Fact launched in 2003 as a free bi-monthly print magazine distributed through independent record shops, clothing stores, and music venues across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Japan. At its peak, 28,000 copies per issue reached a readership of over 100,000 — impressive numbers for a publication you could pick up next to the turntables at your local vinyl dealer. The covers were commissioned from artists including M.I.A., Shepard Fairey, Peter Saville, Barry McGee, Trevor Jackson, and Brazil’s Os Gêmeos, and the New Talent section earned a reputation for profiling future stars before anyone else noticed — Florence + The Machine and Adele both appeared in Fact’s pages early in their careers. Contributors included Andrew Weatherall, Kode9, Julian Cope, and Richard X.
In 2008, the print edition was discontinued and Fact became an exclusively online magazine, building a digital audience through its weekly Fact Mix series — which ran for sixteen years before winding down — the Against the Clock video format, and Fact TV, a documentary channel producing intimate artist portraits. Now part of The Vinyl Factory group, the publication operates from London with staff in Los Angeles and New York, and in November 2020 it returned to print as a large-format bi-annual, the physical edition produced with premium paper and oversized imagery designed to function as a collector’s object rather than a disposable freesheet.
Today, Fact is closely integrated with 180 Studios, The Vinyl Factory’s exhibition space at 180 The Strand, commissioning original work for immersive installations that bridge electronic music and visual art. For a magazine that began life in a cardboard box beside a record shop counter, the trajectory has been remarkable — but the editorial instinct remains the same: find the music that matters before anyone else does, and give it the platform it deserves.
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