NME circulation: down, again, but how scary the drop is depends on where you start

First, the good news for the NME in today's circulation figures.

There are still 23,049 copies distributed (Second half of 2012). So that's good.

It's down, but only 3.66% on the sales in the first half of 2012. Which isn't a disaster.

The bad news, though, is compared with the second half of 2011, sales are down a further 16.64%.

So you could see, looking at the last six months, a title whose precipitous drop has eased. Or, across the year as a whole, a magazine whose audience is still vanishing in large numbers.

The next set of figures, in the summer, will be fascinating.