Indie Music Magazine Analysis

General

The 'Indie' music magazine is produced by its own company; Indie Music Mag. It is a music magazine, but also a fashion and style magazine. Both of these topics are highly associated with the 'indie scenester' tribe. The target audience is specifically for people in the 'indie scenester' tribe; the slogan is "for the individuals". The adverts inside are also tailored to best appeal to the target audience. Evidently the manifestation of the model on the front cover is an 'indie scenester' this appearance is only evident within this tribe; this would lure the reader right into the rest of the magazine. The photographer of the magazine would have dressed the subject appropriately to best suit the target audience. The ideal reader to this magazine according to uktribes website "The look – skinny jeans, Converse, stripes and Americana T-shirts – shifted for a while when nu-rave came on the scene, but has come full circle as the genre became too mainstream, reflecting the fickleness and speed of quick changing trends in music having an impact on fashion". 


The magazine is published weekly and costs £4.89 in the UK. It is distributed all over the world so it gives different pricing depending on what currency your country uses. The magazines weekly circulation in the UK is 8,422.Unfortunately, unless you are a paying subscriber you cannot access the data on the National Readership Survey's website, and due to the low scale of the magazine there is no data readily available.

The weekly revenue from the circulation of the magazine is £41,183.58 approximately, monthly this amounts to £164,734.32 and yearly £1,976,811.84. This tells us that the magazine is low key in regards to rival magazines for example 'NME' and 'Q'; they do not have as many magazines in circulation so therefore make less money.

The cover

The title is called INDIE because that is the genre and the target audience for the magazine; the title itself connotes all these things. It is a perfect title for this particular target audience, the possible buyer of the magazine knows exactly what genre it is, purely by looking at the masthead and the headline. The masthead of the magazine is very bold and outgoing; it requisites to the reader immediately. It is easy to read and fits in with the unified 'house style' very effectively.


The main image is as expected, very individual. The average person usually doesn't see someone like the model on the front cover everyday. The facial expression is antagonized, the photographer for the magazine has clearly instructed the model to pose like this in order to fit into the stereotypes associated with an 'indie scenester'. The subject is looking collinear into the camera, this formally address the reader and lures them into turning the page. The only part of the body other than the face showing is her hand, her hand is pressed tightly against her face and suggests a catechism feel about it.  Her clothing is very individual, someone wearing this is very rife. All these reach out to the stereotype because they are very indie and unusual in a way, idiosyncratic even.

There is barely anything promoted by the cover lines on the magazine, the only thing that is said is 'Don't don't you want me'; this could act well for the magazine though. By the use of minimum content being displayed, it entices the reader to get engrossed and read deeper into the magazine. No other images are displayed on the front cover, this is so the subject is completely consolidated and the reader is immediately focussing on her. It is quite a colourful magazine; although this is only through the picture used. The fonts on the front cover are either white or yellow, no other colour is used. The model's clothing and make up gives the magazine its colourful edge. The font is san-serif because it is more  informal, this helps create a rapport with the reader, rather than give them facts and figures. There are no graphics evident on the front cover of this magazine. The only language feature evident on the cover is the question to the reader 'Don't don't you want me', apart from this, there is no other text on the front cover of this magazine. The cover talks to the reader through the use of the question.

This cover doesn't look very similar to any other magazines that I have researched. It is a very devoid
front cover, there isn't really anything on it. This all goes towards the unique selling point (USP). the other unique selling point is the model herself, she is very peculiarly dressed and her make up is somewhat intrinsic, this helps differentiate between different magazines. This magazine also offers fashion, style and music; instead of just music. This will bring along a wider range of people and will encourage more people to purchase the magazine.


Inside
There are 64 pages within this magazine; an optimum amount for 'indie scenesters' as proven by my other research. Within these 64 pages there are 9 advertisements evident. These advertisments are all specifically tailored for the 'indie' stereotypes. There are 5 advertisments that are non musical or fashion related, one of these advertisments is a  health product - spot cover up; this would appeal higher to the younger, teenaged readers of the magazine. Just by looking at the advertorials of a magazine you can assume a target audience, the target audience judging on the advertisments in this magazine is for younger listeners of indie music or younger indie dressers.   


The magazine achieves a unified house style by keeping a congruent language throughout. It is written informally to create a contingency with the audience and keep them reading on further into the magazine. The use of drop down quotes and pull out quotes to create a consociation between the reader and the magazine. The colour schemes stay interminable throughout the magazine to keep a unified house style these also coincide with the graphical elements throughout the magazine. The house style is appropriate to the target audience because it is informal; just like an 'indie scenester' and it further proves this while studying the formality of the magazine. It assumes that the target audience prefer an informal bond with the magazine in contrast to a formal one.

