Broadside is an independent newspaper composed and distributed in Flint, Michigan.

What's the story behind the name? Song broadsides (sometimes called song sheets, song slips, or slip ballads) were a common and inexpensive means through which popular songs and ballads were commercially disseminated throughout Northern and Western Europe, and the lands colonized by people from these areas, from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Broadsides normally contained only lyrics, as simple text was much easier and cheaper to typeset and print than was musical notation. Thus, whereas sheet music consumers were musically literate and possessed some degree of education and presumably some means, the audience for broadsides consisted of music-lovers who occupied a lower position on the social and economic ladder. Sheet music was sold in music stores; broadsides in news stalls and bookstores, or at circuses, minstrel shows, medicine shows, political rallies, temperance meetings and vaudeville performances. Sheet music was intended to be profitable; broadsides were so cheap that they sometimes functioned as promotional items for merchandisers of various sorts. More importantly, a picture is worth a thousand words. So check out our pictures! We're getting press of our own now! Check out the very kind review by Jeffrey Dinsmore of the west coast publishing company Awkward Press. Or listen to the radio segment NPR correspondent Chris McCarrus did on us.