News and Updates

Australian Music Guide Moves From IMMEDIA! to Street Press Australia

22nd November, 2007

After four years of publishing the annual Australian Music Guide--a 15,500 copy newsprint magazine distributed free at South by Southwest Music Festival (SxSW) each year--IMMEDIA!'s Phil Tripp has sold the title to Street Press Australia--owners of Drum Media, Drum Perth, Inpress and other music or youth lifestyle titles. The AMG has been a key propaganda tool of homegrown artists and music businesses in print and online at http://www.themusic.com.au/sxsw/amg.php.

SPA takes over four months out from the 22nd SxSW to market the magazine to Australian artists and businesses keen to have a presence in the 36 page publication which will be inserted in over 12,500 delegate showbags as well as having 3000 copies available free in record and book retailers, venues and other key outlets in Austin Texas through SxSW Week March 12-16.

SPA intends to expand the AMG to serve as a promotional tool at future overseas trade fairs, conferences and music festivals with plans to have individualised editions for events such as MIDEM, Popkomm, CMJ, Canadian Music Week and other appropriate industry gatherings. As Publisher Phil Tripp states, "We've been proud to have developed this media asset alongside AUSTRADE's export efforts to being Australian music and artists to the fore in the US. We believe that their music business sense and publishing passion means that Craig and Leigh Treweek's Street Press Australia publishing empire will take AMG even further globally."

As Craig Treweek sees it, "SxSW is a crucial event for Australian music and we went this year, and plan to be there in 2008, to take our national music media network's power into that market and give even more momentum to the 40+ artists that will be showcasing at the event and support the business efforts of over 250 music industry delegates at the critical trade fair and conference."

Leigh Treweek has new strategies to put in place for the print and online publication. "While Phil has carved out a valuable niche with SxSW as a music evangelist for Australia, we see the need for a united Australian business presence at a variety of global music conferences, trade fairs and showcase festivals. We intend to take the AMG to the next level by increasing its print run, size and online reach beyond the US and into other territories such as Europe, the UK and Canada."

Over the past four years, the AMG has featured editorial on Doing Business With Australia, A Bluffer's Guide to Australian Music, Profiles on Showcasing Australian Artists, a Mini-Directory of the Australian Music Industry and much more. All four previous issues are now collector's items but can be viewed in their entirety as PDFs online at http://www.themusic.com.au/sxsw/amg.php.

Cover image is at http://www.themusic.com.au/sxsw/pdf/amg/2007/amg07_cover.pdf. Contact Leigh Treweek at the SPA Melbourne headquarters on leigh@streetpress.com.au (03) 9421 4499