Iconic Music Titles Receive Major Overhaul

Four of Australia's most iconic music magazines will undergo a major overhaul to appear under a unified masthead, music and lifestyle publishers Street Press Australia announced today.

SPA, publishers of theMusic.com.au, have announced that Sydney and Perth's The Drum Media, Brisbane's Time Off and Melbourne's Inpress will undergo a major redesign and appear under new single masthead The Music as of August 14.

Each state will publish localised editions of the magazine, with arts, culture, fashion, lifestyle, music, news and opinion content. The magazine will become a glossy newsstand-style publication, while remaining free.

Describing the decision as the “largest change to free entertainment press” since SPA was founded in 2006, company Director Craig Treweek said today that the announcement was, “The biggest evolution of street press to date as we combine the heritage of over 100 years of combined street press to create one single title.

“The Music will bring a new era to free press, linking an incredibly successful online brand into already-proven offline titles. We believe our readership is hungry for change and a bespoke publication. The rebranding of our current titles under a single national masthead allows SPA to extend our unique take on music to areas like travel, food, art, opinion and culture whilst retaining a local focus in each state. There will be change, but support for grass roots and local content is in our DNA.”

Group Managing Editor Andrew Mast said that the company would be “forward-looking” in approaching the new masthead.

“The Music will carry our tradition of quality entertainment writing into a broader range of journalism and marry it with a radical style makeover. And, we will remain fearless to change in the future.”

SPA launched the country's first national street press network in 2006 before expanding into iPad-enhanced versions of their print titles, daily electronic newsletter Your Daily SPA and website theMusic.com.au, which experienced 400,000 visits in July.