Down again, down again: print sales have now gone below 14,000 with 13995 copies finding their way into people's hands in the second half of last year.

Topping up with digital sales brings the number up to 15,384 a week, but even digital sales aren't offering much joy: 8.5% of digital readers in the first half of 2014 had vanished by the second half. Digital was never going to take the circulation back to six figures; it's starting to look like it might not keep it above five figures.

All together, NME is down another 23% on the same period in 2013.

Q is now selling 50,161; Mojo 70,693. Kerrang - once the nip-and-tuck rival to NME lost 13.7% of circulation but remains outstripping NME by nearly two-to-one.

And the gloomiest view of the figures? MediaGuardian reminds us:

But [NME] now has just half the sales of its now defunct sister title, Melody Maker, when it was closed in 2000.

More gloom for the NME in the latest ABC figures, as sales of the print edition slide below 15,000. MediaGuardian reports:

Music magazine New Musical Express has suffered another slump in its print sales, falling more than a quarter to fewer than 15,000 in the first half of this year.

The 62-year-old IPC Media title had an average weekly sale of 14,312 in the latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures published on Thursday, down 28.5% on the same period in 2013. Including digital sales, its circulation rose to 15,830.

The figure of just over 1,500 digital sales is probably the one piece of joy - fairly pitiful, but a massive improvement on the three figures they were reporting last time round.

But something has changed. The usual positive talk from the publishers has shifted direction:

Jo Smalley, publishing director of IPC’s music brands, said NME’s total reach across all platforms was now 3.6 million, “bigger than it has ever been” despite its decline in print. In its print heyday, the magazine sold more than 300,000.

Traffic on the NME mobile website grew 85% year on year, with nearly 40% of its total online audience now reading on mobile.

Smalley said: “We are also continuing to explore how NME can further expand its international footprint. This builds upon the launch of NME.com in India and Club NME in Brazil.

“These are just a few of many examples revealing how the NME business model is changing to pursue new opportunities and grow new revenues.”

Now, maybe MediaGuardian just chose to not report it, but it does sound somewhat like IPC is describing a world in which NME is not more than a magazine, but post-magazine. With the news today that Company is abandoning its print edition from next month, who would bet on a weekly, paper NME having that much of a future?

In other sales news, Q is down to just over 46,000; Kerrang also slumped by still manages over 33,000 copies a week (a resilience NME can only dream of); Uncut is down to 50,000; Mojo to 70,000.

We're putting our plans to run a kickstarter to buy and relaunch Sounds on permanent hiatus.

Beck and The Flaming Lips went out on tour together, and Beck thought they were having a good time. But then... well, then things turned sour:

The 'Loser' singer hired The Flaming Lips to support him on tour in 2002 but frontman Wayne Coye criticised him after the gigs, describing him as a ''d**k'', which led Beck to believe he wasn't liked in the industry.

He said: ''I really don't know [why he said that]. I was very surprised, because I have a videotape of the last night where they were saying, 'I love you, this tour has changed our lives, you're a brother', so it really messed my head up. I went around for a year thinking people hated me.''

For a year. Based on one word in one interview from one man.

The tour, by the way, happened in 2002.

He then continues to pick away at it:

He added in an interview with MOJO Magazine: ''Wayne probably sensed I'm the kind of guy who cares what people think, that I don't come off as some asshole rock-star type.

''What he didn't know was that I was really sick during the tour, I had some condition and I barely had the strength to pick up a guitar.

''So after the shows, I had to go to my bunk and sleep. One show, I got food poisoning so I delayed it half an hour, which he probably thought was theatrical. But we had a good time! I was hoping afterwards that we'd do a record together.''

You know what, Beck? It's probably this sort of churning over something which happened a spaniel's lifetime ago that made Coyne think you were a dick in the first place.

Coming tomorrow: Beck on why that third-grade teacher who said he was disruptive had failed to take account of the weather conditions on the day.

You can tell the Mojo Awards are aimed at a more mature audience, as they're sponsored by a gentle scotch rather than a bourbon.

