DIY

About DIY

Overview

DIY is a British music publication, in print and online, championing new and alternative artists. Published monthly in print and daily online, it is edited by Sarah Jamieson and published by DIY Music Limited from London. The organisation also hosts live music events and runs a record label. Its official online home is diymag.com, where it publishes music news, reviews, features and video alongside its monthly print magazine.

The magazine's editorial mission is discovery: it covers the alternative and indie worlds with a particular emphasis on breaking new acts, and its "Neu" section is dedicated to introducing readers to the newest music. Cover stars have ranged from established names such as Paramore, Mumford and Sons, Biffy Clyro, Jamie xx, Years & Years, LCD Soundsystem, Fall Out Boy and Bastille to the rising artists who form the title's core constituency.

Origins as This Is Fake DIY

DIY was launched in 2002 by then-editor Stephen Ackroyd and Emma Swann as an online-only publication called This Is Fake DIY, named after a song by the Scottish indie pop band Bis. The title was a knowing nod to the zine culture of the 1990s: Ackroyd later explained that the team had intended to recreate the idea of a photocopied fanzine on the internet at a time when, as far as they knew, nobody else was doing it. The site was staffed largely by a freelance writing team drawn from around the globe.

The name itself has a backstory. The site was originally called simply Fake DIY, after the Bis song — a track about releases that mimic the look of independent issues while being carefully marketed by major labels — but the "This Is" was added in 2003 or 2004 after someone else registered the original domain name. The team came to prefer the full name, and This Is Fake DIY became one of the early successes of British online music journalism.

Early online success

In the years before its print launch, This Is Fake DIY established itself as a leading voice in online music writing. In September 2007 it was nominated for Best Music Magazine at the annual BT Digital Music Awards, where it was described as "a great mix of humour and pop culture that has become the envy of the internet". The nomination was a sign of how far the site had come since its bedroom-zine beginnings in 2002, and it reflected a style — irreverent, enthusiastic, rooted in indie and alternative culture — that would carry through into the print era.

By the end of the decade the site had built a loyal readership among fans of alternative music, and the team began to look beyond the screen. The idea of a free print magazine, distributed through the venues, clubs and shops where the audience actually spent its time, was a bold one at a moment when much of the music press was contracting.

The print launch, April 2011

In April 2011 DIY started a free monthly music magazine. The print edition was distributed free in UK venues, clubs and shops, putting a physical magazine into the hands of gig-goers and record-shop browsers at a time when paid music weeklies were struggling. The first cover stars set the tone: Paramore, Mumford and Sons, Biffy Clyro, Jamie xx, Years & Years, LCD Soundsystem, Fall Out Boy and Bastille all graced early covers, mixing mainstream alternative names with the newer acts the title existed to champion.

The tenth anniversary issue, published in September 2012, illustrated the magazine's journey. It featured James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem on the cover — described as the quintessential icon of the ten years since DIY had first appeared on the web — alongside interviews with Blur, Bloc Party, Two Door Cinema Club, Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, and it introduced readers to "your favourite band you haven't heard yet". Looking back, the issue recalled that in 2002 the site had been writing about Ikara Colt, The Electric Soft Parade and The Cooper Temple Clause, when Interpol were a band with a promising debut and everyone still loved The Vines.

Digital experiments and the 2014 rebrand

On 11 March 2013 DIY started a weekly magazine in addition to its monthly print title, published via tablet computer and iPhone. The weekly digital edition was an experiment in mobile-first publishing, but it was later pulled in favour of limited-edition, one-off titles: Superfood and METZ both released limited-edition 'zines in collaboration with DIY as part of that programme.

In June 2014 DIY rebranded, dropping the "This Is Fake" from its name and launching its new official website, diymag.com. The rebrand simplified the title to plain DIY and gave the operation a cleaner, more mature identity while retaining the irreverent editorial voice that had defined it since 2002.

Editorial leadership

The magazine was founded and long edited by Stephen Ackroyd, who had launched the site in 2002 and steered it through its growth from online zine to print monthly. The current editor is Sarah Jamieson, who leads the title's print and digital operation. The publisher is DIY Music Limited, the company behind the magazine, its website, its live events and its record label.

The editorial team combines staff writers with a network of contributors, continuing the tradition of the freelance writing team from around the globe that staffed the original site. The magazine's voice remains that of enthusiastic insiders: knowledgeable about alternative music, sceptical of hype, and committed to the idea that the best new bands deserve a platform.

Content and the Neu section

Each monthly issue mixes cover features and in-depth interviews with established and rising artists, festival coverage, and extensive reviews. Recent issues have featured artists including Wolf Alice, Kasabian, Lykke Li, Yard Act, Death Cab For Cutie, Graham Coxon, Arlo Parks, Courtney Barnett and Kim Gordon, alongside festival specials covering events such as All Points East, Rock Werchter and Mad Cool. Reviews pages deliver the magazine's verdicts on new albums from across the alternative spectrum.

The regular new music section, known as Neu, is the title's discovery engine, packing each issue with interviews with certified rising stars. Neu tips have spotlighted countless emerging acts, and the section embodies the magazine's founding purpose: to be the place where readers find their next favourite band first.

Live events and the record label

Beyond print and digital, DIY operates as a broader music organisation. It hosts live music events, including the DIY all-dayer and showcases tied to its new-music coverage, bringing the magazine's editorial taste to life on stage. The operation also runs a record label, extending its championing of new artists from coverage into the business of releasing music.

This diversification reflects the economics of modern music media: with print advertising in long-term decline, titles like DIY have built their businesses around a mix of print, digital, events and label activity, each reinforcing the others and deepening the relationship with the audience.

Distribution and availability

The print magazine is published monthly and distributed free through its network of stockists — venues, clubs and shops across the UK — while physical copies can also be ordered through the magazine's online shop for readers who are not near a stockist or are based outside the UK. Digital editions are published online, and the website carries daily news, reviews and features between issues.

The free-distribution model has been central to DIY's identity since the 2011 print launch. By removing the cover price, the magazine ensured it could reach the young alternative audience it serves, and the model has sustained the title for well over a decade — a significant achievement in an era that has seen many paid music magazines disappear.

Place in music publishing

DIY occupies a distinctive place in British music publishing. Launched in 2002 as the online zine This Is Fake DIY, nominated for Best Music Magazine at the BT Digital Music Awards in 2007, reborn as a free monthly print title in April 2011 and rebranded with the launch of diymag.com in June 2014, it has survived and grown through the most turbulent period in the history of the music press. Under editor Sarah Jamieson and publisher DIY Music Limited, it continues to champion new and alternative artists in print, online, on stage and on record — a genuinely multi-platform operation built on the simple idea, unchanged since the Bis-referencing zine days of 2002, that the most exciting music is the music you haven't heard yet.