Contents Page Research

Before starting on my course work I analysed a variety of contents pages in different music magazines to help me gain a better understanding of the various conventions used in a particular magazine with the same genre I'm focusing on. I studied three different contents pages of the magazines, Kerrang! Q! and Rhythm; although Rhythm is primarily based upon a drum magazine it has some elements of the genre of music within the content that my magazine will be based upon.

All three of the magazines are similar as their genre of music is based on rock as well as indie which I will be primarily focusing my coursework magazine on when I start creating it. They all have a consistent colour scheme in all three content pages; the main colours used are red, black and white as it portrays the idea of it being a rock magazine or maybe even indie, the use of red connotes a sense of anger which could link with the type of music the readers would be interested in as rock music is initially loud.

The layout of all three of the magazines are consistent as all the different stories in the contents are organised and split up into sections so it's easier for the readers to find what they're interested in and to understand it more. The fact that the stories are split up into sections efficiently portrays a professional approach, this is something I will consider when starting my magazine cover as it will look more appealing to my readers. The use of different images and text size on the contents pages help the reader gain an interest into the various stories that are in the magazine itself.

In my opinion the Q magazine seems to look much more appealing compared to Kerrang! and Rhythm, the reason is because the magazine has printed the contents on a double page to include all the stories in the magazine. The publishers have put the different stories on the left and right side of the page in columns with the images placed in the middle with a great amount of different sizes and image shots to make their magazine more interesting to the company's readers.

Although the contents page is extremely busy compared to the cover I will also take it into account when creating my magazine as I won't put all the stories on the cover as it would look too "tacky". Q magazine have used bold subheadings to make the main bands stand out to the reader, the bold texts used such as "The Hot List" and "Q Review" makes it seem more eye-catching. The different types of stories within this issue makes the reader have the impression that they're getting more out of their money. Despite the fact I prefer the layout of the Q magazine, I feel that the editor's message to the readers in the Kerrang! magazine is extremely appealing because it's as if they are interacting with their audience which I feel is a good thing to attract readers and I will include this in my coursework magazine.

Front Cover Research

As the front cover is predominantly the first thing that will catch the reader's attention I had to take into account of how important it was to make sure that my cover for my coursework was laid out professionally and efficiently so it was successful for my target audience.

I analysed a variety of front covers which included Kerrang! MOJO and also Q, the reason is because although they were focusing on either a rock or indie genre they laid out their covers differently in specific ways. All their cover names on the magazine were created in completely diverse ways but it had almost the same sort of font on every issue to make the magazine easily recognisable to the reader. I like the idea of the way Kerrang! has placed the image above the title as its primarily the main image linking in with the main story within the magazine itself; therefore it draws the reader's attention as they are automatically made aware of what the content entails.

In a majority of the magazines I have looked at the publishers have put the important information in the left third as it's usually placed on a shelf of a store and that's the first thing the reader will notice. The main contents of the magazine are placed in this section of the cover to make it more appealing to the readers; this is something I will take into consideration when I start creating my cover as I will put a variety of headlines for stories to attract my readers.

As well as important headlines, the magazines have included a chance for the reader to "Win" something courtesy of the magazine itself, I feel it's a good inducement as it makes the reader feel as if they're getting more out of their money which is also something I will consider when creating my own magazine for my course work.

The magazines appear to have information printed across the top and bottom of the cover, this has given me the idea to think of band names to write at the bottom of the page which will appear in the content and Kerrang! has given me the idea of putting "THE FUSION TOUR: ACCESS ALL AREAS" as this will also be beneficial to my readers.

As I want to make sure my magazine has a professional approach like the ones I have been analysing I will include a bar code, the issue number, price, date line and also the website of the magazine to initially gain more readership as although the magazine attracts the company's audience, the website would as well.

After analysing the magazine it's given me some idea of how I'm going to create mine, I will have a main image taking up a majority of the cover and the idea that Kerrang! used of interviewing two bands which is mentioned on their cover has given me the idea of doing that with my magazine. Also I will cover some of the title with the main image as it would be effective in making the main story stand out more to the readers. In my opinion Q magazine seems quite dull compared to MOJO and Kerrang! as they have a well structured and busy layout to attract their readers. Although I plan to just use one image on the cover I will make sure it takes up a majority of the page with a variety of text to support the content of the magazine.

Constructing Article For Double Page Spread

When I finally got round to creating my double page spread I took into account that planning what I wanted to include made it easier when finally typing it up; I had to make sure that I knew exactly what type of text my double page spread was such as an article, interview, news page or even a special feature of the initial band I was focusing on.

After planning carefully on what type of text would interest my target audience I decided that an interview with some of the band members would be ideal; as I was focusing on two bands which were Lost Souls and Fallback I took out the male from Fallback and then a female from Lost Souls and produced an exclusive interview with both members. By doing this made it easier for both genders of my target audience to relate to the band members and gaining a more in depth knowledge of what it was like to be a part of a band playing a particular genre of music that the readers enjoy.