The winners, then:

Breakthrough act: Rumer
Not entirely sure what she's supposed to have "broken through". I know the idea of the idea of an artist struggling for years and then breaking through all that crapola are as outdated as a Beady Eye bassline, but if you're going to give Rumer an award for starting her career, perhaps the category name should be redrafted to something more appropriate? "Most mentioned in arts sections of newspapers"?

Song of the year: Heathen Children - Grinderman
To be fair, that's a choice you're unlikely to see picking up a Brit in the same category. And not just because of qualification problems.

Outstanding contribution to music - PIL
"Good news... Lydon's agreed to come. If we give him a prize. No, no, we've already done the Sex Pistols... well, yes, we could do 'best butter advert by a musician' but I think Douglas the Lurpak butter man plays the trombone...

Public Image did make an outstanding contribution, but the prize should be collected by Wobble, not Lydon.

Classic album - Screamadelica - Primal Scream
Shouldn't this be a re-release of the year prize? That would make some sort of sense.

Merit award - Martha Reeves And The Vandellas
Look, I know the categories are basically just excuses to bring top people into a small hotel room, but has there ever been a case of such a big, ballsy act being given a prize with such a tiny, mimsy name? I used to get merit points for keeping my colouring within the lines.

Inspiration award - Gary Numan
See, does this imply that Numan didn't make an outstanding contribution or have any merit, but did inspire other acts?

Best album - Suck It And See - The Arctic Monkeys
Grim news for the Monkeys, as not only did this album underperform, but now it's been flagged that their audience has shifted into a more comfortable pair of trousers.

Best live act - John Grant
If you say so.

Best compilation - Sweet Inspiration: The songs of Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
A nice trade-off of the massive number of categories in awards like this (you used to see with the Sounds readers' poll) is that quite often the lower names in the list do provide gentle surprises like this. I'm given to understand the Now Thats What I Call Music table threw bread rolls when this one was announced.

The Les Paul Award - Steve Cropper
And the Owen Paul Award went to Roy Cropper.

The Mojo Medal - Bob Harris
Amusing most self-importantly titled prize going to least self-important recipient conundrum.

Classic songwriter - Squeeze
Cracking songs, yes, but... why Squeeze rather than Difford & Tilbrook?

Vision award - Upside Down: The Creation Story
Vision award. In other words, TV and film. Presumably they were afraid to split out those two categories in case it made the awards giving drag on a bit.

Catalogue release - Orange Juice - Coals To Newcastle
Careful! This isn't a compilation, although it is. And it's not a re-release, because it wasn't. Lovely to see Orange Juice getting a well-deserved prize, though.

The Mojo Maverick - Donovan
Whether his excellent work with The Singing Corner was mentioned isn't recorded.

The Mojo Hero - Eddie Floyd
Not a maverick, though. Let's be clear about that.

The Mojo Icon - Ringo Starr
Neither a maverick, nor a hero.

The Mojo Hall Of Fame - Brian Wilson
He isn't a hero, an icon, or a maverick.

Here's an idea, Mojo - why not scrap the salami-sliced thin and often spurious categories next year, and just have, say, ten Mojo heroes? Perhaps you could organise it by a theme - so 2012 could be "The Mojo trailblazers", and 2013 could be "The Mojo catgeory-jumpers"? Your awards don't really rely on the last twelve months to frame them, so why not stop trying to force an NME Readers Poll style grid onto something that's a bit more you?

Mojo are doing a vinyl covermount to mark the 40th anniversary of some Beatles record or other, which is quite interesting.

The Mojo editor-in-chief, Phil Alexander, said: "The Mojo vinyl edition is our way of celebrating the rebirth of vinyl which we've seen in recent years. Essentially, we created an incarnation of the magazine that we wanted to buy ourselves so it was something of a labour of love."

He added: "In terms of the album itself, we hand-picked the acts and they all paid tribute to the enduring power of the Beatles by providing new perspectives on a set of classic tunes."

It's not going to be the standard edition of the magazine, though - available through Smiths, HMV and record shops; buy a copy elsewhere and you'll get a CD. (Possibly - the MediaGuardian report isn't clear.)

It's not entirely unheard of for a vinyl covermout, even now - NME did one with Coldplay in 2008. Everyone got one of those. But, on the other hand, it was Coldplay.

