Music Magazine facts and figures

Kerrang

Total circulation sales are 52,272 (50,128 in UK and republic of Ireland) - 01-Jul-2008 to 31-Dec-2008.
Weekly music magazine of the rock genre.

- First Published June 6th 1981 with Geoff Barton as editor.

- Is famous (and criticised) for repeating the process of discarding bands when new musical trends become popular.

- Kerrang! Australia was launched by Emap in the late 1990's, however it was a monthly music magazine.
- The publishing company is Bauer Consumer Media (Emap sold 2/3 of the company to Bauer)

- Cover price is £2.20, which is cheap for the target audience (students, young people with low incomes etc..)

-Single copy subscription sales are 5,523 (5,062 in UK and republic of Ireland) - 01-Jul-2008 to 31-Dec-2008.
The Kerrang! empire has it's own awards ceremony, TV music station, Radio station and website.

- The magazine gives out occassional free gifts to satisfy the viewer such as calenders and CD's, however posters are included in every issue.

- It overtook NME as the number 1 rock/music magazine in the UK.

- Emap advertised the magazine more through its digital mediums such as Kerrang TV and Kerrang radio. This allows the magazine to generate more circulation figures and therefore more revenue. (Masthead Branding)
-The target audience is 16-25 year olds and specific towards rock music fans. However in recent years, the age of the audience has dropped and it is more 14-17 year olds who tend to buy and read it due to its featured bands being more poppy.

NME

NME Readers are entertainment enthusiasts!
• 80% of NME readers feel that music is an important
part of their lives
• 79% of NME readers like to listen to new bands
• 63% specially choose to listen to indie/guitar bands
• 49% specially choose to listen to live bands in studio
• 52% are interested in taking a musical
course/qualification
• 36% are thinking of buying a musical instrument in the
next year
NME readers are techno savvy
• 72% have a broadband Internet connection at home
• 67% have bought something online in the last 12
months
• 59% agree they like to keep up with the latest
technologies
More about the reader
• 34% are working full time, 18% are working part time
and 26% are full time students
• 62% read at least 3 out of 4 issues
• Almost half (49%) have been reading NME for at least
3 years
• 84% think the magazine gives them what they want
spending an average of 46 minutes reading each
issue
Key Facts
Price £2.20
Frequency Weekly
Circulation 56,284
Readership 411,000
Launch Date 1952
Male/Female 73%/27%
Average Age 25
ABC1 73%
Target Market Men 17-30

Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the school magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Before carrying out the main task we did a preliminary task in which we had to create a school magazine. I learnt a lot from the preliminary task as I made some crucial errors which I learnt from, but I also found some strengths in my work which I carried on into my main task. One of the main errors I made on the front cover of my school magazine was that my picture was blurry and slightly out of focus. To ensure this problem did not occur again in the main task I used a tripod to steady the camera which also helped me achieve a wide range of angles in my shots that were in focus and sharp. I also lit the front cover of my main task much better; in my preliminary I used no lighting just the natural light coming through the window. This resulted in my image be very ordinary and in some ways washed out. From this I decided that in my main task I must light my image well to emphasize the subject of my magazine and also to make it look more professional.

One thing that I really liked about my preliminary task was the way I created quite a strong house theme using similar fonts and color schemes, making the pages "belong" together. This is a technique I also adapted to my main task although it was slightly harder as I had a much more limited target market.

The distorted texts were another flaw in my preliminary task and while they are readable, it is slightly hard to distinguish certain letters and can sometimes be unclear. In my main magazine I wanted to ensure that this problem would not arise so I used simple bold fonts that were not gimmicky- they just did the job to make it easy to read. However I still wanted them to look good so I used narrow sleek looking typefaces to reflect the type of music my magazine genre is.

Another key learning curve from the preliminary task was almost definately the contents page. I was really unhappy with the way my prelimary school magazine contents page turned out; I felt it looked very amateur and I really did not enjoy constructing it. My fonts were too big and the flat colours and structure were not very attractive to the eye and if I am honest I'm not sure I would buy a magazine if it had a contents page like this. From this I have learned that in the main task I needed to approach the contents page very differently. I put a lot of research into looking at magazine contents pages and identified what I did and didn't like about other music magazines contents pages. As seen in my planning, I eventually found a cover from Spin magazine's contents page, which had the use of an image for the background on the contents page. I really liked this concept and it inspired my own contents pgae, which I am much happier with in comparison to my preliminary task.

