Feedback from my focus group

These are the answers my focus group gave me in response to my audience feedback questions

Ryan said;

1) The photos don't look out of place on a music magazine, and are edited well

2) I can read the fonts clearly, and look very professional

3) I would buy the magazine, it looks a lot like the NME mags I've bought. It's great.

4) Yeah you can see everything on the cover and the fonts look good.

5) No the font is a legible size, and looks good

6) I think that black background relates to Morrissey, and looks good with the red t-shirt of the model (Rosie?) in that picture.

7) The style of writing is very authentic, you could be a journalist

8)The contents page gives enough information to know what your expecting in the magazine

9) Yes i think that the colour scheme looks very good, very much like Q magazine, although yours is better.

10) I really like it, and it looks very professional

Gemma said;

1) Yes, they have all been chosen well.

2) Looks Professional, not confusing

3) Yes, I would buy it

4) Yes

5) No, it was fine, I was able to read it.

6) Maybe, as both the background and the columns are black... but it doesn't look bad or anything

7) No.

8) Yes.

9) Yes it was a good feature

10) No.

Rosie said;

1) Yes very very very well

2) confusing

3) The cover artist would encoruage me to buy the magazine!

4) Yes, but not as asthectically pleasing as the model

5) No

6) No

7) Yes

8) Yes

9) Yes

10) No

Audience Feedback

Once I had finished my product, I thought of some questions that I could ask my classmates and focus group about my front cover, double page spread and contents page so I could receive some feedback.

1. Do you think the photographs I have chosen are suitable for their purpose?



2. Do you think the use of different fonts looks professional, or do you find it confusing?



3. Would my front cover encourage you to pick up or buy my magazine?



4. Do you think that the text on the front cover has been placed in a way that is aesthetically pleasing?


5. Do you find that the font used in the main body of text of my double page spread is too small?


6. Do you think that the dark colour scheme used on page two of my double page spread is too gloomy?


7. Do you think that the style of writing used in my double page spread is similar to that found in current music magazines?


8. Do you think the contents page would successfully fulfill it's purpose of making it easier for the reader to navigate their way around the magazine?


9. Do you think the red, white and black colour scheme used throughout gives the magazine a more professional feel?


10. Do you have any other comments about my magazine?

My Contents page

I decided on white as the background colour for my contents page as I wanted to use red writing and thought that it would stand out well on a white background. Also, my double page spreads colour scheme had been quite dark, so I wanted a lighter on e for the contents page. The first thing I did when making my contents page was wrote 'this week..' at the top left hand side (as this is where the eye is drawn to first.) I downloaded the font it is written in for dafont.com.

I then added a brief editorial under the the 'this week:' heading, as an editorial is a good way for the magazines to address and connect with readers on a personal level. The editorial just explained what was in the magazine this week. I then went on to list the articles down the left hand side of the page. I tried to think of articles that would interest my target audience and whilst focusing mainly on older bands, include newer ones as well. Whilst some of the bands featured are not new, the articles are about what they are doing currently. I used a font I had downloaded off dafont.com.

I then added some relevant pictures down the left hand side of the page. I added a picture I took of Morrissey performing live, the picture of Morrissey that Rosie is imitating the cover of the magazine and a picture of Rosie, as she is the subject of the magazine's main story. I then added the page numbers to the corresponding articles onto the pictures. The finished version of my contents page can be seen below.

My double page spread

This is the photo I decided to use as the main image for my double page spread. I liked this image as it had plenty of space around which I could put text on, without obstructing Rosie's face and she is making eye contact and smile (but the smile does not look forced or over the top.) Before I used the image, I cropped some of the right hand side and some of the bottom. I then used the spot healing brush to remove an imperfections on Rosie's face.

I then used the Gaussian blur technique and changed the opacity until I was happy with the way the picture looked. The finished result can be seen below.

I used an A3 canvas for my double page spread and split it in half. I put the edited picture on the first half. I then began to add text to the picture, the title and a brief description of the article. Picking a colour for the writing was quite hard, as the background to the picture is busy. I settled on red, but added a drop shadow to the text to make it stand out more. The images below show the text with no drop shadow and with it.
On the drop shadow I changed the distance, spread and size of it until I was happy with the effect.

After I had added text to the first page, I constructed three columns on the second page, which would contain the text of my article.