Hey, kids: this piece is going to discus Duffy and a man called John Lydon. If you're under, say, 30, you might want to ask your parents who these people were.

The world talks still of the 2008 Mojo Awards, and the bit where John Lydon attacked Duffy. Well, actually, the world has moved on and barely recalls Mojo doing awards much less the incident, but Lydon has never allowed nobody caring to stop him honking away.

To our surprise, it turns out that Duffy attacked him, and not the other way round:

"She leapt on my back. I'm not a maypole for her to go swinging off. Until you know who is doing that you are in a compromising position. If you want to say hello to me, then stand in front of me and say hello."

Actually, having seen the butter adverts, it's clear that Lydon would be a maypole for swinging from if the price was right.

Still, it's nice that Lydon has set the record straight. And by 'setting the record straight', we mean 'waited two years before attempting to justify throwing a woman about with a hitherto unmentioned part of the story which nobody who was around seem to have noticed happening and would still be a nasty overreaction anyway'.

Interesting to hear that Lydon's happy for people to walk up and say hello while standing in front of him. Bloc Party might beg to differ.

Q's surprisingly long reign as biggest-selling paid-for pop magazine has come to an end, with latest ABC circulation figures seeing it drop behind Mojo.

Mojo has managed a tiny uptick in its sales over the last six months, but really claimed its crown by virtue of declining more slowly than its stablemate: Mojo lost 2% (to 98,484) year-on-year, while Q is down 8% (94,811).

Classic Rock - the worthy-but-dull option - is the only title showing an increase over the last twelve months, up 1.5% (71,242).

Over at the weeklies, Kerrang has lost 21.3% of its readers over the last 12 months (41,125), but still manages to be ahead of NME. The NME is down to 38,486, having misplaced just over one-fifth of the readership during the last twelve months.

IPC will be hoping that Krissi Murison can turn things around fairly quickly - surely the title can't afford another year of losing one-out-of-every-five readers?

So, this is how the Conor McNicholas era at the NME ends - not with a bang, but with a hacking cough and a death rattle.

When Conor took over the magazine in June 2002, circulation stood at 70,456. Today's ABC figures put the number of copies sold at 40,948. To be fair, though, there is still a weekly magazine being put out, and that in itself is something of an achievement.

Elsewhere in the music magazine sector, not only is NME behind Kerrang but - as that title's circulation falls - Kerrang has dropped behind Metal Hammer.

Q is still the most-purchased music title, but having lost 11.5% of its readers over the last twelve months, while Mojo has "only" misplaced 8.1% means that Q's lead over its stablemate is down to just 2,450 copies.

The Mojo awards for 2009 or whenever have rolled around again, building the publicity on a lifetime achievement award for Yoko Ono:

Mojo chief editor Phil Alexander, who hosted the event, praised Ono, 76, as "a huge influence on modern music".

"She may have been married to one of the most famous men in the world, but she also helped change music as we know it in her own right," he added.

"First, by introducing avant-garde sensibilities to her husband but, just as significantly, by continuing to push the boundaries of what was deemed the norm way after that."

And she broke up The Beatles. Don't forget she broke up The Beatles.

Actually, she probably deserves an award for having had to put up with people blaming her for breaking up The Beatles for the last four decades. Especially since people make it sound like that would have been a bad thing to do.

Sorry, did I say "award"? I meant honour, of course. These are the Mojo Honours, which - according to the magazine - "salutes the timeless, the ineffable". Duffy did well last year. So unutterable as well, then.

This year's other winn... sorry, honorees:
The Les Paul Trophy: Billy Gibbons
Classic songwriter: Johnny Marr
Best live band: Fleet Foxes
Some sort of medal in honour of his label having lasted fifty years, despite having put out Cranberries records: Chris Blackwell
Inspiration: Blur
Best album: Paul Weller - 22 Dreams
Song Of The Year: Elbow - A Day Like This
Hall Of Fame: Mott The Hoople
Breakthrough act: White Lies
Compilation Of The Year - Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story
Vision Award - Joy Division
Catalogue Award - Miles Davis (Kind Of Blue 50th Anniversary Edition)
Classic Album Award - The Zombies (Odessey And Oracle)
Maverick Award - Manic Street Preachers
Hero Award - The Pretty Things
Outstanding Contribution To Music - Joe Brown
Roots Awards - Topic Records
Icon Award - Phil Lynott

It's probably fair to say that this is the most eclectic set of award winners - and probably the most interesting Mojo prizewinners list, but it still doesn't really feel like anything beyond an attempt to remind the world that Mojo is still publishing.