What Have I learnt?

• To use photoshop- adjust colour levels, layers, magnetic lasso, drop shadow, spot healing tool, clone tool
• To download fonts from "dafont.com" in order to give me a varation of font to choose from.
• To use indeign- align text boxs, wrap text
• To use an SLR camera
• To make a blog
• To use research to construct a magazine using the convention of the magazine I had researched.

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Following on from my last answer, as my magazine is aimed at such a niche group of people it was crucial that my magazine was well planned, using a range of techniques to appeal to my specific audience. I used a range of techniques which were used in other music magazines or as a generalization. I Achieved this through the use of images, language, logo/mastheads, colour etc.

House-theme:

In my house theme I have used soft and feminine colours, such as light blue,white and purple. These colours are very feminine and soft but are not too girly or young and are slightly more mature colours. I did not want to use red ,white or green as I saw these as much more masculine colours and this would not attract the right target audience. The colors were also quite fresh and young and neutral which is also a reflection of my target audience.

Logo:

My logo is a direct example of attracting my particular target market. The logo is singlehanddly the most important thing in the identity of a brand. Purple is a colour of royalty, this gives the logo a sense of superiority and influence. It is a mysterious colour, which is associated with both nobility and spirituality. The opposites of hot red and cool blue combine to create colour. It is believed that a purple room can boost a child's imagination or an artist's creativity which is a reflection on the kind of audience I am trying to attract- young aspiring artistic types. Deep or bright purples suggest riches while lighter purples are more romantic and delicate. Use redder purples for a warmer colour scheme or the bluer purples to cool down. I have used a medium tone of purple as it is fairly delicate and will appeal to females but I have not made it too much of a warm purple as I do not want to isolate those who are perhaps not "girlie girls". My magazine is aimed at a more cultured generation of women who are more spiritually and socially aware and who are interested in more than just superficiality.

Language: Another key way of attracting and enticing my audience was through the language on the front cover. I have used a variation of language techniques to engage and interest my readers for example:

I have used alliteration of the sound "ix" this makes the caption a little bit fun a more memorable. It would be too boring to read just one big long essay about what would be inside. This makes the information easier to digest, is more appealing to the reader and is a technique used through not just music magazines.

The use of imperatives also engages and attracted my audience such as "the best" "the quickest" "exclusive" "greatest" this corresponds to the audience that the magazine is the best, the quickest, the most exclusive and creates the magazine to be superior making people want to share in this and be the first to know and to have the best magazine. These words appeal to my market as they also aspire to achieve the best, the first etc.

In my interview I adopted a very colloquial, relaxed mode of address enabling my magazine to appear friendly which automatically draws in and appeals to my audience. As my target market is aimed at an niche of aspiring females I did not feel it was appropriate to use any swearing or vulgar language. I wanted to give my interview a more sophisticated style but which was still relaxed and casual. This again was in direct response to my target market who would perceive themselves as slightly more educated and respectable.

Images:

Another way that I have attracted my audience is, of course, through my images. From my research I found that the picture is perhaps the most important part of initially attracting an audience to a magazine. The image must have direct eye contact to engage the reader and must be unique and different in some way to make it stand out whether that be lighting, angle, or the pose or clothing.

In the photos my model is wearing simple but bold colours to ensure that she is the main subject of the magazine but is understated rather than "in your face". I put her in white to convey an idea of purity which is also reflected in her character through the interview. I created a likeable, friendly character who was very "girl next door type". This kind of character would appeal well to my target audience as she is easy to relate to. Women as a generalisation do not warm towards females who are too sexual or "out there" -they find them threatening. I wanted to create a character that would appeal to a broader range of people ,as men could also find this character endearing if they were to read the magazine.

