Important developments in the MUSIC PRESS

1926: Melody Maker and the rise of the ‘inkies’ This weekly magazine began in 1926, focussed mainly on the jazz scene. By the mid 50s it was in direct competition with the New Musical Express which focussed more on Rock ‘n’ Roll. Both papers are very important in the development of the music press, famous for their tabloid newspaper format. They included information on all new releases and articles on artists. In the 60s and 70s they were the only up to the minute magazines therefore were very popular.

1936: Billboard Magazine and the arrival of the Charts! Billboard magazine was one of the first publications devoted to the music industry. The first issue was printed in 1894 but it was in 1936 that it published the ‘music hit parade’. (the charts.) The Billboard charts have provided the foundation for chart countdown slots on radio programmes like ‘The American Top 40’ The magazine is mainly aimed at music professionals. It still exists and now contains charts and information on DVDs and internet music download charts. These papers were factual and detailed and were known as ‘inkies’ as they were more interested in serious music journalism than glossy images.

1966: The rock fanzine paving the way for fan-based independent publications The music fanzine emerged in the 1960s – an amateur publication. Early examples were Crawdaddy devised by Paul Williams and Mojo Navigator in the 1970s. Their creators later became successful music press journalists. These fanzines highlighted the relationship between the music and the fans. They are valuable historical accounts.

1967: Rolling Stone – music as culturally significant Rolling Stone magazine began in 1967 in San Francisco. It documented music as an essential part of youth culture. It included articles on music and social change, and politics. Rolling Stone was less about facts and more about music culture.

1978: Smash Hits and genre -specific music magazines. An important contributor to the development of the music press A glossy fortnightly magazine, the first specifically for teens. It had a pop emphasis, and paved the way for our contemporary celebrity magazine obsessions. It included backstage gossip and ‘personality’ interviews. Kerrang! evolved from the template created by Smash Hits.

1980: The Face and the glossy lifestyle magazine The Face began a new type of music publication which was a full-colour and glossy. It was a monthly magazine, aimed at a post youth market, embracing music as well as fashion and lifestyle. The layout was full of images and had many adverts. There was more style than substance. Q magazine followed on from The Face when it went out of print in 1994.

1980:Record Collector catering for the music enthusiast British monthly magazine which provided information for the music fan that was a collector. Its pages were crammed with adverts and sources of buying and selling music. It was relaunched as an A4 magazine in 2003 and there is now a magzine version on ebay that creates a link between fans and music sellers. It has great reader interaction as it discusses fans’ collections and fanzines etc.