Despite arch rival Kerrang losing nearly a third of its readership year-on-year, the NME still languishes behind the other weekly. The paper lost about a quarter of its readership, dipping below the 50,000 mark to just 48,549 copies a week. Kerrang is just about ahead, managing 52,272.

Actually, NME should worry about Kerrang - it's now being outstripped by Metal Hammer as well. With the NME.com website doing better than ever, unless something spectacular happens for the print edition, the simple force of economic wisdom suggests the NME will become a website that used to have a weekly magazine attached. By the way: leaping onto Skins about two years after it was hip, and just as the series was descending into Carry On Grange Hill clumsiness, isn't "something spectacular" in this context.

Eleswhere, Q is also shedding - just above the 100,000 mark, but 21.6% down on the year. Mojo had a smaller drop (100,507, 5.4% down) similar in size to the drop in Uncut's sales (87,069, 4.3%).

The sales figures for the music sector as a whole are grim reading for anyone who works in music magazines, or, indeed, loves music magazines.

There was probably something inevitable in the Bauer radio strategy being pulled back - they're closing down Mojo Radio. To be fair, for a service which overlapped with so many other radio stations, its audience of 279,000 wasn't that bad; Bauer will be hoping those people retune to Q Radio after they close Mojo at the end of this month.

Latest ABC figures for magazine circulation have been published - and although no music magazine has suffered quite as badly as Maxim, which has lost nearly six out of every ten sales, it's grim news all round.

NME has dropped to just 56,284 in the last six months, down from 64,033 in the six months in the second half of last year and, presumably, weighing up the prospect of a drop below the psychologically important 50,000 level. Arch-rival Kerrang is still outstripping it, but also slipped badly - 76,937 down to 60,290. The NME will probably take a little comfort that Kerrang is dropping two sales for every one lost by the NME; nobody will be very happy at the total market shrinking so rapidly.

Q is still ahead of the pack - down to 113,174, though.

Only Mojo will be ordering a round of harmless fizzy drinks this month - they've seen a slight increase since the last set of six months figures. Only 149 copies, but it's still an increase.

The annual attempt to try and show some interest in the Mojo Awards, then - and, once again, the puzzlement over why they do a copy of the Q/Brits/NME/etc etc awards and not something a little more inspired?

Perhaps the clue is in the less-than-inspired list of winners:

Song of the year: Duffy - Mercy

Breakthrough act: Last Shadow Puppets
Oh, yes - because they came out of nowhere, didn't they?

Best live act: Led Zeppelin
Heaven help us. Still, Mojo must be delighted at the chance to give them something other than a 'old blokes prize' category

Best album: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig
Okay, this is slightly less predictable. And the prize sponsored by Ford as well. We bet they'll be popping a comp copy into every Focus in-car CD player from now...

Best compilation: Juno
What is point of best compilation prize? What is point?

Inspiration: John Fogerty

Icon: The Sex Pistols

Hall of Fame: The Specials

Classic album: Loveless - My Bloody Valentine

Hero: Motorhead

Catalogue release (no, we don't, either): Cherry Red 1981 - 1984
(Okay, that's a surprising one, and - unlike the Specials and the Valentines, not linked to a major comeback tour)

Les Paul award: John Mayer.

Oh, alright then. John Martyn.

Outstanding contribution: Paul Weller

Roots: Toots
Possibly the first rhyming awards winner since Beth Spewtummer was Brits best newcomer in 1996)

Mojo Vision: Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten
(It turns out they mean best rockumentray)

Mojo Medal: Dave Robinson
We don't know if there's an actual medal - it would be rather fun if there was, and Robinson will have to wear it on his lapel on official occasions.

