Guitar Player

What Guitar Player does

Guitar Player is the digital continuation of the world's longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967 and now operating as GuitarPlayer.com under Future US, Inc., a subsidiary of the UK-listed international media group Future plc. The site publishes editorial content across nine structured sections — Guitarists, Guitars, Gear, Lessons, Buying Guides, Reviews, Makers, Music, and News — covering electric and acoustic guitars, pedals, amplifiers, bass, accessories, music industry news, and artist interviews. Content is produced by a small editorial team of 1–10 employees based at Future's New York headquarters (130 West 42nd Street) with group-level support from Future plc's Bath, UK headquarters.

The core product is GuitarPlayer.com itself: a free, ad-supported digital publication with no disclosed subscription or paywall. Its underlying technology is a conventional multimedia publishing platform built on Future's futurecdn.net CMS stack, delivering articles, image and video integrations, social sharing, and the 'The Pick' email newsletter. The site is editorially led by Christopher Scapelliti (Editor-in-Chief), a long-tenured music journalist whose bylines include in-depth interviews with figures such as Pete Townshend, Slash, Jack White, Billy Corgan, and Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott.

Guitar Player's business model is content-led and dual-monetized: display and sponsored advertising from guitar manufacturers and gear brands, plus affiliate commerce commissions earned when readers purchase products through links embedded in reviews and buying guides (explicitly disclosed as 'When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission'). The audience is global and consumer-facing — amateur and professional guitar players seeking news, education, gear-buying guidance, and artist coverage — reached through SEO, organic social, email newsletters, and direct web access. The site is horizontally segmented within Future plc's broader entertainment and music vertical portfolio.

Name

Guitar Player

Legal name

Future US, Inc.

Website

https://guitarplayer.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Guitar Player is a digital guitar-media brand and the web extension of the world's longest-running guitar magazine (founded 1967), owned by Future US, Inc. (Future plc). It publishes free editorial content — news, gear reviews, artist interviews, lessons, and buying guides — for global guitar enthusiasts, monetized via advertising and affiliate commerce.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Media Publication

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Music Discovery & Curation Platforms (Recommendations, Playlists) (MPAIACAH)

Keywords

• Guitar magazine
• Music gear reviews
• Artist interviews
• Guitar lessons
• Music news

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Advertising: The site generates revenue through display advertising, sponsored content, and brand partnerships with guitar manufacturers and gear companies featured in reviews and articles.
2. Affiliate Commerce: GuitarPlayer.com earns affiliate commissions when readers purchase products through links on the site, as disclosed in article pages: 'When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.'

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

GuitarPlayer.com is a digital media publishing website that delivers editorial content dedicated to guitars and the guitar community. The platform publishes daily articles covering guitar news, in-depth artist interviews, comprehensive gear reviews (electric guitars, acoustic guitars, pedals, amplifiers, and accessories), buying guides, guitar technique lessons, music industry news, and profiles of luthiers and manufacturers. Content is delivered through the website and the "The Pick" email newsletter, reaching a global audience of guitar enthusiasts and musicians.

Product overview

GuitarPlayer.com is a media publishing website operated by Future US Inc, offering comprehensive coverage of guitar-related content through multiple interconnected sections. The core product is the website itself, which publishes editorial content including guitar and musician interviews (Guitarists section), instrument coverage (Guitars section), equipment reviews (Gear section), educational tutorials (Lessons section), purchasing guidance (Buying Guides section), product reviews, manufacturer profiles (Makers section), music industry coverage (Music section), and general news. The site operates on a traditional media publishing model without additional modules, platforms, or add-on products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• GuitarPlayer.com A comprehensive online media publishing platform dedicated to guitar content, featuring news articles, gear reviews, instrument articles, guitar lessons, buying guides, and musician interviews across electric guitars, acoustic guitars, pedals, amplifiers, and accessories. The site is freely accessible and targets individual guitar enthusiasts and musicians globally.
• The Pick Newsletter An email newsletter delivering guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, and deals directly to subscribers' inboxes. Users can subscribe through the GuitarPlayer.com site, supporting ongoing engagement with the audience beyond direct site visits.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Guitar.com: Guitar-focused digital publication owned by BandLab, covering gear reviews, artist news, and lessons with a similar content-led GTM motion to Guitar Player.
• MusicRadar: Music gear reviews and news site also owned by Future plc, providing overlapping gear review and buying guide coverage with Guitar Player; competes for the same advertising and affiliate budget pool.
• Guitar World: The most direct peer: a guitar-focused editorial publication covering news, gear reviews, lessons, and artist interviews, also owned by Future plc making it a sister title to Guitar Player within the same parent portfolio.
• Premier Guitar: Independently owned guitar-focused magazine and website covering gear reviews, artist interviews, and lessons — directly comparable editorial scope and target audience to Guitar Player.
• Vintage Guitar: Long-running print and digital magazine covering guitars, gear, and collectors; serves a comparable guitar enthusiast audience with editorial content and reviews.

Regional players

• Total Guitar: UK-focused guitar magazine and website (Future plc title) covering gear reviews, lessons, and artist features with comparable editorial scope but primarily serving a UK audience.

Broad incumbents

• Sweetwater: Largest US musical instrument retailer with an extensive in-house editorial and video content operation covering gear reviews and buying advice; competes for both affiliate traffic and audience attention as a broad incumbent.
• Musician's Friend: Major online musical instrument retailer regularly featured in Guitar Player's buying guides; competes for affiliate commissions and end-purchase traffic with comparable gear-buying content.
• Guitar Center: Largest US guitar-specialty retailer with editorial gear guides and content; competes with Guitar Player for high-intent gear-buying traffic and affiliate commissions.

Emerging players

• Reverb: Online guitar gear marketplace with a substantial editorial content section (Reverb News) covering artist interviews and gear buying guides — combines commerce and editorial in a way that increasingly competes for Guitar Player's affiliate and content traffic.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/GuitarPlayerNow
• Facebookfacebook.com/guitarplayermag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Guitar Player