Colouring Of My Magazine Research

While researching and investigating into existing music magazine covers I have noticed that they all use roughly the same colouring for the formatting of the magazine and also the fonts; Red, White and Black - Kerrang! Also likes to use yellow. These colours are especially evident in the 'indie scenester' type of magazine that I have been enquiring. To the left is an example of a Kerrang! magazine using all these colours together in a successful manner.

This is proving to me that when designing my front cover, I should use these colours; especially white. They seem to appeal best to the 'indie scenesters' tribe so it would be a wise move to include them on my magazine. Also, these colours are clean and can look formal. Obviously when taking my photos i'll have to avoid wearing clothing with these colours on so they do not overlap and then become hard to read.

These are various other different editions of magazines that clearly use the red, white and yellow colour schemes. This are all different brands of magazine too, 'Vibe' 'NME' 'Q' and also 'Kerrang!'; The colouring is very popular in the 'Indie Scenester' target audience. This colour scheme is very popular because it stands out to the reader; these ablaze but adept colours attract the reader but also provide a formal outlook as well. These colours also collaborate with the background images the majority of the time, they do not ensconce within the clothing colours etc. 





 

Kerrang
Music Magazine Analysis

 General

Kerrang! is produced by a company called Bauer Media Group. The target audience I found on the bauer media groups website is; 'Our spectrum of readers. From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music - from EMO to Thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang!' The magazine averagely costs about £2.20,it is also published weekly

Kerrang!'s weekly circulation is 42,077. Unfortunately unless you are a paying subscriber you cannot access the data on the National Readership Survey's website, although this is what The Guardian had to say about the Kerrang! website; 'Kerrang! may have lost focus in recent years, but the fact that it continues to thrive after three decades is cause for celebration' If all magazines in circulation were each purchased by one person then the weekly revenue would be £92,569.40, monthly this is £370,277.06

The Cover

The title is called that because it is onomatopoeic of the high pitched 'screech' that comes out from a guitar when strummed incorrectly or highly. This illustrates and works well with the target audience for the magazine.

All three subjects (Muse) all seem to be smiling and have a happy expression. They are all looking directly at the camera and the person on the far left is pointing at the camera; they are all similarly dressed - in a leather jacket each. This creates a rapport with the reader which is ideal for the specified target audience. They are juxtaposed to the right of the magazine; this allows the editor of the magazine to fill the left side of magazine with editorials. These editorials are put in place to beguile the readers of the magazine into reading further in.

Although, another 7 images appear on the cover of this edition. They are here to concede to the reader what is inside of the magazine without them even turning a page. The magazine states there are 5 posters inside, 'your ultimate rock hero revealed' , also different competitions that could be won.The colours of fonts are either black, white, red or yellow. Their is one unchanged font on the cover of this magazine; this helps to achieve a unified 'house style'. The cover talks to the reader by addressing it as if the reader was its friend. The magazine is written informally to create a rapport and a relationship with the reader, writing informally helps this happen because its as a friend would speak. The cover of this Kerrang! magazine is unlike any other music magazine, it offers a more rugged feel about it, there is barely any space left on the cover once the text and images are placed on. The unique selling point (USP) of this magazine is the dishevelled feel about it.  The cover is very trashy and messy, but this portrays the target audience bests likes.

Inside

On the inside of the magazine there are 63 pages,18 of these pages are advertorials, the advertisements include; Album releases, live concerts, music festivals, subscription deals and health care products. You can tell a lot about the target audience of a magazine by the adverts; these adverts are clearly assigned to appeal best to the readers of the magazine. Judging by the adverts that are contained within this magazine they are tailored to people who listen to rock music.

The artical topics inside the magazine include;

Rock Music News
Live Reviews
Posters
Featured Articles
Album Releases and Reviews
Gig Guide
The Ultimate Rockstar Test

There are 7 double page spreads inside this edition of the Kerrang! magazine which talk about a variety of topics varying from interviews with bands, to the line ups of upcoming concerts. Kerrang! achieves a unified house style in all of its magazines by keeping the fonts and the colour changes to a  minimum; there are only a few font changes and three main font colours - red, white and yellow. The language throughout the magazine is informal and the colour schemes remain similar - black, red, white and yellow. All graphical elements are very similar too, each drop down quote is formatted the same and images on a page are usually circled. The house style is appropriate to the target audience because it is very messy, which is stereotypically implied about the listeners of rock etc. it is appropriate because it helps back up and strengthen the stereotype.

