Analysing Music Magazines

Lesson Six -7/02/2011

In today's lesson, we were shown a slide show of different types of music magazines and how they were similar to each other. This gave us the opportunity to give us a sort of an idea of the types of genre we could do when it comes to creating in our magazines. When looking at the different genres of these magazines, I began to realise that they all had specific techniques that were used to keep the target audience interested and informed about what they are trying to sell. One magazine cover that we looked at was called KERRANG.

This magazine is mostly aimed at young people between the ages of 15- 24. The reason being is for the use of colour that is being used. It suggested to me that it was wild, chaotic and very eye catching. This is due to the way in which the font is not consistent - they are all different sizes which is an indication of disorganisation in a positive way. The use of capital letters for the matshead shows emphasis of what the publisher is trying to sell to their audience. The punctuation also helps to contribute to the genre of music ( which in this case in rock, heavy metal etc ) as it helps it to become more aggressive and it gives off an angry tone. I noticed that this magazine had a very affordable price which is £2.20. This shows that the magazine will be easily accessible to its readers causing the percentage of its readership to rise drastically. There are a good use of primary and secondary colours used on the front cover of the magazine which are pink, black, white and blue. The use of the colours plays a huge part in the magazine as it automatically draws the audience in which keeps them interested in the product being sold. This is due to the way it includes different types of techniques such as flashbacks to help the reader be aware of what else they can gain from the magazine, there are also various types photos to help represent the different types of issues that are to be raised in the magazine. Personally, I feel that the main image of this magazine's front cover helps to show good representations of the type of audience the publisher intends to target. It also helps to tell us ( the readers ) which type of age group that it is aimed at. This can be suggested by the body piercings that is being worn by one of the men in the image. The secondary images that are shown help to symbolise the wildness of the music genre as there is a lot if different things that are taking place, This can be shown by the shape of the flash back which is shown to have rigid edges. It helps to let the audience know what they are able to expect from the magazine so that they do not feel left out. Again, by using punctuation such as an exclamation mark, it helps to reinforce the whole idea of the aggressive genre being presented.

The second magazine that I looked at was the NME magazine. When looking at this front cover, I automatically noticed that there were two main colours that it used- this was red and black. I found that this was helpful as they are both really striking colours that grab your attention instantly. The main image of this magazine can represent a lot of things. The first thing that I noticed was the fact that the colours that he wore helped to represent the genre of music ( which in this case was rock ) . Another way in which the use of colour was able to contribute to the genre of music is the way in which it looks to be intense which I felt was appropriate for the target audience as it helps to draw them in and to keep them engaged in what the publisher is trying to sell. I also began to notice that different sizes of font that varied. When it was an important issue the font was normally big, but then when it was something that was of a less concern the font size was normally smaller. By doing this it is able to appeal to the audience in different ways in order to gain their attention. There are various assumptions that can be made by the front cover as there seems to be quite a lot of things that go on. It offers you a wide range of things to do. This involves things like, applying for tickets at a music festival, the latest gossip that includes some of the biggest bands etc. This is helpful to the target audience as they will not get bored of reading the magazine. The language type used is mostly informal, but I feel that it is acceptable to use as it will be easily accessible to the target audience. From the look of the front cover, it shows me that the target audience ranges between the ages of 16-23. This can be suggested by use of the colloquialism that is used on the front cover of the magazine. By doing this it enables the target audience to be able to read the writing easier in order to grab their attention and keep them alert of what they are to expect from the magazine. I personally feel that the KERRANG magazine front cover is a lot better than the NME front cover as there seems to be more going on and I also noticed that the publisher of this magazine made sure that the target audience were given various things to look forward to. The cost of this magazine is £2.30 which is also an affordable price for the target audience. When continuing to analyse the front cover of this magazine, I noticed that there was a glimpse of light in the background which could symbolise so many things. One of these things being that it could be an indication to the reader that the genre type of music is not just hard and loud , it can also be soft and mellow at times. This is a good use of interpretation as it offers a list of different things that the audience can be exposed to.