IPC subeditors no longer dictate our youth; no longer IPC subeditors

IPC is IPC no more. The NME publisher is rebranding as Time Inc UK.

It's unlikely the new brand will ever inspire anything as glorious as this Clinic track, though:

NME caught in debt-fuelled deal

As part of the splitting up of Time Warner into two smaller media companies, the question of who gets to keep IPC Media (and, thus, the NME) has been settled: Time will generate a massive ballon of debt with which to purchase the UK magazine publisher:

Time Warner officially announced that it's spinning Time Inc. off with $1.4 billion in debt, adding that the financing will be used to purchase Time Inc.'s U.K. operation, IPC Media.

The debt will be raised through an offering of unsecured senior notes and Time Inc. will enter into a secured loan facility, according to a statement.

Whatever remains of the debt facility after buying IPC will be used to pay a cash dividend back to Time Warner.

The suggestion that IPC is worth at the very most $1.4bn will be a bit of a blow to the Blue Fin Building; they were bought for $1.7bn in 2001.

And being bought with a slew of debt isn't a great start for an organisation with a few wobbly titles in its portfolio.

Bookmarks: Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper talks to Time in the run-up to her biography release. Could you imagine a pop star getting their breakthrough at the age of 30 today?

When “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” came out, I was 30. They were saying, “How old are you?” and even then I was like, “Why? You think I’m a car? You need to check under the hood and kick the tires?” I had a mindset to contribute to music and make an effective change that would help women in the world. When I was told “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” would be an anthem, I thought about how it really could be an anthem. And you know, I burnt my training bra, kinda-sorta, at the first women’s demonstration in Central Park. I was there.

Glastonbury 2009: Slight overstatement

Even by the standards of meaningless lists, the Time magazine 100 Most Influential People list's inclusion of Michael Eavis seems a little extravagant.

Now, Eavis is a nice enough guy; his festival is successful and although he might sometimes neglect fact in favour of a sunny précis, his intentions are usually well-meant.

But one of the 100 most influential people on the planet? Really? How would you see his influence? Men proud to have their heads on upside-down? A few dozen me-too festivals around the globe? But if it was the latter, would you not expect to see a few more of the Glastonbury-clones being run on a not-for-profit basis at the very least.

Tell us, how did Time choose Eavis?

Coldplay singer Chris Martin paid tribute to Mr Eavis in an article for Time...

Oh, really? Could it be, do you think, that Time asked Chris to write about someone, and then slotted that someone into the run down?

Still, Chris: one of the most influential people on the planet. How does that stack up, then?

Coldplay singer Chris Martin paid tribute to Mr Eavis in an article for Time, writing that Glastonbury was "the biggest rock cathedral in the world".

"Michael is one of the people to whom I owe my life and career," he wrote, explaining how the offer of a headline slot in 2002 had "changed everything".

"We've headlined other festivals, but Glastonbury is the only one that feels like - and is - a family event. It's also the only one where we received some handmade cheese as a thank you," Martin added.

So: he gave you a cheese and helped make Coldplay famous - which you suggest is a good thing? And that's influential, is it? On Martin's life, perhaps, but on the world?

Come on, Time: this is meant to be a serious endeavour, isn't it? You're seriously suggesting Eavis belongs here? Isn't this for statespeople and scientists and...

He is one of 100 people listed, along with US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown...

You see?

... teen actor Zac Efron and TV host Oprah Winfrey.

Oh. That's the calibration, is it? As you were, then.

Time not looking for anyone to buy the NME

Anne Moore, the head of Time Inc's magazines business - sorry, I mean, content business - has spoken to The Times about her long-term strategy for the company. It doesn't, it seems, involve flogging off UK consumers magazine business IPC:

Home to NME and Country Life, IPC had faced question marks about its creativity in recent years – and there was talk that Time might be prepared to sell.

“Where did you hear that from? I know, wishful thinking from bankers hoping for a mandate,” she says, praising Sylvia Auton, the boss of IPC. “We are very pleased – three out of her last four launches have been hits – and that’s why we’ve given her more responsibility,” which, it turns out, is running Southern lifestyle titles out of Birmingham, Alabama.

It's not as if anyone would be willingly flogging assets right now anyway - where would you find a buyer for the company when all the stockbrokers are queuing up to have their photos taken with their heads in their hands?

Er... N'Dours?

Time Magazine has filled a quiet news week by drawing together the 100 most influential people in various fields. We're not entirely sure the order is anything other than arbitrary, but having said that... The arts and entertainment list is quite curious - the top musician is Youssou N'Dour, who gets a touching tribute from Peter Gabriel. Now, N'Dour is a great artist, and when Gabriel says he influenced him, we believe him. But does N'Dour really influence the entertainment world more than anyone else? (Except, erm, Tina Fey, who comes out on top.)

Justin Timberlake, at four, is the second highest placed pop musician in the chart. On that calibration, N'Dour certainly comes out higher. Timberlake's applause-piece comes from admirer Timbaland, which raises the possibility of the two of them going into a post-modern Tweedledum and Tweedledee style double act. Timberlake and Timbaland. We'd pay to see it.

And it shows

Interesting that Shania Twain has said in a Time interview that she never had any burning desire to be a performer, and that she still doesn't.

Because it's not like that shows in the pudgy, will-this-do live spots she's been turning in for the Up! promotion. It's kind of a special symbiotic relationship - a singer who doesn't really want to sing doing songs that didn't need to be written for an audience that doesn't really like music.

Perhaps her attitude explains her increasingly bizarre dress sense. As we said a few days back, her Letterman appearance saw her wearing an Iceland windcheater; the video for the last single had her apparently frolicking about in one of Cher's cast-offs; the sleeve for the single had her dressed up like bloody Andy Capp. Now we know she's just going through the motions, though, the plucking of anything out the dressing-up box makes sense. We should be thankful she showers before she turns up at the studio.