Every now and then I realise I have the beginnings of like, 48 blog posts saved in my drafts that are no longer relevant and I end up deleting them. Today is one of those days, but I do have a couple of posts -in the works- to post soon. I was gonna post them today but like this is way more important
I don't like flies. The pesky lil' buggers sit on my laptop screen and often find themselves victim of a smack from the plug part of my Apple charger. But I do like this fly. I mean The Fly, the free music publication that's nearly as old as me. I was absolutely gutted to hear that the magazine will cease publication today. Even though it was known that their circulation dropped significantly thanks to the HMV closures last year, this news still came as a shock after the recent success of the first Fly Awards last month.
I first stumbled upon The Fly in early 2011 perched on the desk in a charity shop. I was immediately drawn in by the word "free" emblazoned on the front, and picked up a copy. Upon my first flick through its pages it dawned on me that I had just discovered a real game changer in the world of magazines. Everything about it seemed to be spot on; humorous and witty but not overly opinionated writing, interesting layouts, typography and photography, and coverage of some really great artists. Even after a massive re-brand in 2013 the magazine was still really good (unlike NME for instance which kind of went a bit downhill after re-branding like the pages are overwhelmingly cluttered for a start) and with a sleek, minimal design, striking, enticing covers teamed with that different paper they used it being a free publication was almost too good to be true.
For a college project I got to look into a variety of different publications and when researching The Fly I found out it was actually originally a listings guide for Camden's Barfly hence the name The Fly!! It didn't click for ages that that's where the name came from but that's not the point here the point is this is a prime example of how a tiny lil' listings guide can turn into one of the UK's most popular free publications. The interesting thing to me is that it's all about passion not profit. Like, there are people out there so passionate and dedicated that they would spend time putting together a magazine just so people like me can read about great music. That's so cool
As a music fan and a great lover of magazines, I'd like to thank The Fly for being my favourite music magazine and providing me with a load of great content and not even wanting my money for it. xo
(* I'm so sorry for that title it was supposed to be funny but I don't think it actually is)
