Australian Musician magazine is a quarterly colour publication aimed at musicians of all levels of ability. The magazine was first published in December 1994 by the Australian Music Association and is available free from instrument retailers nationally in Australia. It is Australia's longest continuously running musician's magazine.
The Australian Music Association created the magazine as a way of inspiring people to play a musical instrument. It is aimed at musicians and presented predominantly by musicians. It features artists interviews, album reviews, gear news, road tests, and music lessons. As the magazine is free and an independent publication which does not need to consider magazine sales, it has the freedom to explore issues facing musicians in Australia that other publications may not be able to. Australian Musician has built a reputation for its use of high profile recording artists as contributors to the magazine.
Some of Australia's most respected musicians such as Tommy Emmanuel, INXS, Kate Ceberano, Wolfmother, Little Birdy and Evermore have contributed to Australian Musician magazine. One of Australian Musician's most publicised editions was the Ms Musician Edition (distributed in December 2007), an all-female edition guest edited by Capitol Recording artist Clare Bowditch. It is widely regarded that this is the only edition of a musicians magazine world wide, whereby all articles were about female artists and written by female writers. Even the road tests of guitars, amplifiers, effects units and keyboards, traditionally a male domain, were written by females.
Australian Musician specialises in covering band's soundchecks, whereby the magazine has editorial and photographic access to some of the world's finest acts during rehearsals, giving its readers a view of rock music from the inside. Artists that have allowed the magazine access include The Rolling Stones, Joe Satriani, The Thrills, Roger Waters', Sepultura and many more.
All major features appearing in Australian Musician including gear road tests can also be accessed via the website. Australian Musician also maintains a My Space site.