History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music Week''. On 17 January 1981, the title again changed, owing to the increasing importance of sell-through videos, to ''Music & Video Week''. The rival ''Record Business'', founded in 1978 by Brian Mulligan and Norman Garrod, was absorbed into Music Week in February 1983. Later that year, the offshoot ''Video Week'' launched and the title of the parent publication reverted to ''Music Week''. Since April 1991, ''Music Week'' has incorporated '' Record Mirror'', initially as a 4 or 8-page chart supplement, later as a dance supplement of articles, reviews and charts. In the 1990s, several magazines and newsletters become part of the Music Week family: ''Music Business International (MBI)'', ''Promo'', ''MIRO Future Hits'', ''Tours Report'', ''Fono'', ''Green Sheet'', '' ChartsPlus'' (published from May 1991 to November 1994), and '' Hit Music'' (September 1992 to May 2001). By May 2001, all newsletters (except ''Promo'') closed. In 2003, ''Music Week'' relaunched its website of daily news, features, record release listings and UK sales, airplay and club charts. In early 2006, a separate free-to-access site for the ''Music Week Directory'' listed 10,000 contacts in the UK music industry. In mid-2007, the magazine was redesigned by London company This Is Real Art. In October 2008, another redesign led to major changes. In June 2011, ''Music Week'' was sold to Intent Media. The package was sold for £2.4m and also contained titles ''Television Broadcast Europe'', ''Pro Sound News'', ''Installation Europe'', and additional websites, newsletters, conferences, show dailies and awards events, which generated £5.4m of revenue in 2010. As of issue 30 July 2011, UBM is still named as publisher, as the new publisher Intent Media took over on 1 August 2011. In the first edition under new ownership it was announced that the title would switch its day of publication Monday to Thursday with immediate effect.Charts
''Music Week'' features these British charts: the Official Top 75 Singles of the month, the Official Top 75 Albums of the month (similar to charts used by '' Top of the Pops'' in the early 1990s and''Music Week'' Charts Analysis
Even though the magazine is now a monthly publication, the website still posts weekly Charts Analysis pages for the UK Official Singles and Albums charts. Alan Jones was the writer of the section until he retired in March 2020, when Chart Watch UK writer James Masterton was hired to take over the role. Masterton wrote two weekly Charts Analysis pages for the website (as the magazine now features charts compiled from monthly sales and streams) until 29 October 2021, when ''Music Week'' staff performed the role. After Andre Paine and Ben Homewood wrote one each of the Charts Analysis posts on 5 November 2021, Alan Jones resumed the role again, writing the 12 November overviews, with no explanation of why he returned (with the pages titled ''Charts analysis: ABBA's Voyage opens with huge sale of 204,000'' for the albums and ''Charts analysis: Adele spends fourth week at summit ahead of album release'' for the singles).Publishing details
''Music Week'' is published monthly by Future (from the March 2021 edition), though previously it was a weekly magazine (50 editions p.a.). It was available as a B4-sized printed magazine and a PDF ''digital edition''. .Editorial staff
''As at July 2021 print edition'' * Head of Content: George Garner * Features Editor: Ben Homewood * Digital Editor: Andre Paine * Content Editor/Producer: Lucy Thraves * Charts & Data: Isabelle Nesmon * Art Editor: Steve NewmanCirculation
The weekly print circulation in 1997/98 was 12,503, but by the time the publication left the ABC scheme in 2011 it had fallen to around 5,000 weekly copies. In October 2011, ''Music Week'' deregistered with ABC after 54 years of membership. The website musicweek.com had 63,904 monthly unique browsers for the audited period 1–31 October 2008. By 2009, the website had been deregistered with ABC.See also
*References
External links
* {{Authority control 1959 establishments in the United Kingdom Business magazines published in the United Kingdom Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Weekly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1959 Professional and trade magazines British record charts