NME Cashes In On Festivals With Double Glastonbury Coverage

IPC’s music weekly, NME, will this year double its coverage of the world-famous Glastonbury festival, printing two special editions of the magazine to cover the event, in an effort to cash in on the concert, and the festival season as a whole.

The first issue provides readers with a mammoth 16-page Glasto-Goer’s Guide to the Universe, including everything music lovers will need to survive the three-day event, as well as a run-down of what to expect from all the best acts this year.

The magazine also features a comical weather prediction for the weekend of the festival, delivered by white witch and psychic, Mary from Big Brother.

Following the festival, NME will publish its Celebration of Glastonbury ’05. The special issue, which hits newsstands on 29 June, will include the best of this year’s bands, along with an 8-page glossy poster special, including an aerial photo of the Glastonbury site, and all the news and gossip from the VIP area.

Commenting on the increased coverage, Conor McNicholas, editor of NME, said: “Glastonbury is one of the biggest weekends in the rock calendar and we’ll be bringing our readers the very best coverage of the event. If you got a ticket, our review is the perfect souvenir. If you didn’t get a ticket, it’s the next best thing to being there.”

This year’s festival promises a host of memorable acts, from performers such as Coldplay, the Killers, Razorlight, Babyshambles and The White Stripes.

IPC recently saw its corporate advertisement director, Simon Hills, step down from the position after 17 years. The move, made in order for Hills to concentrate on “new adventures and challenges in a different environment” will come as a blow to the publisher, with Hills having been responsible at one time or another for the running of IPC SouthBank, the company’s weekly magazines division and its Solutions creative division (see Hills Steps Down As IPC Ad Director).

IPC Media: 0870 4445000 www.ipcmedia.com