FRONT COVER, IN THE MAKING

FRONT PAGE FLAT PLAN

PHOTOS

WHY I DID AND DIDN'T USE PHOTOS

Why i did and did not use photographs

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ADVERTS AND READER PROFILE

Advertising is the way in which companies raise awareness and consumption of their products. Adverts are delivered through lots of different types of media, for example magazines. As the advertisers want to increase the consumption of their product, they will place their adverts in places which their target audience will see them. Therefore, for a music magazine of my genre, which is Indie, there would be adverts for fashionable clothing ranges, or adverts for music stores.
The way in which magazines get advertisers to place their adverts in the magazine, is by making a reader profile. This shows what the reader is interested in, and sometimes includes information about the average age. The advertiser can then see whether their product would be best fitted in this magazine.

I have looked at the adverts in a music magazine aimed a similar target audience to my one called Kerrang! there are 44 adverts. However, only 19 of these are not gig and tour adverts. In Kerrang! there is a double page dedicate to 'small ads' which holds lots of little advertisements from unknown clothing makes. There is also a small booklet in the magazine for LoudClothing.com. The products are not expensive, unlike those in a high market magazine such as Vogue. From the adverts in Kerrang! I can tell that the demographic for this magazine are young adults, mainly boys who belong to a rock niche.


THIS IS MY READER PROFILE-

ANALYSE OF A DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD IN A MUSIC MAGAZINE

The double page spread I chose, was from the niche magazine "Kerrang!" which started in 1981, a magazine based on the subculture of rock, based about rock bands and reviews, which seems to be aimed at a male audience since males are more "into" rock, and the colours are mainly blue, black, grey and red. The double page spread is a photo shoot and a piece of writing with quotes from the band called "You Me At Six" who are fairly new and of the rock genre. This double page spread's mode of adress suggests that the people reading this interview already know about the band, considering they are fairly unknown in mainstream music, since the band are talking about the new album's new image, without focusing much on their past success. The title is very large, in bold white writing on the bottom on the left page, therefore it stands out, since it is the same size as the text on the alternating page. The title immediatley lets the reader know what the article is about, with five strong words which have been selected from a quote of the band's. The reader knows the article is about the band changing since the word "change" is in the biggest font and the words "we will" are before it making it a strong statment which catches the reader's attention, especially those who are fans of the band. The reader then knows the change is "your opinion", which makes the reader intrigued as to how they are going to change the reader's opinion. This also suggests that perhaps the band have been too mainstream before therefore not being taken seriously by the rock fans who the magazine attracts. It is obvious this article is going to be informing, since the text is very small, white font in the bottom corner of the right page, and it does not look very appealing to read, therefore the reader must want to get information out of the text, the same as how the reader buys the magazine because they have an interest in the music. As the reader then reads the text, it becomes clear the aim is to inform of how the band had made their new album, what it will include and how it contrasts to their previous album, therefore not including any gossip or exciting information. There is a picture of the band which takes up the two pages, which is of the five band members all wearing dull coloured clothing with fairly serious facial expressions to rebuke the message of changing their pop-punk image into serious rock artists. There is a small, black box in the top right corner which has the word "news" in capital red letters, with the website adress underneath to advertise their other platform. On top of the small text space there is a heading in the same white font, but fairly bigger in order for the reader to understand who the band is from the name being included in text which expands from the hending, this lets the reader decide whether they are interested enough in this particular band to read on. This text explains the article is about the band shaking off "their pop-punk 'stigma'" which again appeals to the music fans since it is not about gossip, it is about music. The dull colours in the picture and white font create a serious and slightly depressive feel to the spread in order to appeal to the readers who are fans of rock which is famous for it's sometimes dark songs and who view themseleves as 'cool' people who have no need for colours to express their moods. The artists are represented as being serious artists, which is what the audience is about, therefore they start to be taken seriously, as artists who are taking a new rock approach to their music. At the end of the article in bolder writing, but the same sized font, there is information of the band's upcoming touring which increases fandom and there is also a date and website where the reader can downlode the band's new song which again increases fandom and interest. The interview works well in the print platform because it still keeps some of the original newspaper print seen in magazines such as "New Musical Express", or the rock fanzine which emerged in 1960. Although if the interview was done on their website it may have been equally effective since fans visit the website a lot, although the band may have seemed less important if they had not been in the main magazine and the dull layout would not have worked as well on the internet. Overall, the artists have succeded in making rock fans start to become interested in their music, since they used the conventions of the magazine form to impose their new image.

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

PLAN OF PHOTOS

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

1- How much would you pay for a music magazine, which is released monthly?
Under £1 // £1-£2 // £2-£3 // over £3
(I asked this in order to get an understanding of what price people would be prepared to buy my magazine at)

2- What genre of music interests you?
mainstream // rock // indie // dance // jazz // classical // reggae // latin // R&B // other
(this will help me plan what music genre I should use)

3- Do you pay attention to what the reviews say for albums or singles?
yes // no
(I asked this to determine whether I include reviews)

4- Do you find interviews with artists interesting?
yes // no
(This will help me decide whether people like reading interviews)

5- Do you participate in competitions in magazines?
yes // no
(This would determine whether I included a competition)

6- What not musical related things would you like to find in a music magazine?
posters // new stories // celebrity gossip // horoscopes // activities // other
(I asked this to see what people would like to find, besides music, in music magazines)

7- What music festivals would you like to be featured?
reading //  V // glastonbury // creamfields // T4 on the beach // download // isle of whight // bestival
(This will help me decide which festivals to be featured in my magazine)

MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTION

All magazines are distributed by being published then placed in places such as newsagents or supermarkets. However there are other ways the magazine industry choose to distribute their problems through new advances in technology.