I then added the text to my double page spread. For the first paragraph, I used a technique that I had seen used in all music magazines when I did my research; I made the first letter bigger than all the others. This gave it a professional feel. Originally, I just had text in the column, but my teacher suggested that it needed breaking up and thought that I could do so with a picture of Morrissey, seeing as he is fairly central to the article. In the fished version of my double page spread (see below) I added a quote from Rosie onto the first page and the date and page number to the bottom of the second page.

My front cover

This is the image I eventually decided to use on my front cover. I chose it because I liked the pose and thought that it would be good to juxtapose this image with my article name 'This Charming Fan' as it shows her swearing which most people would not consider charming! I thought the image would look good on the front cover as the subject is maintaining eye contact, which draws the reader in and encourages look at the magazine. I thought that the brick wall background looked realistic and could have been from a real magazine photo shoot, so I decided not to cut out the picture and out it in another background. Also, I did this for my student magazine and it did not look very professional. I also like d this picture as the viewer can clearly see the 'Morrissey' logo on her T-shirt, which is an important part of the article.

I then edited the picture to make it look more professional and glossy. Firstly, I used the spot healing brush to get rid of nay skin imperfections. I did this to give the photo a more air-brushed effect, as seen on most magazine covers.

I then used the blur tool and selected Gaussian blur.

From their I clicked the fx button at the bottom of the layers column and clicked on overlay, before adjusting the opacity. This made the picture brighter and gave it a glossier finish. The finished photo can be seen on the left.

I then added text to my magazine. I used three different fonts on front cover, all downloaded form Dafont.com. I started out with my arcticle name 'This Charming Fan', which is a pun on the famous The Smiths song This Charming Man. I used that particular pun as the article is about a musician who is big fan or Morrissey (one time frontman of The Smiths.) I then put on the artist's name and a quote, a convention I've seen throughout my research. I then added another article at the top of the page and a list of other bands at the bottom of the page, again common conventions seen used in most music magazines. I added drop shadow to all of the text, as it made it look more professional and it makes it stand out more.

To finish off my front cover I added the magazine name 'Fusion' in the top left hand corner, as that is where the most important information should be situated, as it is the area are we automatically look at first. I also added a barcode and a price and date to make the magazine look more authentic. This finished front cover can be seen below.

Photos for my magazine

Photoshoots

View more presentations from itsamy93.

What role do music magazines have in the establishment of youth sub cultures?

This is a video I made using Xtranormal which talks about the relationship between music magazines and youth sub cultures

Title ideas

I wanted my magazine name to reflect the type of music and the attitude to that music that my magazine would have. As my magazine was mainly focusing on how bands and artists from the past have shaped the modern music scene. I thought a good word to start with would be 'iconic.' However, I did not think this word in itself would make a good title. So I went onto an online thesaurus and searched the words 'icon' and 'inspire.' I got the following words as a response;

fusion

flow

vision

spark

muse

genius

I really like dthw eord 'fusion' so I brainstormed some other synonyms for that;

strike

energise

infuse

galvanize

revive

reflect

ignite

From this list I picked the following two as my favourite ideas;

spark- I liked 'Spark' as I thought it summed up how musicians such as The Beatles (the pioneers of rock music) inspired other bands to form, thus shaping the music industry and 'sparking' the ideas.

fusion- I liked 'Fusion' because I thought it sounded like a catchy name and it summed up how my magazine was a fusion of modern and older music.

I asked my focus group which name they liked the best and 'fusion' was the unanimous winner. So I decided to call my magazine 'Fusion.'

Inspiration for photos

The idea for my main article is to have a modern day music artists talking about her greatest influence (in this case Morrissey.) This may be part of a regular feature, or a one off article for some reason. Therefore, I looked at photos of Morrissey for inspiration for my photo shoot. I thought that it would be a good idea to have Rosie (my cover star) re create some of the poses. I considered the following poses;

I really like the lighting and framing of this shot. At first I thought that it could be fairly easy to re create in my own living room with my curtains. However, when discussing this with Rosie, we decided that the lighting would be too hard to get exactly right. Also the framing of the curtains is very exact and could be a challenge.

I really like this pose and think it would look good in my music magazine. The attitude fitted in well with my idea for my magazine and it is quite an iconic picture of Morrissey, so would be quite a recognisable pose to fans. I think that it would look really good on the front cover. Rosie agrees with this, and suggests that we took it outside, against a brick wall, which I really liked. The picture will be easier to re create than the previous one, as the background is not as an integral part and could be effectively re created anywhere.