Although I created this likeable character in my interview, I wanted to give her an idea of attitude to reflect the genre of music. The music genre of my magazine is indie/ alternative music and Charlotte's character music is an alternative form of electro- pop. Notoriously associated with this genre is Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is reknowned for her wacky and quirky sense of style

and is part of the reason the media are so fasicnated by her. Her clothes and poses on mgazine covers, such as Rolling Stones relect the eccentric nature in Lady Gaga, which I also aimed to achieve in my magazine. I wanted her to have her own idenity not just a copy cat.

In order to achieve this I chose to dress Charlotte in a lace white top. I chose this, as lace is currently the "in thing" to be wearing and although musicans are very often trend setters they also conform to fashion of the moment. This is not the only reason I chose this clothing. Lace is also quite a understatedly sexy material and while it is not so raunchy that it would put my female target market off of her; it portrays an air of effortless sexiness of which many of the target audience would aspire to be. I tried a variation of outfits which were both edgy and feminine .As my target market is "aspirers" the type of icons who appeal to them would be those such as Kate Moss, Madonna, Lady Gaga and other strong independant female figures. They would not idenitfy with characters such as Jordan, WAGS, Kerry Katona who would sterotype these people as "common" and "cheap". The people who buy my magazine aspire to have class yet in a casual, youthful quirky way. To do this I used poses which had strong body language, suggesting attitude and independence and quirky mise en scene.

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

In the magazine industry there is a broad

range of publishers- the most well

know being companies such as:

Bauer Media reaches over nineteen million UK adults across multiple media channels. It has more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests, including

IPC Media (formerly International Publishing Company UK Ltd) is one of the United Kingdom's leading consumer

magazine and digital publishers, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC media produces millions of magazine per year including NME magazine, Look magazine and Now.

PC Media groups title

s under five magazine divisions: Connect (women's weeklies such as Now Magazine and Look), Inspire (leisure and specialist), Ignite! (men's lifestyle and entertainment), SouthBank (women's lifestyle and home interest) and TX (portfolio of television titles). In addition, there is Market force, the UK's leading magazine distribution business. Digitally they have WOTV and goodtoknow.

To find out more about IPC media click HERE

My magazine would be produced by the first division, however it will be published monthly rather than weekly. I would have my magazine produced by IPC media because it is a British company and is one of the leading consumer magazine and digital publishers, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Another reason why I would have IPC distribute my magazine is because they have a very well established female market and as my magazine is targeted at women, the consumers who already buy IPC media magazine will be easily influenced to buy my music magazine and they already produce one music magazine NME very successfully.

Question 2

Question 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at a similar target market as Spin magazine which both represent particular social groups through images, colour and language. As both magazines are aimed towards niche aspiring female audiences both images on the front covers are used to appeal to this target market. To do this I have used a range of techniques also reminiscent to Spin magazine. In both images there is a use of plain white background which makes the female the focus of the page. Both are dressed fairly modestly in order to appear real and accessible to the reader. I also used a lace top to ensure my model had a more feminine look to her as she had short hair which otherwise could have appeared too masculine. Both are lit very brightly, giving a positive and friendly vibe to both images. Both images use body language to comminuicate with their target audience through image and therefore represent this particular social group. Both have similar gestures and body language. The open mouth expression and bold hand gestures of both artists suggest attitude and confidence, which are qualities in a person that would appeal to my target market as they would see these as admirable qualities.As we are in the twenty first century where women are in a society which is very much equal, it is important to remember to advocate this pride and independence to represent my social group of women who have grown up with the message they are just as good as men.

Both dressed in what looks like high street fashion. The clothes are slightly edgy and sexy in an understated way(leather used on Spins cover and lace used on Noise) which is a reflection of the edgy sound and image they convey to society which represenets the social group of aspirers, which is my target market (as later on will be revealed in my evalation). Aspirers are people who strive to suceed and are often seen to be hopeful and "wanabees". These people are almost all middle/working class and are very often young people who are discovering their identity, and can be influenced greatly by the media which makes them a very impressionable market. The clothes and poses represent this market, as the clothes are the type of clothes these people would wear and like. If they were dressed in couture designer outfits it simply would not work for this social group and it would not be what they are used to.