Once doing great deal of research on the genre of magazines I'm focusing on it helped me to realise I had to be creating an interview that would essentially attract my reader. I needed to make sure I was using improper use of grammar as well as slang to fit in with the audience who were young meaning that I had to make sure that my language was informal to attract them to purchase further issues of my Fusion magazine.

Above is a print screen of my article, it will essentially enlarge to a readable size if you click it.

Planning: Cover, Contents & DPS

Magazine Industry

In today's lesson we were taught about the different magazine industries across Europe. The main publishing company we learnt about was one of the largest in Europe which is known as Bauer. It is an extremely powerful publishing company as it is well known globally and since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately-owned and under management by the Bauer Family of four generations. The company have been producing and distributing numerous popular magazines having stakes in television and also radio, but has recently completed the purchase of a consumer magazine division and radio station division of the British company, Emap.

The publishing company initially started in 1987 with Bella magazine which made a huge impact on the women's market across the country. They started off in the Germany and are now based in Hamburg as a small printing house publishing company into a worldwide publishing empire comprising of 238 magazines and publish in 15 countries which include: U.K, Germany, France, Spain, USA, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Mexico, Slovakia, Russia, and China. They have 6,600 employees worldwide and an annual turnover of 1.79 billion Euros. The worldwide circulation of the Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amount to around 38 million magazines each week.

The company own a variety of magazines consisting of different genres, they own numerous women's weekly magazines which include:

• Closer


• Bella


• Heat


• Take a Break


• Grazia


• That's Life!


• Spirit & Destiny

As well as women's magazine Bauer also own various music, film, men's and TV magazines including:

• Mojo


• Kerrang!


• Q


• Empire


• Zoo


• FHM


• TV- TV Listing


• Magic TV


• The Box


• Smash Hits TV


• 4Music


• Kiss TV

The examples of the magazines are just a minor selection of the publications the Bauer company own, which initially shows how important and popular the company are within the media industry as they are well known globally. The company mainly advertise their magazines towards a majority of the female audience as a third of women are readers of Bauer titles. The magazines are mainly targeted towards an audience within the category of A, B and C1, showing that the company are successful within the media industry as they provide a variety of magazines to target a wide range of readers whilst also targeting the stories towards nearly everyone's interests. The significance of the magazines published is that they are read more in today's modern society which enable online campaigns and also drives the word of mouth between people.

Total Guitar: Inside The Magazine

Although we have mainly been analysing the covers and contents of a variety of music magazines, we have also looked closely at the inside of the content but mainly focusing on the double page spread. I chose the magazine Total Guitar as it was a monthly magazine and I felt it would contain a great deal of stories that I can get an idea from for my coursework.

By briefly looking through the magazine as well as the front cover I get the impression that it's mainly promoting the rock music genre; in my opinion I feel the publication fulfils the expectations of the genre successfully. Throughout the publication there are many different rock bands that are mentioned giving off the initial impression that it's initially a rock genre magazine, the music tutorials that are given in the content are to teach the reader how to play the guitar showing that although the audience would be interested in rock music they can have a chance to learn to play it themselves which is seen as another marketing aspect as well as fulfilling the genre being promoted. Also the way the musicians are dressed throughout the magazine give off the stereotypical assumption to the reader that the publication are portraying a rock genre, and they have a "Hot 10 for 2010" in the content informing the reader of what music products will be big in 2010 showing that Total Guitar are up to date with giving information.

There are a variety of different features throughout Total Guitar, but the major one that drew my attention as a reader was the double page spread featuring a popular rock band being Lost Prophets. The reason why this story is so significant within the content is because it links in with the main image used on the cover showing that they're the main focus in this monthly issue. The magazine's story on the band is of them being interviewed, by choosing this band to feature as the double page spread is essential and fits in with the reader profile of Total Guitar as the publication have chosen a successful, popular and well known band in the rock music industry. As they are popular the image and the cover line on the front cover of the magazine will instantly draw the audience's attention more as they'd be intrigued to what the main story entails. Another main feature in the magazine is a page on winning "3 Adam Black guitars" and would also link in with the genre that is being presented as the brand of guitars are extremely popular and would interest readers as it's another inducement, and giving them the idea that they can have a chance to win a prize would make them think they are getting more out of their money.

There is a 4 page spread in the content of Total Guitar focusing on another musician which is John Mayer, this links in with the reader profile as it gives an inside story to the thoughts and feelings the rock star has towards his career as the spread is primarily an interview with him. This would link to the reader profile as many young and older people would be inspired by John Mayer and the music he performs helping them gain a better insight into what it's like to a rock legend, also the images of him performing would interest the reader as there is an equal amount of images and text on the page. There are also album reviews in the magazine showing that Total Guitar are aware of the popular rock music in the charts and the fact that it's advertised on the cover shows that the publishers take into account the readers music interest. Also it gives off the impression that they are trying to give guidance to their taken audience showing they take interest into what they feel the readers would enjoy. There are a range of different songs that are presented at the bottom of the left third that show the different tutorials that the reader can learn in the magazine, showing that as well as reading about the rock musicians they can then learn to play their songs and the fact that the songs are popular to the readers would attract them to buy the magazine showing that Total Guitar are aware of their readership and what they think will initially interest them.

