Following Australia’s youth social media ban, South Australian publisher HWR Media is launching Teen Spirit, a national, quarterly print magazine focused on Australian music, targeting 14 to 18-year-olds.
With a nod to the early ‘90s anthem of teenage angst, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ the magazine is an extension of the three-year-old title, The Note, which has successfully tapped a niche youth audience in South Australia.
Building on The Note’s momentum, Teen Spirit expands the footprint of the publication.
From South Australia to Sydney, Brisbane to Broome, the magazine shines a spotlight on music in every corner of the country with eight state and territory-specific editions. On top of nationwide coverage, every issue includes a hyper-local section, sourced by writers who are experts in their hometown’s music scene.
Each quarter, 45,000 copies of the free print magazine will be distributed directly to high schools around Australia, reaching 100,000 14-to-18-year-olds, in addition to a dedicated Teen Spirit online portal.
Following a localised ad-free pilot edition of the magazine, created with support from the South Australian government and youth arts organisation Carclew, government bodies Creative Australia and Music Australia have come on board for the national iteration.
To further bolster the rollout across this wide brown land, Teen Spirit is now seeking brand partners.
“Post under-16 social media ban, print is the perfect platform to access this notoriously hard-to-reach audience. With studies consistently finding ads in print are more trusted and better remembered, Teen Spirit offers a brand safe – but not sterile – environment, allowing advertisers to reach teenagers early and influence confident, informed decisions on choices from the university they should go to, to the telco that best suits their needs and everything in between,” HWR’s media director Olly Raggatt said.
Research has found that Australian artists are doing it tougher than ever, with a decline in representation in the charts, often dominated by UK and US artists. The percentage of local artists in the top 100 singles was down from 16 per cent in 2018 to just 2.5 per cent in 2023. Similarly, a report by Creative Australia has found that, for the first time, 18-to 24-year-olds are no longer the biggest festival ticket purchasing demographic.
“The magazine serves an important purpose, future-proofing the Australian music scene. This is a huge opportunity to champion Australian music to young people across the country and build a lasting appetite for live music and the arts among the next generation of gig goers,” Teen Spirit editor Millah Hansberry said.
Teen Spirit joins HWR Media’s stable of publications, including South Australian Style, Monty, The Note, and a suite of tourism publications and visitor guides.
The first national editions of Teen Spirit drop in March.