Also another technique I have used to represent this social group is through the engaging gaze of the girls in both pictures. While this also conforms (as seen in the previous question) to typical music magazine construction it also reflects the socialness of these people. And they way they like to feel connected in some way to those around them and also highlights a confidence to these people.

Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
Throughout the construction and development of this music magazine I have learnt a great deal about technologies and developed a variety of new useul skills. Before I started this project I had never even used an Apple mac! So literally everything was a new experience for me. I had great fun learning about and using the new software programmes such as Photoshop, Indesign, Blogger and so many more which before had not been available. All these programmes helped me to construct a magazine which looked professional using the conventions of typical music magazines.


A key element to creating my magazine has been by using Photoshop. Over the course of creating my magazine it has been fundamental to manipulating and enhancing my photos and logo.




Over the course I have learnt to use a wide range of new tools which have helped me create a professional looking music magazine.
Things I have learnt/used in Photoshop

• Spot healing tool




Before






After









• Cropping












Rendering to create artificial lighting











Adjusting contrast/brightness








Adjusting colour and saturation levels








Magnetic lasso tool

On Photoshop I have adjusted the brightness and contrast of my photograph which has enhanced the colours and improved the effect of the lighting I have used. It has made the photo a lot sharper and also made it bolder and more appealing.



I have also adjusted the levels of the picture which has allowed me to have more control.

I also used colour adjustment to add continuity to my magazine as seen in the double page spread. As the photograph on the double page was slightly different from the one on the contents page .
I felt I needed to do something to the image in order to make all three pages link togther. To do this, I adjusted the colour balance of the image and increased the cyan and blue levels making the picture appear more purple. I felt this linked well because I had used a lot of purple throughout the magazine prior to this and felt it was a subtle way to make the pages all "belong together" which is such an important element to the construction of music magazines.




Also during this project I have learnt to use Indesign which has been crucial to the construction of the magazine. The whole of my double page spread was created using this software which allowed me to design and layout the page perfectly. I used the margins and alignment guidelines to ensure all of my interview coloums were spaced out equally and were level to ensure a standard that was professional. I also text wrapped around the photograph in my double page spread which is an element I have also seen used throughout the whole of the music magazine industry, not just in music. Although I did not use Indei perhaps as much as I did other software, it was still crucial to the construction of my magazine and I can now confidently use it if need be in the future and the only reason that I did not use Indesign for my contents page was due to the fact I wanted to use the fonts I had already uploaded to Photoshop.

Blogger

Blogger has been absolutely fundamental to my coursework and has actually been a joy to use. At first, the idea of using blogger was slightly daunting as we the first year 12's to do the project online; we all didn't really know what to expect. However I put my old myspace html code knowledge to use and presented my research and planning through a variety of codes which included slide shows, drop down menus, flip books and I surprised myself by becoming quite obsessed with making my work look all "pretty". What I really liked about using Blogger was that it allowed me to put a personal stamp on my work and let me experiment and play in a variety of ways to present my work. It taught me to think more "out of the box" instead of just writing reams and I hope that I created a project which was more visual and exciting to look as. The blog made me take pride in my work and also allowed me to organise my work very well as it allowed me to draft work before I posted it. It also made me manage my time better as I knew that the time and date would be posted and that my teacher would be watching like a hawk to see if we were all up to scratch. This was a good thing because it made sure that I was not lazy and was always doing work.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Social-economical categories for generations have been drawn on a certain technique of labelling certain social groups. These are A, B, C1, C2, D and E, however this labelling has become very narrow and restricting and often neglecting the social groups of the modern world- these are succeeders, aspirers, carers, achievers, radicals, traditionalists and underachievers. These groups often intertwine with the traditional method of categorizing people for example.......
Through out the magazine industry there is a variation of target markets and audiences. NME is aimed at males aged 17-30 and 'Kerrang ', a magazine which perhaps is a more similar target market to me is Spin magazine which is a music magazine for a young, forward-thinking audience. It also covers film, fashion, art and politics with a fresh slant and satirical attitude. These people would also be deemed as aspirers and the readers of this magazine would also enjoy my magazine.
See UK tribes

My music magazine is aimed at the social group of female aspirers aged 16-25. These people are not only catargorised on these three things but also includes their attitudes, interests, tastes and hobbies. My audience is a niche audience, as it is fairly small and quite limited. An aspirer is an ambitious and aspiring young person and by web definition an aspiring person is someone who hopes or dreams; especially to hope or work towards a profession or occupation striving for recognition or advancement . Generally these kind of people are young and thrive on bettering themselves and love to enrich their lives in a variety of ways. They often travel a lot and are fairly well cultured, however they are aspires- so they are not accomplished and spend their time ASPIRING to become better. The demographic of my audience would be a fairly young, positive group with an irreverent attitude who enjoy humour in the form of dry wit. My magazine is aimed to promote a slightly rebellious attitude and self confidence. They would be relatively forward thinking and have a diverse open minded attitude towards life. They would also be more interested in "the next big thing" rather than well established commercial artists. Aspiring groups like to be the first- they like to discover new things and different things as it makes them feel more accomplished as a person- therefore my magazine is aimed towards breakthrough artists who are new to the music scene. They are often high archievers as they thrive on succeeding therefore have slightly more sophistication and compassion than other social groups.

This is the type of person I imagine to read my magazine.

Name: Amy

Age: 18

Hobbies: Going to gigs, visiting art galleries, going to festivals, socialising, travelling

Favourite TV Programmes: Skins, teen drama, documentaries, music channels, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, 8 out of 10 cats

Favourite Film: 500 Days of Summer

Fashion(where do you shop): Topshop/Topman, vintage/charity shops, Urban Outfitters

Music: Indie/alternative music e.g Friendly Fires, The Killers, Florence and the Machine, Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, Delphic, Two Door Cinema Club

double page spread completed

To get to this stage the page has undergone some serious photoshopping. Here is a photo of the original image prior to any work.

The first problem with this image was there was interference in the background. I therefore needed to crop the image in order to create a completely plain backgroud to make the image look professional and clean.
I then zoomed in to the picture, cropping it again to create a square shaped image. After this I then adjusted the contrast and brightness to make the photo appear crisp and clean. Her face was fairly clear in this picture so there was no need to use the spot healing tool. However, I encountered a new hurdle to overcome. I really wanted to use this image for my double page spread using this one single photo across the two pages to then text wrap, however this image was portait and to achieve this I needed a landscape picture. I initally tried to use the clone tool in order to create more wall however this did not work very well as there was not enough wall in the picture to copy from. So in the end, to solve this problem I copied part of the wall using the rectantular marquee tool, which I then pasted into photoshop and stretched it using the free transform tool. This then created a much larger image of the wall

These two layers were then merged making the image appear as if the wall was always there. This was also enhanced by the use of colour balance.

Not only did this add continuity to the magazine by using the colour scheme used in the contents and front page (making them all link together creating a house theme) it also hid the line where you could slightly see where the two layers had been merged. The image was then ready to put the text on. The colour scheme and fonts were also influenced by the contents and front page.

Question 1

Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When designing and creating my magazine it has been my main objective to create a magazine which is realistic, following similar conventions which music magazines typically use. I wanted my magazine to not be out of place if it was sitting next to NME or spin magazine and to do this I have used particular elements and features in my

magazine to make it look similar.Before I did this it was fundamental to my planning that I researched the conventions and elements of existing music magazines and this is what I found from my research:

As a generalization, most music magazine logos had simple memorable names which are layed out basically to make them not only easy only the eye but bold and distincitive.

the Dazed & Confused magazine is not neccassirly a particular global brand however it is fairly well known and respected.Dazed & Confused is a British style magazine,that was set up in 1992 and published monthly.Topics covered include music fashion film and literature. The magazine is named for the song made famous by English rock band Led Zeppelin. The logo is very simple and straight to the point which reflects the attitude of the magazine. The masterhead alters on almost every cover to adapt and compliment each front cover. This makes it a very versatile logo and limits the magazine in no way. What I like about this logo is that it is simple but also clever in the way that the second part of the name is vertical, giving it a , however the font and vertical design always remains the

Dazed and Confused magazine that is the unique selling point of the magazine. Cosmopolitan is not a music magazine but it has a very similar target audience in the sense that it is aimed at young females. Again it is very simple and easy to read. The colour pink makes it instantly clear to the target market and appeals to females as it is a colour often associated with women. I have also taken this concept and used the colour scheme as a convention to my magazine which is designed to appeal to my target market.

