Key concepts applied to music magazines

Noa Lightman

The four key concepts…There are 4 key concepts that are applied to music magazines:• Representation• Genre• Institution• Audience

Representation• Magazines are presented in different ways and it tends to

depend on the type of magazine and what the subject matter is

• For example, magazines feature artists in every issue, therefore it’s important that the publishers and editors ensure the content is appropriate for the target audience, as well as ensuring that all information given is true to avoid legal complications

• The artists used must be appropriate for the sub genre of magazine , so if it’s a rock magazine, it must have a rock performer and not a performer from another genre

• On the cover of Kerrang Fall Out Boy are featured, they are a rock group so clearly fit in with genre of the magazine.

Genre• Genre is seemingly one of the easiest things to pick up on from a

magazine• All magazines have a genre- music magazines, however, have sub genres

as well. This allows for more depth and exploration of a genre, it also gains a smaller, more specific audiences

• Sub genres include- hip hop, Indie pop and rock and heavy metal to name a few

• You can identify a music magazine’s genre by a multitude of things, including: performers that are mentioned, the logo design and style as well as the colour scheme

• For example, Pop magazines usually use bright, eye-catching colours and well known artists, usually that are in the charts-especially if it’s a mass publication

• Whereas Rock tends to use darker colour schemes and include rock artists who are known widely and appreciated by loyal fans

• This helps each magazine strongly associate itself with its chosen genre, as well as help the target audience identify it as the genre it’s intended to be

Institution• Institution means/ is about the making of money within the specific

industry, in this case the music magazine industry• Publishers aim to make a large profit and so try to do this in many ways,

they may own more than one magazine to maximize the amount of money made

• Another way in which they achieve this is by using adverts and accepting sponsored articles

• Advertisers pay large sums of money to be featured in major publications

• Mojo, Q and Kerrang are all owned by Bauer media group. Bauer own a total of 600 magazine brands worldwide, so they make a huge profit

• Whereas, smaller publishers make less profit and are likely to have fewer brands- both as a cause (can’t make more money by using different magazines) and as a result (can’t afford to publish and produce different magazine brands)

Audience• When it comes to creating a magazine, more specifically a music magazine,

the publishers must decide on whom they want as their target audience and then focus the magazine around them- so for example music featured, headlines+ language used, even the colours and typeface.

• All magazines have a clear demographic in terms of Class, Income, Gender, Age and Race. Therefore it is pretty crucial for the music magazine to be perfectly suited around the target audience so it attracts their attention.

• From the cover of Top of The Pops I can tell that it is aimed at children as it uses bright colours and informal/colloquial language , however it is quite feminine as well, with lots of use of pink so it is clearly aimed at girls, perhaps aged 8-13. There are lots of images on the cover so it’s visually pleasing for the audience. Celebrities like Taylor Swift and Little Mix are on the cover, both of these artists have predominantly female audiences, therefore they fit in to the audience of the magazine quite well.