TI Media (formerly magazine publisher Time, Inc’s UK subsidiary) is selling two of its key music properties to BandLab Technologies, the company behind the BandLab music-creation app. NME and Uncut are the brands in question: the former is the digital-only incarnation of the famous weekly music magazine – the print edition closed in 2018 – while Uncut is a monthly magazine covering music and films.
“To achieve the next stage of their evolution, NME and Uncut will be better placed with a business that has music at its heart,’ said TI Media CEO Marcus Rich in a statement. “These brands occupy a treasured place in the UK music landscape and increasing relevance to the global music scene, which we are looking to enhance and extend,” added BandLab CEO Meng Kuok.
This isn’t BandLab’s first move into music media, however. In 2016 the company acquired a 49% stake in Rolling Stone, but then sold it to Penske Media (which by this point owned the other 51%) in January 2019. Other acquisitions for BandLab in recent years include Gibson’s Cakewalk subsidiary in February 2018; live-streaming music platform Chew in September 2017; and rival music-creation app Composr in July 2016.
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