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Music magazines published in Australia

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Music magazines have been published in Australia since the 1950s. They peaked in popularity during the 1970s and '80s, but currently, there are still several national titles, including local editions of Rolling Stone and the classical music-focused Limelight, among others.

Early years – 1980s

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The first music magazines in Australia began during the 1950s and were focused around youth and pop stars of the day. During the early 1960s titles included Teens Today, Teen Topics, Fan Forum, Australian Rock and Pop Stars, and Young Modern. They weren't viewed as being very serious, and by the mid-60s had ceased publishing, and it wasn't until 1966 when Go-Set was launched that Australia had its first successful national music magazine.[1][2]

Go-Set was founded by Philip Frazer, and is considered to have laid the foundations for the Australian music press industry. It was published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974.[3] The magazine had two offshoot titles, Revolution which ran from 1 May 1970 to 1 August 1971, and High Times which ran August 1971 to 1 January 1972.[4][5] In the fourth issue of Revolution, Rolling Stone Australia was included as a supplement. It became its own magazine in January 1972.

Australian Dance Band News had been founded in 1932,[6] and later became Music Maker in 1960.[7] It focused on jazz, both international and Australian jazz. It ceased publication in 1972 and was absorbed into Soundblast which ran another year.[8][9]

During the 1970s Juke Magazine and its main competitor Rock Australia Magazine (RAM) started. Juke ran from 1975 to 1993 and was published weekly in Melbourne, while RAM was published fortnightly in Sydney from 1975 to 1989. RAM republished articles from English magazine New Musical Express (NME) alongside new Australian content.[10]

Outside of Melbourne and Sydney, Roadrunner was published in Adelaide as a monthly music magazine between 1978 and 1983.[11] In 2019 an anthology of articles from the magazine was published in a book titled The Big Beat.[12]

Between 1982 and 1987 the ABC TV series program Countdown had their own magazine and annual.[13] Other music titles formed during this period included Australian Smash Hits (1984–2007), TV Hits (1988–2005),[14] cassette magazine Fast Forward (1980–1982), classical music magazine ABC Radio 24 Hours (1976–current), and several others.[15]

Australia's street press

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See main article: Music Street Press of Australia.

Beginning in the late 1970s Australia had a strong street press culture, with titles in each state. They were available free and were often published weekly.

The popularity and frequency of the street press are credited with killing off the paid weekly music magazines during the 1990s, with Juke and RAM falling to their free competitors Beat and Drum Media.[16]

In 2020 most street press across Australia closed due to COVID19. In 2022 the remaining national titles are Mixdown and scenestr, while Canberra's BMA has become Australia's longest-running street press after Beat moved completely online.[17]

The 1990s, early-2000s, and Internet magazines

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The 1990s saw several new magazines founded. Rhythms Magazine began in 1992, focused on Americana music such as blues, folk, and jazz. Juice, which included articles reprinted from Spin, was launched in March 1993 but closed its doors in 2003 after circulation dropped in its last three years from a reported 25,000 to only 6,000.[18][19]

In 1994 The Music Network was started, and ran for 925 issues until 2013.[20] Drum Scene launched in 1995, focused on drumming, following the percussion newsletter In The Groove.[21]

Recovery launched in 1998, as a spinoff from the popular ABC TV series, and ran for 25 issues until 2000.[22] The ABC's Triple J radio station launched their own J Mag in 2005, eventually changing its name to Triple J Magazine, and then moving to an annual format before closing in 2015. ABC Radio 24 Hours was rebranded Limelight in 2003 and has continued to publish regularly about classical music.

Online music websites Mess+Noise, The Vine, FasterLouder and inthemix each had their own following, but were either merged or shut down as they were assimilated into Junkee Media. Nearly two decades of past content was erased during the process.[23] Mess+Noise had begun in 2005 as a bimonthly print publication and was one of the most widely viewed websites in Australia before it was closed.[24] The print edition ended in 2007 with their 14th issue.[25]

Swampland launched in 2016 and focused on longform writing, earning it comparisons to Mess+Noise.[26] The magazine also stood out for not running album reviews, and for focusing on Australian music.[23][27] It closed in 2019.[28]

Current titles

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While there had been several Australian music magazines running concurrently during the 1970s and 80s,[15] there are still a significant mix of national magazines widely available in newsagents (Rolling Stone, Rhythms, Limelight), and smaller independent titles available in record stores or online (Foley Magazine, Women In Pop). The following are in print:

  • Australian Guitar
  • Drum Scene (and spinoff Percussion Scene)
  • Foley Magazine
  • Limelight
  • NME Australia
  • Rhythms Magazine
  • Rolling Stone Australia
  • Tamworth Country Music Capital
  • Trad&Now
  • Women In Pop

