Street press is a type of publishing, between
zine
A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very s ...
s and
magazines/
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...
s in terms of distribution, content and audience. They are particularly prolific in
Australia, especially
music street press, although there are also some examples from
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
and
North America.{{Fact, date=September 2008.
Street press publications are usually available free to the reader. They are distributed by being made available to passers-by at locations such as restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs, live music venues, community centres and record stores.
To financially support themselves, street press publications usually take on more
advertisement
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
s and sponsorship than other forms of media. Most street press publications are printed on low-quality
newspaper stock to reduce costs. Some of the bigger publications print their covers and first few pages in colour, a rarer few use glossy paper for their cover. Virtually none of them print more than a couple of pages in colour. The size varies widely, some are printed in
broadsheet format, some in
tabloid format, and some in
magazine-sized format. Non-standard paper sizes are also common, especially in the more obscure publications.
Street press publications are usually also more professional in appearance and composition than zines, with established business structures and relatively mainstream content. Street press publications tend to have more mainstream, broad-appeal subject matter than zines so they can attract sponsors, and increase readership.
Street press publications can cover a wide variety of topics, many are focused upon specific subject matter of a target audience. Common topics include culture or entertainment topics, such
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independe ...
or
alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music:
*Alternative rock
*Alternative pop
* Alternative R&B
*Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul
*Alternative reggaeton
* Alternative hip hop
*Alternative dance
*Alternative metal
* Ch ...
. Other niche publications might involve political
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...
,
gay and/or lesbian issues, and
film.
Community newspapers, delivered to households, usually weekly, which consist primarily of localised news, do not fall into this category. Such newspapers often resemble conventional newspapers focused on local content. In addition, street press usually covers only a specific area of interest, whereas community newspapers might cover a wide variety of topics.
References
The Street Press Australia story
Publications by format