 in the latest ABC audit. Accordingly, IPC recently overhauled the magazine, shifting its traditional focus on ‘rock’ music to concentrate on a younger ‘pop’ readership. NME, whilst having retained its indie edge, has seen circulation fall from 118,000 to 76,000 over the last ten years. The company’s dance monthly, Muzik, held circulation steady at 44,000 in the latest audit and Uncut, which covers both music and film, is looking healthy in the latest figures.

Rival publisher EMAP saw the Q, Mojo and Mixmag monthly music titles all increase circulation year on year, although the group’s ‘teen-pop’ title Smash Hits took a battering, down 53,000 copies (18%).

There have been rumours that IPC may seek to sell off the Music & Sport division in order to provide extra funds for its new media arm, IPC Electric. The internet division, which was initially earmarked £25 million for investment, has also suffered key staff departures whilst still in its infancy. Commercial director Julian Hardy left after just three months in November and was soon followed by the group’s managing director Rene Carayol who left after only four months in the role, in January.