The pose of Morrissey could be hard to re create, as it is such a big close up, that it would depend on getting the facial expression just right. However, I really like the idea of having Rosie re create this pose and then Photoshopping this picture on the wall beside her (as if it is a poster) so that the reader can see what pose she is re creating. Rosie has agreed to try and re create this one, despite the challenge!

I think that the pose would be great to re create, especially as Ms Casson suggested that we try and get some shots of our cover stars performing. However, this could be a challenge, as I don't have easy access to a stage and microphone and it could be hard to get the shadowy background. Rosie suggested that I could take some shots of her in the music department, however, I decided against this as I didn't think it would look very professional.

The four images above have come from my Mozipedia; Encyclopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths by Simon Goddard. I used a camera to take pictures of the relevant pages. Therefore, whilst the photos were not originally taken by me, the copies you see on this page were.

I think that this pciture would be fairly easy to re create, as the background is not an issue and could be re created anywhere. owever, as there is so much focus on the subject of the photo, it may look strange if Rosie re creates it.

Another source of inspiration for my photo shoot was the video for Morrissey's solo single 'Everyday is like Sunday' which is filmed in Southend. I thought that I could take some pcitures of Rosie on the seafront in an homage to it.

Flat Plans

I created some rough flat plans, outlining my ideas for the layout of my front cover, contents page and double page spread. The flat plan on the left is for my front cover. The background to my cover will be taken up entirely by my chosen picture of Rosie. There will be no writing over her head as this would ruin the effect of her making eye contact with the readers (drawing them in) and would look unprofessional. I would only have a few articles detailed on the cover, including the main one but I decided that I would have a list of bands that will be included in the magazine at the bottom of the page, as I had seen this appear on many magazines during my research. The magazine title will be located in the top left hand corner, as that is where the eye is drawn first when reading something.

This flat plan is for my contents page. I want to include a brief editorial on my page as it is a good way for the magazine to directly address and connect with the readers. The articles would simply be listed on the left hand side and the right hand side will contain pictures, with the page numbers to the corresponding articles on them.

This flat plan is for the first page of my double page spread. The background of the page will be taken up entirely by my chosen picture of Rosie, making the whole of the first page a picture. This is a convention I have seen in many magazines during my research. The picture is sometimes so big that it overlaps into the next page, but this will not be the case with my article. The article title will be along the top of the page, but as with the front cover there will be no text obstructing Rosie's face. On the page I will also include a interesting quote from the article and a brief introduction to the article. The second page will simply be three columns of text.

Reader Profile

The readers of my magazine have a particular interest in music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, whilst still keeping up to date with modern music. They therefore have a wider music taste and more musical knowledge than a lot of their contemporaries. Their taste may have been influenced by their parents or older siblings. They recognise that it is these older bands that have shaped the current music scene today. The average age of a reader is 23 years old, but the age could range from 14-35. They enjoy going to gigs and festivals and on average go to about 10 concerts a year. They download about 78% of their music off the Internet, though do still buy CDs. They also have an interest in film and fashion, which may be inspired by their favourite artists. Music is their main interest and 69% of the readership play an instrument. 95% of readers own an MP3 player. The majority of the readership are in ABC1.

Audience questionnaire results

Questionnaire Results

View more presentations from itsamy93.

Audience questionnaire

As part of my task, I produced a questionnaire that I could give to my target audience to find out their views and opinions on music magazine and what they would like to see included in a magazine. I asked the following questions;

1)Do you currently buy any music magazines on a regular basis? If so which ones?

I asked this question as it gives me an insight into what type of music my target audience likes and what articles they would like to see.

2) What genre of music do you like best?

This question gave me further insight into the type of music my target audience enjoy and would help me decide what bands to put in my magazine

3) In general, do you find that there is not much variety amongst music magazines? (e.g. always feature the same type of music)

I asked this question as it would help me to decide whether to create a niche magazine for a specific target audience, or a more mainstream magazine.

4) How much would you be willing to pay for a weekly music magazine?

This would help me decide how much to 'charge' for my music magazine. It would also allow me to see if my audience believe that current magazines are correctly priced or too expensive.

5) What features would you like to see included in a music magazine?

This question would help me to decided what content to put in my magazine and would help me with my main article.

6) What non music related features would you also like to see in a music magazine?

I asked this question to see what other features I could incorporate into my magazine, as music magazines sometimes include non music related features.

7) Do you find that music magazines are male dominated?

I asked this question as it was something I had found in my research and wondered if other people had noticed it too. If it seemed that people did find this the case, I could maybe make a conscious effort to include a female artist on the front cover of my magazine.

