Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Will the sad demise, announced on Friday, of music monthly The Word take its most famous customer with it? Or is he already dead? Fifty-quid bloke, a retail-customer-type made into a minor phenomenon in the mid-Noughties when David Hepworth, one of the men behind The Word, described him in a speech to the BPI in 2003, the year his magazine launched.
"This is the guy we've all seen in Borders or HMV on a Friday afternoon, possibly after a drink or two, tie slightly undone, buying two CDs, a DVD and maybe a book – fifty quid's worth," Hepworth said at the time.
The Word's editorial combined a mixture of old and new with a much-copied section in which interesting people recommended books, CDs, film and television. It offered up a handy monthly shopping list for £50-bloke. Or, in my case, £15-student.
But since Word – as it was then – launched in 2003, the high street has been emptied of almost all entertainment shops and the rise of Spotify et al has rendered physical music purchases less likely. Straitened financial times might have made him £20-bloke, too.
So is he now an endangered species? Or has he been replaced by the less-helpful-for-the music-industry, £0-kid?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments