SECTION A – INITIAL

INTRODUCTORY TASK 1. GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT MUSIC MAGAZINES

WHAT IS A MUSIC MAGAZINE?

The basic denotation of a music magazine is that it’s a magazine associated with music and music culture. It is

published in the present situation, and uses many methods to appeal to the target audience. The genre of this

particular type of magazine is music, but they have many subgenres such as pop, rock, jazz, country, classical and

rap ect. These sub genres help target particular niche markets and appeal to a certain target group.

A music magazine is a form of entertainment. It consists of many interesting topics such as interviews, news,

images, articles, puzzles/crosswords, cover mounts (freebies) and gigs/concerts of bands or artist etc.

Music magazines use particular celebrity icons to work in synergy with the magazine company. The celebrity –

who is appropriately chosen to suit the genre of the magazine (e.g. green day for kerrang)– acts as celebrity

endorsement to entice the target audience or niche market. Not only does this help the magazine, but it helps

brand the celebrity and make them known to the particular target group.

There are many topics that you would expect to find in a music magazine. Such topics include:

Celebrity news (who’s dating who, fashion, etc)

Articles on bards / artists / fans

Gigs and concerts (reviews and dates)

New bands

Interviews with celebrity artists or bands

Cover mounts (free music downloads)

New big tunes/hits (top 10)

Free posters of the target audiences favourite bands

Tour dates

Song releases/album releases

Free merchandise/ competition

Artist reviews/concert reviews (their opinion on concerts)

Adverts and promotion (advertisements for particular music related products, e.g. a band t shirt)

Quotes from artists in the industries

Comics

Participant contributions / reviews

Writers comment

Radio and television reviews

Lots of images

WHAT CONTENT WOULD YOU

EXPECT TO FIND IN A MUSIC

MAGAZINE.

WHAT IMAGES WOULD YOU EXPECT

TO FIND IN A MUSIC MAGAZINE

There are many images that you would expect to find in a music magazine. Such images include:

Bands/artists (Used for celebrity endorsement and to work in synergy to promote the magazine)

Gig pictures / live performances

Free posters for the audience or other merchandise

Fan pictures (Used as direct address and make the audience feel more involved wit the making of the magazine issue)

New CD covers as part of the advertisement for promotional purposes

Various instruments (props) /technology (such as guitars, drums, microphones, amps etc. This helps connote the genre of the magazine)

Advertisement for merchandise or products

Logos which would help brand certain company's

IDENTIFY GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS /

FEATURES THAT YOU WOULD EXPECT TO

FIND IN ALL MUSIC MAGAZINES

Music magazines all share common features and characteristics which help make them professional and suitable as they satisfy the genre of the magazine.

The features or characteristics which we would expect to see include:

A masthead – All magazines must have a name in order to become recognisable and thus brand/promote the product

A house style – This can be done using layout and colour schemes in order to create an identity for the magazine which would become familiar to the

target audience. A variety of font would also be used to make it look more interesting, thus gaining the audiences attention.

Main cover line and other cover lines – these would be used on all music magazine cover pages in order to entice the niche market audience.

Main image/mis en scene – a main image would be used in order to engage the audiences attention to the magazine Their presence will continue

throughout the contents of the magazine to keep the audience interested.

Issue number and release date – This is a common feature to inform the audience of useful information to help keep them up to date with the latest

magazine releases.

Rule of thirds – this helps create hot spots for the reader to look at and helps create a sense of direct address.

Direct address- makes the reader feel involved/part of the magazine.

Barcode – this is essential for all magazines in order to be able to sell/purchase them.

Cover mounts/ free merchandise – persuades the reader to buy the magazine in order to get their hands n the free merchandise (such as free downloads)

Celebrity artists/bands – These would create the content of the magazine as they'd feature in images, articles, interviews etc) they would be the basis of

the magazine and would appeal to a niche market/target audience.

Reviews – reviews of gigs/concerts, artists or bands, new songs etc would all be included to make the reader feel involved of the making of the magazine

Information on new bands / artists – This helps new bands gain more followers and fans who would listen to their music.

Interviews – Interviews of celebrity singers / musicians are a common feature found in all magazines.

Adverts – adverts would be included in order to promote certain things associated with the genre of the magazine.

Images – All music magazines are highly image based. These images all have a variety of shot (close up., medium close up, long shot etc). This is done to

make them interesting and create hotspots via the rule of thirds.

Competition – A common convention of music magazines is competition. This is done to persuade the reader to purchase the magazine.

Articles – Lots of articles are included in order to provide the reader with rich information which may interest them.

Editorial -/ writers comment – The writer of the magazine or article puts forward their opinion and views towards a topic or situation.

Latest gig/ concert information – new gigs, tour dates, concert dates and band / artist listing

Puzzles/cross words/music quiz – a common feature used to entertain and make the magazine more entertaining and fun

Top charts - Helps inform the reader of the latest hits

QUESTIONS ABOUT MUSIC

MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS.

IDENTIFY THE

FEATURES/CHARACTERISTICS EACH

MAGAZINE SHARES

Masthead (related to genre of the magazine)

Mis en scene of celebrity (Helps relate to the genre)

Main cover line

Cover lines

House style / colour scheme

Skyline

Barcode

Name of the person in the main image

Similar shots (Close up/ medium close ups)

No background

WHY ARE THESE FEATURES PRESENT

ON ALL OF THE MAGAZINES? WHY

ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

There are several reasons why all these features are included on each magazine cover. Firstly, they all have a mis

en scene of a celebrity to endorse the audience. It is important for both the magazine and the celebrity because

they can work together in synergy to brand each other, thus making themselves look good to the audience.

Furthermore, the celebrity on the front cover is very important to connote the genre of the magazine (for

example Black veil brides suggests rock, whereas Lilly Allen suggests pop, and Kanye west, rap). The masthead

plays a very important roll on a music magazine cover. This is because you can denote the genre from what it

reads. For example the magazine ‘music’ would obviously suggest the genre of the magazine. The main cover

lines and other cover lines are also very important. This is because they entice the audience by using buzz words

and help persuade them to buy the magazine. They also suggest the sub genre of the magazine by using names

of celebrities and topics that you would associate to that sub genre. A house style is used in order to brand the

magazine. It does this because it make it recognisable to the audience as it uses the same layout/font each issue.

Skylines are an important feature because they help advertise competition of free merchandise (cover mounts).

This persuades the target audience/niche market to buy the magazine in order to have a chance to win. Barcodes

are essential for a magazine. This is because they're needed in order to purchase the magazine. Without the

barcode, magazines wouldn't be able to be sold. Certain shots are used on the images on the front cover. Shots

such as close up and medium close up are common shots used. These are essential for capturing a persons face

in detail so that they can be recognised by the audience (if a long shot was used, the persons face is smaller, thus

making it difficult to see who the person in the image actually is). By using close ups/medium close ups, the

celebrities face is easily recognisable. In all the magazine covers there is no background. This is done because it

wont distract the audience from the main image or cover lines. Therefore the magazine layout is professional and

easy to read which makes it user friendly and gives the target audience more reason to purchase the magazine

again prior to the release of the next issue.

There are several ways i can connote/denote the sub genre of this magazine.

These reasons include:

The mis en scene – the mis en scene is of a famous rock band called black veil

brides (as it states on the foreground of the image). Therefore i can denote that

the magazine has a subgenre of rock/punk because the sort of music they

produce fits into that category. The clothing they wear/the way they look also

gives a lot away as to the subgenre. Each of them is dressed in back, wearing lots

of heavy makeup with appears quite gothic, some have tattoos and piercings and

their hair seems quite ‘scene’. These all suggest that the subgenre is rock / punk

because a lot of people who enjoy this type of music tend to wear heavy makeup,

have messy hair, have tattoos and generally wear dark colours such as black.

The masthead – the masthead of the magazine is ‘KERRANG’. From this you

can connote loud crashes and bangs – like the sound of drums. Therefore from

this it suggests rock because the drums are a prime instrument used in the creation

of rock music. Furthermore the font of the masthead is distorted and looks

‘charged’. You could connote that it has a lot of electricity running through it.

This tells me it is a rock magazine because lots of technological equipment such as

amps need a lot of electricity in order to create large amounts of sound.

Puffs– the puffs on a magazine front cover all relate to the content and genre.

Most of the puffs state names of other artists/bands such as Metallica and Alice

Cooper,. I know from my own knowledge that both these bands are based around

rock/pop, and so this hints to the genre of the magazine.

Skylines – the skylines include 5 posters of different bands and ‘more spooky

stuff ’ from lots of other well known artists. Each of these skylines clearly denotes

the sub genre because all the posters and all the names are all rock bands or artists

which many people are a fan of.

HOW I KNOW THE SUB-GENRE OF

THIS MAGAZINE?

WHO IS TARGET AUDIENCE OF

THIS KERRANG MAGAZINE?

I think the target audience of this magazine will be white males

who are fans of black veil brides and are aged 15-25. This is

because the music type of rock and roll is stereotypically

associated to men because it is loud and sings about things other

than romance (stereotypically associated to the female gender).

Furthermore, the magazine will have a niche market of those who

are fans of the black veil brides. This is because if you don't like

BVB, you will be less inclined to buy the magazine. The only

ethnicity shown on the cover is white and so this hints as to the

ethnicity of the target audience. The same applies to gender (the

only gender shown is male and so this suggests a male target

audience). I think the age of 15-25 is appropriate because the

BVB are quite modern, and have the age ranges of near 25.

Those aged 15- 25 are more up to date with the music world and

it is more common for this age range to enjoy rock music like

theirs. Furthermore because the members of BVB are near the

age range it also hints that the target audience are also around the

same age as them.