Fly sprayed: freesheet to close

Sad to hear The Fly, which built the most-read-music-paper quietly off the back of a listings freebie for the Camden Barfly, has closed; mostly a victim of HMV's collapse:

A statement on the magazine’s website read: “After nearly 15 years of pioneering new music journalism, the owners of The Fly are officially closing the magazine as a result of current market conditions surrounding publishing. We offer gratitude and wish well all the staff and contributors that have allowed us to deliver the UK’s longest serving monthly free sheet. To the multitude of artists and musicians that have graced our covers, the advertisers and sponsors who have supported us and our loyal readers, we salute you.”

It added that “ownership of the digital and online brands will now pass to the magazine’s longest-serving member of staff, editor JJ Dunning”, suggesting that the brand may survive online.

Dunning had been tweeting on Friday to see if anyone wanted to help him keep the Fly alive; there's a difficult question about whether a print product is viable without anywhere to distribute it.

(Although... maybe it'd fit well with the Stylist/Shortlist stable, don't you think?)