Digitizing the Buddy Magazine Archive (1973–2025)
My name is Rob, publisher of Buddy Magazine. For more than five decades, Buddy Magazine has documented the artists, scenes, and stories that shaped Texas music. From blues and country to rock, jazz, and soul, Buddy Magazine has served as a living record of the state’s musical culture - issue by issue, decade by decade.
And for our readers who have worked in the music business, or are musicians, this is YOUR music history. In many cases, Buddy was the only magazine that provided coverage for thousands of artists, and is the official record and history of their work.
Today, we’re launching the largest preservation and publishing project in the history of the magazine.
The Situation
Since 1973, Buddy Magazine has published almost 600 issues. After carefully cataloging every one, we discovered that while 286 issues have been scanned, 314+ remain undigitized. That's approximately 10,048 pages that still need to be scanned.
Most of these unscanned issues:
- Have never been posted online
- Haven’t been seen publicly in decades
- Exist only as aging physical copies
Without digitization, this material - and the history it represents - is at risk of being lost. We have one almost-complete physical archive, minus only about 15 missing issues. The only way to get this history back out to loyal Buddy Magazine readers is through the digitization process.
The Plan
We’ve already identified and gathered missing issues. They are ready to ship to a trusted professional scanning service in California that has done previous work for Buddy Magazine and understands the care required for archival materials.
The process will take approximately four weeks from shipment to return. This fundraiser covers the cost of scanning 276 remaining issues, completing the archive once and for all. There are still about 12 issues we are missing overall, but we will have over 97% of all issues scanned after this batch is done.
Our scanning partner is fast, efficient, and easy to work with. And they are very reasonable price-wise, compared to many other quotes we have received, some as high as $30,000 or more. Our costs for scanning and deploying online will be approximately $2,300.00.
Why This Matters
This project is about more than finishing a task - it’s about preserving Texas music history.
- 95% of this content has never been available publicly online
- These pages document artists early in their careers, regional scenes, venues, writers, and photographers
- Many of the stories captured here exist nowhere else
Once complete, Buddy Magazine will represent one of the most comprehensive and unique independent music publication archives in Texas.
What Happens Next
When scanning is complete, every issue from 1973 to 2025 will be published in a members-only digital archive at BuddyMagazine.com - searchable, readable, and preserved for future generations of fans, musicians, and researchers.
Thank You for Supporting
As a thank-you, anyone who donates to this campaign will receive an access givers-pass to the complete digital Buddy Magazine archive once it goes live.
You won’t just be supporting a magazine - you’ll be helping safeguard a cultural record that belongs to Texas.
Help Us Finish the Archive
Buddy Magazine has been independently published for over 50 years. This is a rare opportunity to preserve more than half a century of Texas music journalism and make it accessible for decades to come.
If Buddy Magazine has ever introduced you to an artist, captured a moment you remember, or documented a scene you care about, we invite you to be part of this historic effort.
Thank you for helping keep Texas music history alive.