The Wire
Archived since
Summer 1982 (Issue 1)
494 issues
Complete Archive
Monthly
The Wire is the world's leading independent monthly music magazine. The first issue was published in 1982. More than four decades on the magazine remains committed to reporting on a dynamic global network of underground, alternative and experimental musics by publishing journalism and photography by some of the subculture’s most original and authoritative critics and observers.
A digital subscription gives you access to the complete online archive of back issues of The Wire since issue one, summer 1982 — that's over 40 years, 470 issues and 40,000 pages. Click here to read the free trial issue, or click here to see the full archive.
Digital only subscriptions can be bought by clicking the Add to basket button below.
Print subscriptions — which also include free access to all the digital issues — are available direct from The Wire shop priced from £41 for six months — click here for details.
If you subscribe via The Wire or Exact Editions you can view the complete archive online as well as via the iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire or Android apps. Please note that if you subscribe via an app, you only get access via that app.
Digital subscribers also get full and exclusive access to The Wire's complete archive of audio downloads in the Below The Radar series - click here for details - and The Wire Tapper series - click here for details.
For details on campus-wide digital subscriptions for institutions, please email support@exacteditions.com.
Latest issue
Cosey Fanni Tutti, Amina Claudine Myers, Happy Family, David Van Tieghem, Quinton Barnes, Quade, Milk Eyed Sigh, Liu Zhenyang. In the regular sections: Invisible Jukebox: billy woods, Global Ear: Bratislava, Unlimited Editions: Colorfield, The Inner Sleeve: Circuit Des Yeux, Epiphanies: Daniel O’Sullivan. In the review sections: Stereolab, Julee Cruise, Fatboi Sharif & Driveby, Nels Cline, Marc Ribot, Eleonora Kampe, the sounds of Palestinian resistance, the sound of the Sheffield space age, Peter Guralnick, Käthe Kruse, Björk, festival reports from Rewire, Counterflows, Big Ears, MaerzMusik, plus specialist columns, letters, charts, listings and more.
Want a taster of The Wire’s content? Sign up here to New Issue Notifications to receive email alerts each time a new issue is published, alongside its editorial highlights.
Quarterly (recurring) $15.99
Annual $50.99
Includes web, iOS and Android access via Exact Editions apps.
Full refund within 30 days if you're not completely satisfied.
Please note: you are buying an online subscription - we don't send printed copies through the post.
- First Issue: Summer 1982 (Issue 1)
- Latest Issue: June 2025 (Issue 496)
- Issue Count: 494
- Published: Monthly
- ISSN: 2059-6502