Audience profile
As you can see in the survey below, I found out that most people were between 13-18 and female, most of them never bought music magazines with few buying them yearly and monthly, the most popular genres of music were Rock and Pop, I found that people like artists and bands if they have originality, someone who has a good voice, writes their own music and works well together with their band. Some examples of the magazines people buy are NME, Kerrang!, Q and Mix Mag, they buy the magazines, because it's about the bands they like, it has good information and freebies, therefore I would like the audience of my magazine to be between 13-18 the genre of my magazine will be Rock and Pop, they will be the type of people who are defined by the music they listen to, my magazine will be original, as most people like originality, it will also target girls as well as boys.
Audience Survey
This shows that the majority of people that took my survey about music magazines were between 13-18, which makes this age group the best to use for my music magazine target audience, because they seem the most interested in music magazines.
Out of the people surveyed the most popular gender was females, however with my music magazine I want to target both males and females, because I want to reach as many people as possible, and make it appeal to both genders.
Most of the people surveyed said they practically never by music magazines and the second highest group bought them yearly, this is why I want to create a music magazine that will appeal to a majority and change that.
I found that the most popular type of music was Rock and Pop, this is why my music magazine is going to have the genre of Rock and Pop, so more people will be likely to buy it.
This shows the most preferred singer was Michael Buble, he takes on a Pop/ jazz genre whereas the others only seem to take on one genre, this shows that two genres may reach out to a wider audience.
The band that the people surveyed enjoyed listening to the most was The Script, they take on a pop/rock genre, which seems like a good combination that i would like to use for my magazine.
Front Cover Analysis
Contents Page Analysis
Kerrang!
The magazine kerrang is one of the biggest selling music magazines around, technological convergence shows how kerrang is spread over multi-platforms, including radio, TV, magazine, Kerrang shop and the Web. Kerrang takes the Genre of Rock, attracting a variety of audiences, who enjoy that genre, the website Kerrang has is linked to K!TV, Kerrang radio and allows you to see what things are in this weeks issue. It offers Kerrang news about the latest rock bands/artists lifestyle and music. The Kerrang shop sells merchandise such as T-shirts, hats, bags, shoes and more, it shows tickets for bands that are for sale, and it allows the customers to get in contact with them through twitter and facebook, which gets the customer involved and makes it more personal.
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Magazine Analysis Notes
Title of magazine: Kerrang.
Cost: 2.60
Target Audience: Teenagers.
Music Genre: Indie/Rock.
Front Cover: The colours include white,black,red and yellow. The image is in front of the title, implying that everyone will know the magazine anyway.The colour of the "2010" and the band members hair attracts the attention of the reader, this shows they may be a recent band and the magazine is mainly about them. The font of the title is very trendy, which would target the audience of teenagers being trendy. Language like "Best", "The ultimate", "All New", "Plus", "WIN!", "Prizes", "and more" all convince the consumer to buy the magazine.
In my opinion the cover could be improved by having more colours, live shot of the band and more information about what's inside.Contents Page:
The features the contents page offers the consumer are photos of the year, being able to get the magazine delivered to your door and pictures inside the magazine which have been used to appeal to the audience.
Title of Magazine: Q
Cost: 3.99
Target Audience: 20+
Music Genre: Rock
Double Page Article:
Title: A round with Jay Kay.
The article is an interview with Jamiroquai, and it has been written to tell people about his life. The demographics of the reader would be male as the picture is set in a pub with extra pictures of beer, cars, bottles on the wall, they also have masculine colours of grey and brown. They would be in there 20's as there is pictures of alcohol and the questions that are asked about his life would interest the people of that age.An image has been used on the second page of the double page article next to the questions and answers, instead of small images, because the article is about him and the environment he is in relates to the questions asked. The language is Informal.
