Hi
Here in Sydney Australia (in fact, in most major cities here) we have a genre of media called “street press”. They are always free, come out weekly in large format magazine form (glossy front, newsprint inside, most B&W, but some spot colour), are densely packed with advertising, but probably 1/3 to 1/2 articles and news relating to music, clubs, dance, raves, bands, and so on. The core of each mag is usually a gig-guide, listing all gigs for those genres. Anyone can call/fax/email their gig info, and they will print it. They run very cheap classifieds, and sometimes have personals as well.
These mags are distributed to cafes, clubs, indie cinemas, pubs, and so on.
They often have an extreme left (or right) slant when they report on political events that affect the “arts” (but not fine arts, which they generally steer clear of reporting at all). They seem to be pro drugs, anti war, and very “live and let live” when it comes to homosexuality (there are some similar mags aimed at queers as well). There is little if any, mention of fashion, food, finance, property, or other similarly “yuppie” pursuits.
They are aimed pretty squarely at modern youth, 17 to maybe 25, and often have large sections catering to specific cultures - raves, computer gamers, goths, techno-philes, punks, etc, for their target market (styli, cheapie digital cameras, music, gear, events, ). They also regularly interview touring musos, and seem to soetimes share content with other similar mags around the world.
Most kids in the city kinda grew up on these mags, and they have a pretty respectable following (audited at 40,000 or so).
Anyway, you get the idea. The whole point is, do these things exist in the UK? If so, what are they called, as a genre, and can you hit me with some titles? I have tried extensive googling, and come back with stuff all, so, assuming they exist, I must be using the wrong words.
abby