Of those, NME Australia is owned by Singapore based music company BandLab Technologies and is a spin off from the English magazine,[29] while Rolling Stone Australia is licensed from the American company Penske Media Corporation.[30] The original run of Rolling Stone Australia ended in 2018 but was relaunched again in 2020 by The Brag Media, publishers of The Music Network website.[31][32] Australian Guitar is part of Guitar World, an American magazine owned by NewBay Media. They published their 146th Australian issue in January 2022.[33]

Outside of the popular music focus of NME and Rolling Stone, the remaining titles tend to focus around niche subjects, such as Rhythms and Trad&Now (Americana), Limelight (classical), and Drum Scene (drumming). Others like Foley are produced independently, and aren't as widely available.[34] Music zines are also available in print and serve local focuses.[35] These are often printed in limited quantities and are available to purchase in speciality stores or online.[36]

Timeline 1966–2022

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Lowest of the Low 4". Clinton Walker. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
  2. ^ "YOUNG MODERN (Magazine)". Music Finder. 2018-08-10. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  3. ^ McKay, Barry (2006). "Where to find publicly available copies of Go-Set". Go-Set Charts. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  4. ^ "Revolution magazine | Historical & Cultural Collections | University of Wollongong". University of Wollongong. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  5. ^ "High Times". University of Wollongong Archives. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  6. ^ Hart, George, ed. (1957). Australian music maker and dance band news. Sydney: Australian Music Maker and Dance Band News.
  7. ^ Music maker. Sydney: Australian Music Maker and Dance Band News. 1960.
  8. ^ "John Clare 1940-2020: A personal memoir by Eric Myers | Loud Mouth - The Music Trust Ezine". 2021-01-29. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
  9. ^ "Soundblast. Sydney : David Frith Productions". State Library Victoria. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  10. ^ "Go-Set: Life and Death of An Australian Pop Magazine". MILESAGO. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  11. ^ "Roadrunner". University of Wollongong Archives. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  12. ^ Robertson, Donald (2014-07-04). "About". Roadrunner twice. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  13. ^ Countdown magazine. Lane Cove: Countdown Club. 1982.
  14. ^ TV hits. Paddington, N.S.W: Attic Press Pty Ltd.
  15. ^ a b "Lowest of the Low 6". Clinton Walker. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  16. ^ Walker, Clinton. "Lowest of the Low 6". Clinton Walker. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  17. ^ Fell, Samuel J. (2023). Full Coverage: A History of Rock Journalism in Australia. Monash University Publishing. ISBN 9781922633934.
  18. ^ Juice. Darlinghurst, N.S.W: Terraplane Press.
  19. ^ "Seven's out of Juice - mag lost its readers". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2003-07-11. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  20. ^ "Important Announcement". The Music Network. 2013-03-14. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  21. ^ Deegan, Ray (2005). "Drumscene Celebrates 20 Years!". Drumscene. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  22. ^ "Recovery (Darlinghurst, N.S.W.)". State Library Victoria. Retrieved 2021-09-30.
  23. ^ a b Martin, Joshua (2019-01-16). "Is there a future for Australian music journalism?". Crikey. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  24. ^ Toller, Annie (3 August 2015). "What went wrong at Mess+Noise?". Daily Review. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016.
  25. ^ "Mess+noise : a local music magazine". Trove. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  26. ^ D'Souza, Shaad (1 May 2017). "The Australian Magazine that Had to Happen". Broadsheet. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  27. ^ Frostick, James (2018-06-27). "Feature: SWAMPLAND MAGAZINE AND THE FIGHT FOR LONG-FORM". Weirdo Wasteland. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  28. ^ "About". Swampland. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  29. ^ Eliezer, Christie (2019-12-17). "Behind NME Lines: Britain's iconic title launches in Australia [exclusive]". The Music Network. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  30. ^ Challenor, Jake (2021-03-16). "The Brag Media expands deal with Rolling Stone publisher". The Music Network. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  31. ^ "Brag Media secures Australian rights to Rolling Stone for 2020 relaunch". Media Week. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  32. ^ Manning, James (11 May 2020). "The Brag Media braves COVID-19 to launch Rolling Stone magazine". Media Week.
  33. ^ "Dive into the ambitious new Slash album in Australian Guitar #146, out now". Guitar World. 2022-01-10. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  34. ^ Fallon, Claudia (2 November 2020). "Introducing Foley, a new magazine shining a light on the Naarm/Melbourne music community". Purple Sneakers. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  35. ^ gimmiezine (2021-10-01). "gimmie zine issue 4". Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie Zine. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
  36. ^ Francis, Hannah (2020-06-11). "Sticky has reopened its doors – but be careful with the zines". The Age. Retrieved 2022-05-10.

Further reading

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