Music magazine

A music magazine is a publication dedicated to music and its surrounding culture. These magazines serve as a way for fans to engage with the sounds they love. They typically feature various types of content to inform and entertain readers. This content includes music news and deep interviews with artists. You might also find professional photo shoots and long essays. Many magazines provide reviews for new records and live concert performances.

One unique feature found in some magazines is a covermount. A covermount is a free gift of recorded music attached to the magazine. This practice allows readers to hear the music they are reading about. The songs are usually a compilation of tracks from different artists. Record companies clear these tracks for release to help with promotion. This tradition began in the 1980s in the United Kingdom. The magazine Smash Hits started the trend by giving away flexi discs. Later, the industry moved to mixtapes and compact discs in the 1990s. Today, magazines like NME and Mojo still use cover compilations.

Music magazines often focus on specific genres or target different age groups. Some publications focus on rock music, while others target younger pop music fans. For example, Smash Hits and Top of the Pops aimed at a younger market. Other magazines offer specialized coverage for specific subcultures. Alternative Press provides "underground" coverage for genres like pop punk, post-hardcore, and metalcore. In Sweden, the digital magazine Melodic focuses on hard rock, melodic metal, and alternative music. Classical music fans often look to Diapason, which is the most read magazine of its kind in France.

The history of these publications is very long and shows how much music culture changes. In the United Kingdom, music magazines were once very prolific. NME has been a leader in sales since its first issue arrived in 1952. It had a major rival called Melody Maker, which was even older. Melody Maker first began publishing in 1926. However, changes in the industry eventually ended their rivalry. By 2001, falling circulation and the rise of internet music sites caused Melody Maker to cease publishing. It was eventually absorbed by its old rival, NME.

Some magazines are built around the idea of nostalgia. These publications help people remember and celebrate past eras of music. An example is Keep Rockin', which focuses on the 1950s and 1960s. Its premier issue was released in January 2009. This magazine uses a mixture of current events from those decades, such as car shows and concerts. It also features stories written by readers about their experiences growing up in that time. These stories are often paired with original photos from the 1950s and 1960s.

Different countries have their own famous music publications with deep roots. In the United States, Rolling Stone was founded in 1967. DownBeat is another major American magazine, starting in 1934. Spin is a more recent major US title, founded in 1985. In the UK, the oldest music magazine is BMG. It was founded in 1903 by Clifford Essex. The name BMG stands for banjo, mandolin, and guitar. It is the oldest publication that focuses on fretted instruments. It continues to actively promote all kinds of acoustic instruments.

Music magazines connect people to the broader world of art and media. They can be found in print or as large digital presences. For instance, Clash magazine has a very large online presence in the UK. It was even voted Music Magazine of the Year in 2004. It also won Magazine of the Year at the PPA Scotland Awards. Whether they are discussing underground metal or classical compositions, these magazines document the history of sound. They act as a record of what people find important in music culture.