A definitive guide to Australian music websites
Australia is The Lucky Country. Not only do we have the 7th top recorded music market in the world, we have a healthy swathe of locally-run websites entirely dedicated to giving artists a platform.
From genre-agnostic sites like Tone Deaf, genre-specific sites like Stoney Roads and Rhythms, and label-run blogs like Warner’s Cool Accidents and Maniacs, they all have two things in common: they connect music fans with artists, and they encourage discovery.
The below list of Australian music websites is ranked most to least popular based on Alexa analytics as of Sept. 20 2018. Alexa’s methodology combines a site’s estimated average of daily unique visitors and its estimated number of pageviews.
- Tone Deaf
- Music Junkee
- Music Feeds
- The Music
- Happy
- The Brag
- The Industry Observer
- Beat
- Mixdown
- Australian Guitar
- Stoney Roads
- The AU Review
- Pilerats
- Stack
- The Music Network
- Scenestr
- Balcony TV
- Rhythms Music Magazine
- Purple Sneakers
- Cool Accidents
- The Interns
- Acid Stag
- Hysteria Mag
- lnwy
- Project U
- AAA Backstage
- Maniacs
- Depth Magazine
- I OH YOU
- Timber and Steel
- Finding Figaro
- Ripe Music
- Best Before
- Oceans Never Listen
- Backyard Opera
- Laundry Echo
- LunchBox
- Sound Doctrine
- Futuremag
- Polaroids of Androids
- Casual Band Blogger
- Lucifer’s Monocle
- Rose Quartz
- Baked Goods
Tone Deaf is one of Australia’s leading authorities on local and international music culture and industry. We have a commitment and passion for supporting the local music community, as well as delivering fun, informative, and hopefully thought-provoking insight into the issues affecting music today.
Music Junkee is Australia’s smartest and most exciting music publication.
The latest Australian and international music news, reviews and interviews.
TheMusic.com.au is the online arm of The Music, Australia’s premier street press title covering the music and entertainment industries.
Happy is a music and youth culture magazine based in Enmore, Australia. It publishes new music reviews and special features daily on its website.
The Brag covers music, arts, pop culture, theatre, comedy, food, current affairs, and more – focusing nationally and beyond.
Launching in 2003 as a print-only magazine, The Brag’s online offering has since grown from a mere subset of our Sydney-based street press, to a nationally-focused, internationally-read publication in its own right.
The Industry Observer is a B2B news and analysis tool for the Australasian industry.
Helping record labels, artist managers, peak industry bodies and rights-holders navigate the local and international markets with honest, insightful content, The Industry Observer is just as accessible to the local songwriter with international ambitions as it is to a major label chairman.
Beat is Australia’s voice in music, arts and local culture.
The only 100% Australian-produced guitar magazine.
Stoney Roads is Australia’s leading electronic music community, connecting music makers with music lovers through engaging content of all forms.
A leading web destination and champions of emerging contemporary talent since 2011, it’s the force that pushes you to discover creators and thought from all over the globe.
Australia’s essential guide to Cinema, DVDs, games & music.
BalconyTV is at the forefront of hosting the latest indie artist performances, giving the world a chance to discover the next big thing. Music With A View.
Australia’s Roots Music Bible Since 1992. An international but a quintessentially Australian magazine.
Rhythms Magazine
Purple Sneakers is one of Australia’s most prominent niche music blogs. The site’s mission is to solely feature what we call ’emerging club music’ from around the world that we are passionate about. Built on the company’s original business of throwing weekly parties, the blog has evolved to the point where it is consistently rated in Nielsen’s top 20 Australian music sites – quite good for a site that exclusively caters to a specific niche.
Cool Accidents is owned and operated by Warner Music Australia. It is an Australian music and pop culture website, writing about the biggest local and international news.
The Interns is run by former Cool Accidents editors Sam Murphy and Bianca Bosso. It covers all things new music with a healthy dose of pop culture to boot.
Acid Stag is an Australian music news website that is dedicated to sharing the music we love. While its main goal is to bring you all the newest music from everyone’s favourite artists, it still takes pride in discovering new artists and giving them the opportunity to have their music heard by a worldwide audience.
Heavy Mag
Heavy is an independent online and print publication for heavy music, movies and related culture. The Heavy Team are passionate about music and work hard to bring you the latest news, reviews and interviews every day.
Hysteria is a unique and unorthodox voice that knows when to shout and knows when to sing. It doesn’t just want to entertain music fans on a global scale—it wants to show them sides of their favourite artists they’ve never seen before.
A new Australasian music platform that aims to put the focus squarely back on the music itself. A collaboration between St Jerome’s Laneway Festival and the team at Melbourne digital and creative agency Bolster, this platform has been built with love from the ground up.
Music and youth culture website covering ‘news’, features, interviews, events and photos, done differently by emerging media talent.
Australian music site featuring photos, news, reviews, interviews, and the best new music around the world.
Maniacs is owned and operated by Warner Music Australia. Maniacs specialises in heavy music, rock, punk metal core, hardcore, death metal and more. Featuring the latest metal news, merchandise, releases and tour dates.
Maniacs
Depth Magazine celebrates the creative and emotional expression of alternative and heavy music. It features reviews, interviews, features, and new music.
I OH YOU is an Australian based music company that acts as a record label, blog, promoter and management arm for some of the world’s most talented & exciting musicians.
Bringing you the best in international and Australian nu-folk, acoustic, bluegrass, trad and more.
A Melbourne based website focused on bringing you the best in local and international music news, reviews and photographs.
Ripe is an online music publication that covers the Australian music scene and its best-emerging artists. Established in 2012, it is run by a dedicated core team of music lovers, with the help of a small group of talented contributors.
Best Before is a collective of creatives who straight-up love music and are looking for a community of people to share it with.
Oceans Never Listen is a Blogspot blog established in 2006 to cover folk and indie rock through live reviews.
Born in Sydney and raised globally, Backyard Opera (BYO) is a progressive online magazine with a fresh and innovative approach.
The personal music blog of Dave McCarthy. Recording a new Australian musician every week, making a meme every day and reviewing the best music in the country.
A hub for Aussie music. Serving up a daily feast of the latest interviews, reviews, galleries, videos and more.
Sound Doctrine is a Sydney based music blog dedicated to bringing subjectively obscure but objectively awesome Australian music to dependable, everyday folk.
Futuremag Music aims to provide engaging articles, photographic content and personable glimpses into the reality of the local and international music scene.
Polaroids of Androids is a musical website, but not in the sense that it makes noises. Not audible ones anyway. It has an email account by the name of [email protected], and it particularly likes to hear from people, especially those with things to say.
Casual Band Blogger supports new music. It stands behind artists, to help them take their message to the masses.
A creative collective. Artwork, photography, informative articles, opinion pieces, interviews, creative writing & music and film reviews.
Rose Quartz is a Blogspot blog established in 2008 and almost exclusively posts features.
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.