Spin Magazine logo is again very simple and straight forward and uses primary colours to create a strong bold brand for the magazine. This means that the logo can attract attention from distance and will draw readers to pick it up. The typeface of this master is quite smooth and sleek. It has a flawless element to it which suggests quality with no gimmicks. The logo itself does not suggest a particular genre of music. This allows the magazine to adapt to the current popular music, also allowing the magazine to be versatile and not to restricted. Although my magazine is aimed at the indie genre I do not want to limit myself too much as I may need to adapt the magazine as times change.

All of this had lead me to finally creating my logo:

My logo/masterhead uses all the conventions of typical music magazines. It is simple and easy to read but it's bold and attention grabbing. I have used the colour purple to appeal to my target market but I have not made it too feminine as this may restrict some of the audience who aren't. The crystal effect gives the logo a unique selling point to the logo and makes it attractive and appealing to females.I have also used the outer glow effect to give it a neon sign effect making it look like the type of sign you would see on a club/venue which links to the music and genre of my magazine.

People&Clothing




As the subject artist for my magazine I have used my friend Charlotte Bailey. I have chosen to use her as she has very good skin and is very photogenic (photos will not have to be too heavily edited). I feel as if Charlotte has a particular look which is perfect for the font of a music magazine. She has a very individual quirky sense of style and her short blunt hair cut defines her face very well and gives her a distinctive look. Often on the front of magazines the people used have a certain look, in particular to reflect the genre of music for example:





In this magazine the people are dressed very casually with their messy, scraggy hair which reflects their laid back, carefree attitude. The clothes they are wearing say a lot about the type of people they are. This is achieved by wearing bold colors and prints with a vintage edge to them- they are not the kind of clothes that go unnoticed. It is a very distinctive unique look which also reflects the genre of much which the band play- indie music. I have used this technique in my own magazine and have dressed my model in plain, bold colors which reflect the style of music she plays. However I have recoginised that I have a very different target market from NME and have adapted my clothing and mise en scene to be appropriate for my audience. I have taken the conventions of the music magazines I have researched and adapted them in order to suit my audience.

I have used a variation of outfits in my planning to achieve the particular look that I want, but each outfit was influenced by the conventions that apply to all music magazines. Magazines use images as the main attention grabber. This means the images must be bold, striking and engaging. I have attemepted this through a variety of ways by experiementing with different clothes, make up and poses.


In this image I have dressed Charlotte in a very basic t-shirt which is casual and relaxed. Another reason I have used such a simple top is so that the image is not too over powering. I want the focus of the image to be the use of paint on her hands and face. I have used paint in this image to give it a fun element which will appeal to my female and age target market. The paint also makes Charlotte appear quite arty which is also linked with the genre of indie music.

Once again in this image I have once again dressed Charlotte very simply in a white lace top with a simple silver necklace. This image has a very feminine feel to it as her make up is very soft, yet still striking and overall is generally fairly natural. This give her an effortless sense of style which again links with the genre of music that my magazine is aimed at. Her nails are painted red to add a bit of color to the image while not over powering it and also being red suggests the idea of passion and love, which again will appeal to my target audience.

Mode of address

From my research I found every magazine without exception adopted a casual friend -like mode of address. Magazines are infamous for their use of colloquial and conversational approach to writing and is essential to keep drawing their readers back. By doing so, the magazine becomes like an old friend in which the reader feels they can trust in. However despite these similarties, an important thing I have noticed is the varation of how individual magazines use language through out the magazine. Nme and Kerrang often glorify the "rock and roll" life style. This means they subtle promote swearing, drinking and "pissing about" as typical behaviour. In comparision to this, Spin magazine uses a much more eloquent sophisitcated approach to their language. This is due to huge difference in target market.

Therefore when constucting and planning my magazine it was clear to my that I must:

• Adopt a friendly, conversational mode of address
• To use language which would appeal and act as a reflection of my target market
• To make language engaging and interesting through the use of technical elements of language e.g puns, alitteration, similies etc