Guitar Edge Network now live, bringing free guitar instruction to the world's 50 million players

Aug. 3, 2009 - PRLog -- The Guitar Edge multimedia network has been officially launched across four integrated platforms; the Guitar Edge Web site (http://www.guitaredge.com); the free Guitar Edge digital magazine (http://digital.guitaredge.com); the Guitar Edge print magazine; and Guitar Xtra, a free weekly E-newsletter.

Guitar Edge was first published by Hal Leonard in July/August 2006 as a bimonthly print magazine. Through a joint venture between Hal Leonard and Premier Guitar, Guitar Edge has adopted the four-platform multimedia model, pioneered by Premier Guitar. This forward-thinking strategy — featuring a print magazine supported by a free digital magazine, Web site and weekly E-newsletter — has gained Premier Guitar a devoted and deeply engaged international audience. Together, Guitar Edge and Premier Guitar expect to reach the largest audience of guitarists of all ages and abilities, serving both companies’ millions of readers and customers.  

Guitar Edge will benefit from collaboration between the editorial staffs at both companies. Naturally suited for multimedia distribution, Guitar Edge’s exclusive content will reach a greatly increased audience via Premier Guitar’s digital distribution resources, and Hal Leonard’s unparalleled distribution network of music retailers and consumers.
“We are instantly focused on rapidly growing the Guitar Edge network, knowing its freely accessible multimedia distribution model is a great advance for disseminating guitar-related information in a way that is accessible and convenient for everyone,” says Jeff Schroedl, editorial director for Guitar Edge. “We've taken a big step forward in just a few months and we will continue to leverage our resources to develop the network in the coming months."

“Guitar Edge provides guitarists with an instructional experience that goes beyond simply handing them tab,” says Nick Ireland, marketing manager for Guitar Edge. “With Guitar Edge, readers receive fully-licensed tab along with supporting lessons, song notes, artist information and gear knowledge, essentially completing the circuit of showing artists how to use gear to create songs.”

Guitar Edge Platforms:
Web site (updated daily): http://www.guitaredge.com
Digital magazine (published monthly): http://digital.guitaredge.com
Print magazine (published bimonthly)
Weekly E-newsletter, Guitar Xtra (distributed weekly)

For more information, contact Nick Ireland, marketing manager for Guitar Edge at (319) 895-0050 or nick@guitaredge.com.

About Hal Leonard Corporation
Founded in 1947, Hal Leonard Corporation (http://www.halleonard.com) is the world’s largest music print publisher, producing songbooks, sheet music, educational publications, reference books, DVDs, CD-ROMs, children’s music products and more. In its more than 100,000 available publications, the company represents in print some of the world’s best known and most respected publishers, artists, writers and arrangers. Hal Leonard is headquartered in Milwaukee, WI and also has domestic offices in Winona, MN; New York; and Nashville; and offices abroad in Australia, China, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

About Premier Guitar
Offering guitarists a multimedia source for news, gear information and education/instruction, Premier Guitar (PG) is the place for players who are serious about their tone. The gear-centric print magazine has a monthly circulation of more than 25,000, complemented by three additional components: the industry’s only complete, freely accessible online magazine (http://digital.premierguitar.com), which attracts 20,000-plus monthly visits; a website (www.premierguitar.com) that attracts more than 350,000 unique visitors per month on average; and the Backstage Pass weekly e-newsletter, boasting over 60,000 opt-in recipients. PG also operates the interactive Gear Search service (www.premierguitar.com/gear/gear_search.aspx), where 200,000-plus monthly visitors find, buy and sell more than 35,000 pieces of musical equipment. Published by Gearhead Communications, LLC, Premier Guitar is employee-owned. The company is based in Mount Vernon, Iowa with offices throughout the US.

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Guitar Edge is a fully integrated and freely accessible multimedia network which provides an enhanced instructional experience to guitarists. Guitar Edge offers free fully-licensed/artist-approved tab coupled with supporting lessons & instructional tips.