NME

Music Magazine Analysis

General

NME (New Musical Express)

The target audience for the magazine according to the NME website is for fans and listeners of Rock, Indie and Indie rock bands/ artists. The magazine tries to include lots of older artists as well as incorporating various new artists. 'The Rolling Stones' are a great example of an older band that NME likes to incorporate, in my edition of the magazine the particular band focus is on 'The Arctic Monkeys.' They like to give an informal style of writing to create an effective rapport with the target audience. NME is a mass market product, it aims at a wide range of different ages. My edition of the NME Magazine is £2.70 which is produced every week. Its circulation in 2011 was 23,924. NME and Q suffered sales declines of almost 20% year-on-year in a tough first six months of 2012 for the music magazine market.  Supposing every copy that was distributed was sold at the price of £2.70, the monthly revenue would be £64,594 approx, monthly this would be £258,379 approx.

The Cover

The title is called New Music Express, the 'New Music' part is quite self explanatory; the magazine updates and informs the reader on the new music available. The word 'Express' is defined as 'quick as possible', the two work together to illustrate that the magazine aims to get new music out as quick as possible. This edition of the NME magazine franchise has a slogan, 'The Story So Far' this is because it is a special birthday issue, this slogan is also the strap line of the cover, it could also be seen as an enigma. NME released 8 different birthday issues to celebrate its 60th birthday, this strap line is only evident on these editions of the magazine. The masthead is also the NME logo; this is what the reader looks at to identify the magazine.

The main image is of the band called the 'Arctic Monkeys,' the facial expression for the three members at the back is emotionless, although there is a shocked expression on the member who is lighting the original magazine on fire. All three are looking directly at the character and seem to have a firm and rigid stance, their clothes are stereotypical for their music genre, all this reaches out to the reader because it portrays the 'rock' genre. On the front of the magazine no other images appear because NME want to devote this edition of their special birthday issues to The Arctic Monkeys. There is anchorage; the subjects expressions match the strap line 'the story so far'.

It promotes the first ever issue of NME, this provokes you to look inside to compare and contrast the newer magazine layout to the former. This is content is promoted effectively by being placed in a big gold circle in the top right, it still follows the house style but manages to grab the readers attention effectively and successfully.

The only time the cover here 'talks' to its reader is when it has a pull down quote from The Arctic Monkeys saying; "We started buying NME when we were 16. It didn't take us very long to get on the cover.." This quote tries to lure in the reader, it makes them want to read further inside. I have not seen another magazine that looks remotely similar, except the other magazines in these 'special birthday issue' which NME are realising, its unique selling point (UPS) is the neatness and the light amount of text that makes the reader want to read more. The format of the cover is very neat and very clean. There are only 3 main colours used for the fonts; black, gold and white, colours of which work very well together. The background image is tidy with a white backing surrounding the subject. All text is appropriately formatted around the image and there is just enough text to get the reader engrossed and to want more.

Inside

 In this edition there are 67 pages. Advertisements include 9 in total, 3 of the pages are non-musical related advertisements  while the other 6 are tour dates for a wide variety of bands and artists. All the advertisements evident in the magazine are related to music. E.g. the upcoming tour dates. Some of the advertisements are clearly suited for the target audience; on the 4th page there is an advert for superfast fibre broadband, this would appeal best to students, to whom of which internet is a necessity. You can tell the target audience of the magazine simply by looking at the adverts, obviously because its a music magazine its going to have music advertisements; these predominately take up the advert spaces in the magazine.

Features

UPFRONT

Radar

The NME Chart

Beneath the covers

Reviews

Gig Guide

Fan mail

There are 15 double page spreads in my edition of the NME magazine. The majority of them include an artist or band talking about how they have progressed with a big picture of them to the side of it, although a few of the double page spreads are on reviews of current music and upcoming events. The magazine achieves a unified house style because it keeps the amount of different font colours and styles to as low as possible, the language throughout is informal so it appeals best to the fans and listeners of Rock, Indie and Indie rock bands/artists. Colours in the magazine are mostly black, white with some gold and blue, colours are kept similar throughout. The house style is appropriate to the target audience because it is informally written and structured, this creates the assumption that the fans and listeners of Rock, Indie rock bands/artists like the magazine to create a rapport with them.