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Dec 03, 2025 By Mark Redfern

Under the Radar‘s Holiday Sale of 50% off everything continues until the end of week. That means half off all print subscriptions, all back issues, our current issue, and our Covers of Covers album on CD. All promo codes are listed below.

If you’ve been meaning to support truly independent music journalism, today is a great day to do it. Every subscription helps fund the print edition—including Issue 75, which we’re still working to get over the finish line after our printer raised rates.

50% off everything. Print still matters. Thanks for supporting a family-run music magazine.

Each issue of Under the Radar features 20+ interviews, 20–50 album reviews, and a downloadable MP3 sampler with up to 40 songs handpicked by our editorial team. Every issue is unique—we’ve done special issues devoted to favorites albums, favorite movies, the 1990s, activism and protest, the intersection of music and comedy, and the childhoods of musicians.

While most music magazines have either shut down or gone digital-only, Under the Radar is still here—still in print, still 100% independent, and still run by the same husband-and-wife team who launched it in 2001.

Subscribe here!

We’re offering 50% off print subscriptions—as low as $2.49 per issue—with the code BLACKFRIDAY2025 (valid worldwide on both four-issue and eight-issue subscriptions).

All back issues are 50% off with the code UTRBACK50.

Also 50% off: Covers of Covers, our 20th anniversary 2-CD set featuring exclusive tracks by Peter Bjorn and John, Cassandra Jenkins, Grandaddy, Water From Your Eyes, Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), and more. Grab the CD here, or get the CD + 20th Anniversary Issue bundle here. Use the promo code UTRCD50 for the CD.

Founded by music writer Mark Redfern (that’s me) and photographer Wendy Lynch Redfern, Under the Radar began as a black & white zine distributed around Los Angeles. Wendy and I met and fell in love in December 2020 and a year later our first issue was born. Above is the first known photo of Wendy and me. Over two decades later, it’s still run by the same couple—we’re now married with a daughter (Rose, currently 12), living in Virginia, and still putting out print issues featuring original photography, passionate journalism, and a deep love of indie music.

We’ve weathered the collapse of Borders Books (which wiped out half our distribution), the death of traditional print advertising, and more, but never lost sight of what made us start this magazine: a belief in the power of great music and meaningful journalism.

We were the first national print magazine to interview Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes, the first U.S. outlet to talk to Wet Leg and The Last Dinner Party, and early champions of now-beloved artists like Charli XCX (on our cover in 2013, 11 years before Brat). We helped define the indie boom of the 2000s—featuring Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Interpol, The National, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and many more—and have also interviewed older legends like Brian Wilson, Yoko Ono, Peter Gabriel, New Order, and Depeche Mode. We were also the last magazine to interview and photograph Elliott Smith before his tragic death.

And we’ve done it all without corporate backing or billionaire investors.

We’ve outlasted most of our print-era peers not because we had the deepest pockets or the biggest staff, but because we’ve kept it personal. Because we care. Because we believe music journalism should be driven by heart, not algorithms.

If you want a deeper look at how Under the Radar survived the last 20+ years—through births, deaths, cross-country moves, and a rapidly changing media landscape—read our behind-the-scenes secret origin story, written for our 20th Anniversary Issue in 2021.

Now we’re working on Issue 75, but our printer was recently bought by a new company, raised rates, and now requires full payment upfront, instead of 50% upfront. Combined with slower ad sales, we now still need to raise $4,000 to print the next issue.

Subscriptions are 50% off, and bringing in around 400 new subscribers in the next two weeks could cover the cost. You can also support us on Patreon, buy back issues for 50% off, or advertise in Issue 75.

If Under the Radar has ever helped you discover a band, inspired you, or reminded you why print still matters—this is the moment to help us keep going.

New subscriptions start with Issue 75, The ‘90s Issue Part 2, with new conversations with Pulp, Suede, Garbage, Air, De La Soul, Slint, the cast and creators of the acclaimed TV show Homicide: Life on the Street, and Clueless’ director Amy Heckerling, and more. It also features our first ever list of the best albums of the 1990s. Next year we also plan to put out a special 25th Anniversary Issue, which you’ll receive if you subscribe now.

New subscribers will be sent an email with complimentary codes to access the digital versions of the last two issues of Under the Radar to read while you wait for the next print issue to arrive in the mail.

Subscribe here!

Below is a look inside the magazine, with some spreads from previous issues, as well as some of our original photography and some of our previous magazine covers. We’ve always shot our own covers with our own photographers since Issue 1. Plus there are some behind-the-scenes photos.

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