Cerys Swain

Dear Beatle People: Uncovering The Beatles Monthly Magazine as a Key Tool for Understanding the Beatles’ Legacy

Bio

I am a PhD student at the University of Liverpool’s Music department. Having studied Music in Liverpool for six years, my research interests have developed to focus on The Beatles, cultural branding, and storytelling. My research into the group has covered many themes, having been part of the University's innovative MA The Beatles, Music Industry and Heritage programme (2022/23). Key topics of interest include Liverpool’s Beatles heritage and culture, the iconography of Beatles souvenirs, and transmedia storytelling. 

My PhD research explores the Beatles Monthly Magazine, and seeks to uncover how the magazine, and its various contributors, created and developed a storytelling Beatles brand throughout the 1960s. Using corpus analysis methods, this research project aims to uncover the various untold authorial voices that contributed to the magazine, including editors, secretaries, fans, and the Beatles themselves. Additionally, this project seeks to analyse the contents of the magazine to highlight how the publication served as an extremely valuable tool for the Beatles (and their management) to construct a specific image and narrative as their career progressed. From promoting their cute and cuddly ‘mop top’ image in the Beatlemania era, to navigating fans’ anxieties during the group’s fractious final years, the magazine played a substantial role in the Beatles’ 1960s success and their twenty-first-century legacy.

Teaching and learning

Graduate Teaching Assistant:
MUSI121 Making Music in Culture (2025)

Outputs

Taylor's Version': Considering the branding processes of Taylor Swift's album re-recordings - IASPM Conference, Paris Sorbonne-Nouvelle, July 2025

Moptops and Matching Suits: Analysing the Significance of The Beatles' Fashion and Appearance in the Beatles Monthly Magazine (1963-1969) - Grainger Symposium: Music and Fashion, University of Melbourne, December 2025

Supervisors

Dr. Holly Tessler, Dr. Mathew Flynn

Web presence

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/cerys-swain