Lucas Radbourne
Lucas Radbourne covers contemporary music and live events for Beat Magazine with a focus on tour announcements, festival lineups and how global acts intersect with local audiences. His coverage tracks the moving calendar of gigs and tours rather than reviews or criticism, giving readers clear, timely information on who is coming, when, and what the show promises.
Tour and live-show coverage
Radbourne’s recent work centres on live music news: bands announcing new tours, special one-off shows and multi-night runs. In his coverage of Parkway Drive’s decision to play Killing With A Smile and Horizons in full this August, he sets out the concept of the run, the structure of the shows and the practical details fans need to act on the announcement. He writes in a straight news style, foregrounding dates, venues and ticketing information and allowing the band’s concept to frame the story rather than inserting analysis or commentary. Across his music pieces he treats tours and shows as time-sensitive news, often anchoring articles to the specific hook of a new run being added, expanded or differentiated from standard touring cycles.
Music news before criticism
His work for Beat Magazine sits in the news and announcement side of music coverage rather than long-form criticism. Headlines focus on who is playing, what format they are using – classic albums in full, anniversary performances or special theme nights – and how the show fits into the broader live calendar. The emphasis is on clarity and speed: short, direct copy that gives readers the essential information first and leaves space for them to bring their own fandom or curiosity. When he covers established acts returning to the stage or bringing a distinctive tour concept, he keeps the tone factual and present-tense, with minimal subjective language.
Editing and broader arts background
Alongside his writing, Radbourne works as an editor at Beat Magazine, shaping coverage across music, arts and culture for the masthead. His professional background extends beyond music into wider arts, culture and sports media, and he has experience editing specialist titles in those areas as well. That broader editorial perspective comes through in how he frames music stories, positioning live shows not just as isolated events but as part of a larger cultural and touring landscape. His track record as an author on sport and culture projects reinforces his focus on clear structures, accessible language and a strong sense of narrative line through factual material.
4 more music journalists.
Abby Webster
Abby Webster zeroes in on the storytelling side of contemporary pop, writing for Billboard about how songs build worlds around K-pop groups, fictional pop stars and ambitious soundtracks. She covers K-pop projects through close, song-by-song features, like her track-by-track piece with SEVENTEEN’s Vernon and The 8 on their EP ‘V8,’ and fan-centered lists such as “7 Best Moments from BTS’ Long-Awaited Return.” She treats soundtracks and fictional acts with the same rigor, mapping the inspirations behind “The Vampire Lestat” soundtrack and profiling in-universe groups like HUNTR/X and Saja Boys as if they were chart acts. Through Chart Beat stories on projects like “KPop Demon Hunters,” she connects these releases to industry strategy, global fandom, and the business systems that turn pop narratives into durable IP.
Alex Suskind
Alex Suskind is a freelance writer and editor who covers music with concise news stories and curated release lists. He focuses on new songs, album roundups, and archival access, from Carly Rae Jepsen’s “On Wires” to Neil Young opening his full catalog to residents of Greenland. His reporting stays close to the release cycle and foregrounds the core hook of each story. He has written for Pitchfork and has freelance work in Vulture, The Guardian, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and The Atlantic. He also covers broader arts and culture, but his music beat is built around what is newly out now or newly available.
Ali Shutler
Ali Shutler links chart pop, alternative music and fan culture with the ways songs move through festivals, streaming platforms and games. He is a freelance culture journalist specialising in music, writing news and features for NME and other music and culture titles. He covers breakout chart acts, legacy artists whose catalogues are resurfacing, and how audiences rediscover songs via TikTok, streaming or in‑game soundtracks. His reporting on streaming-era pop and live festival moments tracks virality, catalog access and fan behaviour as part of the story of a track. He also examines music, gaming and visual art crossovers, treating game soundtracks and artist-led campaigns as part of a wider cultural map. Alongside this, he profiles emerging chart artists for outlets including The Telegraph, Vice, The Independent, Dork and Upset, focusing on early-career trajectories and fan culture.
Annette Sharp
Annette Sharp is a veteran gossip and entertainment columnist known for direct, opinion-led coverage of celebrity power struggles and reputational crises across television and the music industry. She now writes high-profile columns for the masthead, after a decade on a well-read gossip column and a move to News Corp in 2008. Her real beat is the friction between public image and behind-the-scenes behaviour on flagship TV programs, including breakfast shows, reality formats and other long-running franchises. She focuses on who drives conflicts, who is exposed and who benefits, using ratings history, production decisions and industry mechanics as context. Sharp covers on-air personalities, executives, advisers and musicians, treating television and music as workplaces with competing egos, contracts and alliances, and blending reporting, media commentary and critique in a narrative column format.