Street press is a type of publishing, between

zine A zine ( ; short for '' magazine'' or '' fanzine'') is a small-circulation self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to writ ...

s and

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

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, sports a ...

s in terms of distribution, content and audience. They are particularly prolific in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

.{{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 A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of . Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper format), ta ...

format, some in tabloid format, and some in

-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 * Independ ...

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 *Chris ...

. Other niche publications might involve political

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

, gay and/or lesbian issues, and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. 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