NME MAGAZINE Launched a digital magazine distribution campaign last year to reach an audience of 15-24 year olds who didn’t read the magazine at that time. NME delivered a free digital copy of the full magazine to thousands of new readers every week in the run up to festival season. The digital edition was delivered via email to music fans that tend to experience the NME brand online, and this let them experience the print magazine. Publishing director Paul Cheal said: “This campaign perfectly complements our multi-platform strategy. It allows us to use our huge success online to communicate what the magazine does best – and what can't be replicated online, even by NME.COM – to an audience that is currently missing out.”

With my magazine I intend to expand my brand into other platforms, such as an internet website, as it is much more interactive than that of a magazine. However, once the brand is online it is easy for people to stop buying the magazine, therefore I could use NME's digital magazine distribution campaign.

MUSIC MAGAZINE INTRODUCTION

For my music magazine it will be a niche magazine focused on the subculture of alternative or indie music since it seems that the people who listen to this music and like it enough to buy a magazine on it, include this music into their culture therefore making music a key point in their life. Although it is the mainstream music that is usually in the charts, it seems people still buy niche music magazines every week, for example Kerrang! or Base, in order to find the newest music which appeals to them. People also listen to radio shows, such as Zane Lowe on Radio 1, in order to hear the best, new music, as well as reviews and general music gossip. However, there are already several very popular music magazines focused on rock music, such as NME and Q, therefore there would be a lot of competition, especially as they have other successful platforms such as www.nme.com. For this reason I decided in order to make my magazine stand out in the industry and have a large enough target audience, it will be focused on live music. To people who consider music to be a very big concept in their lifestyle, live music is the best music there is, therefore this magazine could attract those who are interested in the newest tours, tickets, or reviews. I would also include interviews and album reviews. I will make my magazine a glossy magazine, but keeping the original "inkie" idea by making the reviews and interviews not have a wide variety of colour and making the font formal like in the newspapers. I thought in order to create a magazine which would fit well in the industry I would have to research successful magazines with a rock or alternative subculture, in order to see what it is about them that people find appealing.


NME Magazine is published by IPC Media, who are a leading publishing brand in the UK, publishing 80 magazines, with a very wide variety, from Country Life, to Marie Claire, with NME being their only music magazine. It came around in 1952 and nowadays this magazine costs £2.20 and is released on a weekly basis. NME stands for New Musical Express. It has a website, NME.com, which includes it's radio, and most of things which are usually in the magazine, such as reviews. NME's tag line is "first for music news" which appeals to music fans who want to know about all live dates and album's being released. It includes reviews, interviews, music news and tour dates.

Kerrang! Magazine is published by Bauer Media, who have 80 media brands and 20 local radio stations. some of the brands Bauer Media publish are Heat, Grazia, FHM and Closer. It costs £2.20 and it is released weekly, and started in 1981. Kerrang! like NME has many different platforms such as  a website, radio,  and clothing store. Kerrang! is a rock magazine, and rock magazines have been popular since the rock fanzies were introduced into the media. It includes the same things as NME does, but with more double page spread interviews.

MUSIC MAGAZINES BACKGROUND

Music magazines all started in 1894, when 'Billboard' magazine was published. The magazine's format is very different from that of today, it's front cover was a newspaper style, with only black and white text. During the mid 20Th century this magazine developed more as it included a music chart. Billboard magazine is still very popular today, however it has adapted to a more modern look, leaving behind it's 'inky' style.

BILLBOARD 1894- BILLBOARD 2010-

Fanzies-

Fanzies came about in the 1960s when individualism was becoming more and more popular. People wanted to read about one particular genre, which determined how they dressed, socialised and acted, very much like today. The music press wouldn't publish particular stories the fans wanted to hear about, therefore the fans took it upon their selves and make their own publications called 'Fanzies'. Culture groups began to be based upon tastes in music and fashion, opposed to race or gendre. I found one example of a 'Fanzie' called 'Crawdaddy', which was successful due to it's inclusion of advertisements and the rock subculture based around it. 'Fanzies' are not so popular today as there are many professional magazines based upon different genres, and the internet makes it easy for people to access information about subcultures.

ESTABLISHMENT OF YOUTH SUBCULTURES THROUGH MUSIC MAGAZINES

Youth culture has developed enormously from what it was 50 years ago. A large part of this has been down to the rebellious new genres of music creating social groups among adolescents who crave to find their identity. Music magazines have encouraged the rise of different social groups by the increase in niche magazines. These social groups are determined by one's way of thinking, taste in music, where one spends their spare time, and how one dresses.
The different social groups have changed through the years, from the hippies in the 1960's who wore colourful clothes and believed in peace, to the 'goths' who wear black and base their life around depressing concepts. Music magazines have the power of publicising new trends and letting anyone join the group, therefore young people feel a part of something. Music magazines use synthetic personalisation, therefore the readers feel a part of a community as the writer creates the impression they all know one another. Music magazines can have an impact of the reader's ideology, and general way of acting in society.