Legend award: Irma Thomas
It's been noted her contribution has yet to be considered outstanding

Special award: Judy Collins
Judy is, therefore, special and not legendary

Lifetime achievement: Genesis
The citation was careful not to mention the illegal alien video, or - indeed - it's role in inspiring Tescos tortilla chip packaging

Classic songwriter: Neil Diamond
How fortunate to rediscover him while he's out touring a new album

The annual Mojo awards, which they call the Mojo Honours (slogan: 'Every bit as important as the Q Awards') have issued their shortlist for 2008. It's come out now so you can manage your expectations down.

The nominations in full:

Breakthrough Act
1 Duffy
2 Foals
3 Pete Molinari
4 The Last Shadow Puppets
5 Bon Iver

Best Album
1 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)
2 Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare (Domino)
3 Radiohead – In Rainbows (XL)
4 Duffy – Rockferry (A&M/Rough Trade)
5 Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand (Decca/Rounder)

Compilation Of The Year
1 Theme Time Radio Hour With Your Host Bob Dylan (Ace)
2 The Very Best Of Ethiopiques: Hypnotic Grooves From The Legendary Series (Buda/Manteca)
3 Cries From The Midnight Circus: The Ladbroke Grove Scene 1968-1971 (Sanctuary/Universal)
4 From The Motion Picture Control (Warners)
5 Juno OST (Warners)

Song Of the Year
1 LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends (DFA/EMI)
2 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! (Mute)
3 The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement (Domino)
4 Richard Hawley – Tonight The Streets Are Ours (Mute)
5 Duffy – Mercy (A&M/Rough Trade)

Best Live Act
1 Arctic Monkeys
2 Rufus Wainwright
3 Seasick Steve
4 Led Zeppelin
5 Neil Young

Actually, it's easy to mock the Mojos (go on, have a go) and, yes, of course it's got Alex Turner running through it like a rust-stain on a public lavatory wall, but at least there are a couple of names on the shortlist which mark it out as having a slightly different intent to the others. We love the idea that Bon Iver is an act which has, in some way, broken through something in the last twelve months.

Of course, they'll wind up sharing out the prizes between Turner and Duffy and, thus, turn themselves back into a simulacrum of every other awards ceremony. But at least they've tried.

The latest batch of ABC magazine circulation figures have been released, and comparing year-on-year makes grim reading - here's the key titles, with their current sales figures and, in brackets, what they were doing twelve months ago:

Kerrang! - 76,937 (85,377)
NME - 64,033 (73,008)
Q - 131,330 (140,282)
Mojo - 106,218 (114,183)
Uncut - 91,028 (93,678)

So, Kerrang has extended its lead over NME, but it's unlikely they'll be much in the mood for celebrating. And with space for magazines coming under ever tighter competition in the shops and stores of the UK, the number of chance purchasers are likely to dwindle further. There's not much love around for the pop papers today.

The current issue of Mojo has offered a list of the 50 greatest indie records ever, and while it cussedly mixes albums and singles, and is never going to be 'right', it does at least offer up a playlist for a great night at an indie club:

50) Huggy Bear - Herjazz
49) The Delgados - The Great Eastern
48) James - Village Fire
47) Swell Maps - Read About Seymour
46) Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken
45) Half Man Half Biscuit - Trumpton Riots EP
44) The Wild Swans - The Revolutionary Spirit
43) The Pooh Sticks - On Tape
42) Fire Engines - Candyskin
41) McCarthy - Keep An Open Mind Or Else
40)Jane And Barton - It's A Fine Day
39) Josef K - The Missionary
38) Ride - Ride EP
37) The Bodines - Therese
36) Shop Assistants - Safety Net
35) The Primitives - Really Stupid
34) Saint Etienne - So Tough
33) The Sea Urchins - Pristine Christine
32) Elastica - Line Up
31) Stereolab - Peng!
30) The Wedding Present - George Best
29) Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth
28) New Order - Temptation
27) Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out
26) The Libertines - What A Waster
25) The Loft - Up The Hill And Down The Slope
24) The Vaselines - Son Of A Gun
23) Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain
22) Happy Mondays - Lazyitis (One Armed Boxer)
21) The Pastels - Up For A Bit With The Pastels
20) Spacemen 3 - Revolution
19) This Mortal Coil - Song To The Siren
18) Lloyd Cole And The Commotions - Rattlesnakes
17) Teenage Fanclub - Everything Flows
16) Wire - Outdoor Miner
15) Echo & The Bunnymen - Crocodiles
14) Belle & Sebastian - Tigermilk
13) The House Of Love - Destroy The Heart
12) Subway Sect - Ambition
11) Felt - Forever Breathes The Lonely Word
10) Primal Scream - Crystal Crescent/Velocity Girl
9) The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
8) The La's - There She Goes
7) Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor
6) Joy Division - Transmission
5) My Bloody Valentine - You Made Me Realise
4) The Fall - How I Wrote 'Elastic Man'
3) Orange Juice - You Can't Hide Your Love Forever
2) The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
1) The Smiths - This Charming Man

