Turn it up: a guide to independent music magazines
Music writing has always lived in an awkward relationship with print. The weekly press moved online years ago, and what remains on the shelf is mostly the work of people who still think a band deserves thirty pages, a proper photographer, and an editor with a point of view. Independent music magazines are a small field, but they are a good place to look for what the next few years will sound like, and four of them are on the shelf at Boutique Galleria now.
Why independent music magazines still matter
A streaming service can tell you what to play next. It cannot tell you why an artist matters, who photographed them, or what they were reading when the record was made. That is the work of an editor, and it is why the better independent titles read less like listings and more like long conversations that happen to be about music. They are also where fashion, film and art meet the people who make the sound, which is no accident: the strongest music pages have always been visual ones. The same instincts run through independent publishing as a whole, from the art magazines on our shelves to the design magazine beside them. Music simply arrives there with a louder soundtrack.
Sound Bite: the next generation, in print
The newest arrival is Sound Bite, Issue 01, a new music magazine from the publishers of Hunger. It is dedicated to emerging talent, and the first issue comes in three cover versions: Darkwah, Walt Disco, and Poppy Ajudha. Three covers means three different entry points to the same issue, and the choice of which to read first is part of the pleasure. At £5 it is also the most approachable first purchase on this list, which is a sensible way to introduce a new title.
Vinyl: oral history rather than profile
Where Sound Bite looks forward, Vinyl takes its time. Its third issue gives the cover to ELLEGARDEN, one of Japan's most enduring and press-shy rock bands, across a thirty-page feature built on the largest photoshoot of the band's career and an extended interview with all four members. The result is closer to oral history than to a standard profile. The global edition differs from the Japanese in its cover and in a selection of the images, so it is worth knowing which one you are holding. UK cover price: £10, and it appears annually, which gives each issue room to be considered.
Rollacoaster and Astrophe: where music meets fashion
Two of the titles here sit just across the line into fashion, and both are better for it. Readers who already follow our fashion magazines will recognise the territory; the difference is that the music is the subject rather than the soundtrack. Rollacoaster, Issue 40 (Spring/Summer 2026), is titled For the Thrill of It and runs four covers: Niall Horan, who marks a decade of solo work, Maddie Ziegler in conversation with Lana Condor, Ashtin Earle, and Josh Baker, fresh from his Coachella debut. It reads dress, music and politics as parts of the same conversation across 140 pages. UK cover price: £12.95.
Astrophe, Issue 6 is the more searching of the pair. Its theme is consciousness, perception and nostalgia, handled across music, fashion, film and art, with Blondshell, Bimini, Aretha Brown, Freak Slug and Sam Quealy among the contributors and subjects. Ninety-five per cent of its contributors and featured artists are women, BIPOC and LGBTQIA+, and the editorial reflects that range rather than announcing it. UK cover price: £14.
How to buy music magazines online and keep reading
If you buy magazines online, a title like these rewards a little patience: read the cover feature first, then work outward to the smaller pieces, which is where independent publishing tends to put its better ideas. Several of these titles run multiple covers, so it is worth choosing deliberately, and stock on individual covers can thin out before the issue does.
The full range of independent music titles is gathered in our music magazines collection, alongside our wider selection of UK magazines and international titles. Start with the cover that interests you, and let the rest of the issue make its own case.