Media Institutions
International Publishing Company
I think International Publishing Company would be the best institution to publish my magazine because it owns magazines such as NME and Guitar and Bass, where NME is one of the biggest selling magazines around, I like how they use well known stars on the front covers of their magazines for example this magazine:
I think International Publishing Company would be the best institution to publish my magazine because it owns magazines such as NME and Guitar and Bass, where NME is one of the biggest selling magazines around, I like how they use well known stars on the front covers of their magazines for example this magazine: 
This NME magazine has Eminem on the front cover, as he dominates most of the page it shows that the magazine is mainly based around him, which is how I'd like my magazine to be focused on one artist or band. Not only have International Publishing Company made NME into a successful magazine but they have also made an interesting website which links to NME radio and also allows you to subscribe to NME.
|Bauer Media
Q magazine is another music magazine owned by Bauer Media it was launched in 1986 and it has been the UK's best selling music monthly magazine. Q is also a multi-platform like Kerrang! although it doesn't just focus on music, it talks about sport, comedy, film, and politics. The audience of Q magazine isn't defined by the music they listen to, they are open minded, music is an important passion to them but it doesn't oversee the others like sport, comedy, film and politics. The magazine below shows a studio shot of a band holding guitars in front of the Q logo, the colours white, red and black have been used on the front cover.
A music magazine is often defined by it's genre, for example the magazine Vibe falls under the genres R&B and Soul and Rap & Hip hop, this singles the magazine out to people, who enjoy listening to that type of music and you would expect to find artists like Eminem or 50 Cent on the front cover, instead of bands like Paramore, which would be found in the magazine NME as it has the genre of Rock and Pop.
Their genres help them appeal to a range of audiences, so for NME they would attract the explorers (Young & Rubican) because NME is very different to most music magazines and is the chance for discovery and has a range of artists from Lily Allen to Green Day, Whereas Kerrang is very restricted to one genre, making their audience range smaller and would probably target the experientials (VAL'S) for people who want to try something new for the experience.
From how the cover stars are presented we learn many things about the magazine for example Kerrang have used cover stars such as Slipknot, My Chemical romance and Avenged sevenfold, which makes it out to be quite dark and very focused on bands, which tells me the magazine isn't for people who want to read the latest gossip, but for people who are really dedicated to Heavy Metal and Rock.
Kerrang is similar to NME in the way they use the front cover to be focused on one artist or band, also they sometimes overlap the cover star on the title of the magazine, because they believe most people know their names anyway, they are different because Kerrang has restricted the people they would have in their magazine, whereas NME would have almost anyone as long as they are well-known and liked.
The audience and genre is important to a music magazine, because they need to please their audience otherwise the magazine wouldn't become a success and the genre is important, because it decides, who the audience will be and put together they will both give the magazine it's name in the music magazine market by making it successful.
Analysis of Brand logos
This is the NME logo, which is situated in the left hand corner of each of the NME magazine covers. It consists of the colours red white and black, red has connotations of danger and passion, which could relate to the magazine, if people have a passion for music NME could be the magazine for them, and the danger being the types of bands that may be in the NME magazine, if people want to take a chance, and read about some bands that may not be what they normally would go for then NME could be good for them, I think this makes the NME logo very effective also being in bold and capitalised it stands out from a very far away distance, which is a good selling point in a shop as consumers walk buy the NME logo may catch their eye, and they may suddenly be interested in it. This links to my genre because my genre is going to be Pop/Rock, So NME is a good example of how successful I want my magazine to be.
This is the Kerrang! logo, it contains the colours black and white, with the white being the letters of the logo, making it stand out more, it also contains black lines placed over the white, making it seem like the word has been shattered by something, which may be listening to music so loud that the sound has broken glass, also the exclamation point at the end of kerrang, makes it seem more emphasized and as if someone is shouting it, I think this is very effective because kerrang! is a Rock magazine and when you think of Rock music, you think of it being really loud, this also relates to part of the genre of my magazine.
Camera Shots and Angles
The Image on the front cover of this Q magazine is a medium shot of the band. the image shows the cover stars breaking through the glass which relates to the cover line 'Kings of Leon Break Through', this makes the cover stars seem to be a very popular band, as they have broken through and become more well-known, as the magazine seems to be mainly about them.
This NME front cover uses a low angle shot of the cover star, this is very effective as it makes the audience feel they are actually watching the cover star on stage at a show, it makes it more realistic, in being about music, it becomes more real for the audience.
This Vibe front cover uses a close up of the singers body above the shoulders, this is quite effective because it shows the singer has a serious expression, like they mean business, dressed in a suit, gives connotations of them being important, having authority, the white space in the background makes the cover star stand out, also being so close up makes the singer look like the are looking straight at the audience, which makes them feel involved, and making them more likely to buy the magazine.