We're a little surprised that in these multimedia end days in which we live that Mojo appear to have not bothered covering their own awards online, allowing the BBC to carry the winners first. Like not eating the cake at your own birthday party, surely?

Or perhaps they're just a little awkward about the winners:

Butter-advertising Ozzy Osbourne has won the Icon Award; Rehab was the song of the year; The Stooges picked up lifetime achievement awards and, while Ike Turner's habit of beating the shit out of Tina might be causing problems for him at the Edinburgh Jazz festival, it hasn't stopped Mojo presenting him with Best Legend.

Actually, can Legends be comparative? "I'm a better legend than you"? Alice Cooper picked up the hero prize, which is different to being a legend, of course.

Best album has gone to The Good, The Bad and the Queen; Arcade Fire are best live act; Surprisingly, Seasick Steve won the breakthrough act, which will probably do him about as much good as it did Colin Barely Rae last year.

Surviving Marleys a-plenty came out to accept the classic award for Exodus on behalf of Bob; Bjork took what the BBC call "the prestigious inspiration award" - we suspect the adjective is the BBC's, but we're not sure; Joy Division outstanding contribution and Suicide the inspiration in sound prize, whatever that means.

Apparently, all the EMAP magazine awards shows are henceforward going to be sponsored by Bitburger beers:

We're not entirely sure that if we were trying to position a lager as exclusive we'd throw it at the Kerrang awards, but then we don't work in advertising.

The nominations for the Mojo Awards - careful: not the Mobo Awards - and it's probably fair to say they're quite a mixed bag. Sorry, did we say "awards"? We mean, of course, the Mojo Honours shortlist.

Amy Winehouse has got three nominations, the Arctic Monkeys have two (so far, this could be the Brits, or the NME awards, at a pinch) while The Gossip, the View, Bob Dylan and Midlake shuffle about further down the list. Apparently, as the BBC have only got highlights and Mojo's own site chooses to say how exciting the launch at HMV was without offering a full shortlist.

The BBC does have a quote, though:

We're sure that's just out of context and Alexander isn't really suggesting the only thing that has been holding back Amy Winehouse's career is the lack of an appearance in a chin-rock monthly magazine's awards listings.

The slump in NME's readership has been stopped, to sighs of relief at King's Reach Tower. Although a small increase - 2.7% year on year - the nudge of ciculation back to 72,000 suggests that maybe the formula of glossy cover, smaller format and briefer articles may have given the fifty year old a future. An upturn in rock bands worth reading about can't have hurt, either.

Kerrang, however, firmed up its position as the World's Best Selling Rock Weekly with just a snip under 84,000 readers (60% up on a year ago.) The other metal/rock titles all posted healthy increases. But it's Q which must now adopt the title 'The sick man of the newstand' - while labelmate Mojo grew its readership, Q has lost one in ten of its readers since last year.

In other segments, the Popbitch regime at the Face (and its ludicrous attempts to seem hip by writing about the trend-before-last as if they were new - guys, scouse girls have been wearing pyjamas as day wear since '99; even the Liverpool Echo has managed to cover that) is facing a huge struggle - another 6% down this quarter; 13% down on the year, and getting dangerously close to the all important 50,000 level. Smash Hits and Top of the Pops are down as well.

NME up, Kerrang up more [MediaGuardian] - TVTimes/NME merger put back to 2003...