The main article I have analysed is the article on the popular band, Lost Prophets as it will enable me to gain a better understanding of how to lay out my double page spread when it comes to planning my coursework outline. I'm focusing on this article as the image of the band are on the cover of this month's magazine instantly gives me an idea that they are the main focus, the type of language presented within the content is very colloquial and suits the audience that Total Guitar are trying to attract as it's text shows a sense of a casual and a care free
approach.

Throughout the five pages of the story the publisher has printed a variety of quotes which are taken out from the main context of the story itself, by doing this it helps the reader gain an insight of what the story entails as it's a breakdown of the article making it easier for some readers. Also by looking through the article I've noticed that some of the content contains very informal language and swearing, which could link it with the type of audience the publication are trying to attract as it would be a much younger readership and the readers would be able to engage with the text presented. I feel the main article fits in with genre and intended audience through the use of language and Total Guitar have chosen a suitable band they feel their readers will take a great deal of interest in as they are young, popular and also extremely successful within the rock music industry.

By looking at the various double page spreads in the magazine they all reinforce my ideas about the audience as the language used is informal and colloquial portraying a sense of a care free lifestyle which therefore helps it to target young readers as their attitude towards music would be completely different as opposed to an older, more sophisticated reader. The style used throughout the issue is very consistent in terms of having a sense of a rock genre by the use of the different bands showing that Total Guitar are very modern as they make sure their readers are aware of the most up to date news for the month. Also all the images used in the double page spread have a connection with the article itself helping the reader get a better understanding of what the story is about as the bands would be easily recognisable to them.

The contents of the magazine is very busy and the page is filled up with a great deal of information of what's included in the content, there are a variety of images linking in with the articles mentioned giving them a sneak preview of what they can read and also links in with the younger audience as they wouldn't want to read as much so the different images balances the amount of text used. I feel that it links in with the house style as it lists a variety of bands the readers will recognise and has a variety of articles to interest anyone who purchases the publication. The main colours used on the contents page are red, white, black and yellow which links with the house style of the whole magazine showing the idea of consistency used throughout the entire content.

There are many products in Total Guitar which are advertised to the reader, which includes Blackstar Amplification company who are advertising different amps and I feel that they have chosen this magazine to advertise in is because it's based on rock music and some readers may be performers themselves meaning that they may need equipment to assist them in their band. As well as this product, there are many other things the magazine are advertising for companies such as CDs, music stores, music schools, various music websites and university music degrees; the advertisements mentioned all appeal to the reader as the magazine focuses on all types of rock music to attract the target audience. The fact that Total Guitar uses many advertisements for a degree in music shows they have an interest in their audience as this degree is for a younger audience interested in the rock music genre.

The different uses of interactivity providing ways for the audience to gain interest within the magazine include the various pages containing guitar notes for a reader if they're interested in playing the guitar. Also there are popular guitar tracks to download which could be a regular piece of content as the publishers would change the tracks in every monthly issue. There is a questions and answers page for Total Guitar's audience which helps them interact as they feel they're able to connect with the magazine company, all the interactivity could initially appeal to a reader to provide a sense of escapism and surveillance from their everyday lives. I feel the questions and answers help the reader feel as if they targeted individually and that anything they ask is important to the publishers providing a strong connection between Total Guitar and their readers.

NME: Audience Profile

The New Musical Express magazine better known as NME is a popular rock/indie magazine sold in the United Kingdom which has was first published in March 1952. The magazine has an audience of an average age of 24 but 91% of readers are mainly between the age of 15-34. It is read by both men and women with the ratio of 69% males and 31% being female, this show that the publishers mainly focus on male readers and producing information that will interest them also taking into account the female interest too.
The general occupation of readers are 52% working full time, 7% working part time with 29% of people still studying at either school, college or university. The circulation of the magazine is approximately 40,948 with an increasingly high readership being 369,000. A majority of people who purchase the magazine have a general interest into rock and indie music, also having an interest into gigs, festivals and concerts across the U.K performing this genre of music. Almost 60% of the audience reading the magazine will fit within the category being A, B and C1 showing the people to be quite wealthy.

The fact that NME advertise new tickets festival scam being sold online showing that the story is targeted towards an audience who use modern technology, I'd also assume the readers to have an interest into attending various gigs and festivals across the U.K.
Also they'd target their audience by the use of clothing the man wears because it's very casual, yet fashionable. This would link with the audience as they are young and the man from "The Courteeners" could be seen as a style icon for rock/indie fans. The readers of NME concentrate on the way they look which is reflected in the way the magazine is well presented and laid out efficiently.