Analysis of a double page spread-Mojo magazine

The final double page spread I looked at was from Mojo magazine and was about the punk band X-Ray Spex, particularly focusing on frontwoman Poly Styrene. The title of the article takes up most of the left hand page and also extends onto the second page. The title of the article is It Came From Outer Space and which is intriguing and makes the reader want to read on, as it leaves them with questions 'what came from outer space?' The font of the tile is very eye catching and unusual as is the colour; bright pink. This bright pink writing coupled with the yellow background gives the article a punk look, as these colours are often associated with punk music, due to the iconic Sex Pistols album which featured the same colour scheme. The article uses badge images to give extra information, for example the band name and the introduction to the article is written in a font that makes it look like it has been made on a label maker. This ties in with the theme I have seen in other music magazines, where they look homemade and almost resemble fanzines. The title and the explanation take up most of the room of the left hand page, so it only has one column of writing, which is unusual. The writing contains a convention I've seen in all music magazines, the first letter of the article is a lot larger than the others. The entire right hand page is taken up by a black and white picture of Poly Styrene, but it is not from a photo shoot for Mojo magazine, as it is a picture of her from the past. She is making eye contact with the camera in the picture, but her pose and expression suggest that the picture was spontaneous rather than posed for. She is holding a microphone in the picture, so it was most likely taken whilst the band were performing live. Live pictures are often used, if a photo shoot picture is unavailable or inappropriate.

The article is about X Ray Spex's one off comeback gig, but all reminiscences about their time in the charts in the 1970s. Most articles which feature bands or artists from the past have some sort of reminiscent factor about them. The article sets out to inform the reader and to educate them about X Ray Spex.

Analysis of a double page spread-Q magazine

The double page spread I looked at was an article in Q magazine about a Paul Weller and Duffy recording a duet together. There was no title to the article; it was simply headed as Duffy & Paul Weller. This is probably because it was part of a bigger feature of interviews with artists who are planning collaborations, therefore it did not necessarily need a separate title. The picture featured in the article is in colour and takes up 1 complete A4 page and overlaps slightly onto the next page of the spread. This is unusual, as pictures often cover a whole A4 side, but do not usually overlap onto the next page. The picture shows Duffy making eye contact with the camera, but Paul Weller is not making eye contact with the audience, but looking into the distance. This somehow highlights his importance;it as almost as if the message it conveys is, it doesn't matter that he's not looking at the camera, he's Paul Weller! It makes Paul Weller look aloof, almost as if he is too cool to have his picture taken. Duffy seems to be the main focus of the picture as she is looking at the camera and standing, whereas Paul Weller is sitting down and looking away. Neither Duffy nor Paul Weller are smiling and both look quite serious in the picture.

The fact that the picture overlaps means that there is only two columns of text, again unusual, as there is often three. Te title takes up mot of the page, as it is written in a large font. The font the title is written in is quite thin and simple, but as the background to the article is white and the writing is red and black, it does still stand out. However, the summary of the article is written in grey writing making it harder to see and the writing which tells the reader who wrote the article is even smaller and written in red, making it near impossible to spot. The main body of text features a convention that I have seen appear on many double page spreads; the first letter is a lot larger than the other letters in the text.

The article is an interview between Q magazine and Paul Weller and Duffy, where they talk about the duet they are doing together, as well as their own separate music careers. The article sets out to inform the reader.

Analysis of a double page spread-Bass

The double page spread I looked at was about Sir Horace Panter, the bass player of the ska band The Specials. The interview didn't have a title, it simply said 'Sir Horace Panter The Specials.' The background to the article is plain white ad the writing is mostly black, with some bits in red. The article also include insets about 'Ghost Town,' arguably The Specials' most famous single about rising unemployment when Britain was governed by Margaret Thatcher and Pama International, the band which are currently supporting The Specials on tour. There are three pictures on the spread; the first is a black and white shot of Sir Horace with his bass (Gibson Thunderbird), the second is a colour shot of The Specials in the 1980s and the third is a black and white photo of The Specials in the 1980s (the insets both have pictures accompanying them.) Almost half of the second page pf the spread is taken up by an advert for a Bass Guitar school. The magazine has 37 adverts in it in total, all for bass related products such as amps, strings and guitars. The writing in the spread is fairly small and there are four columns per page. The layout is not particularly eye catching or colourful and does not follow some of the conventions I have seen in other layouts such as having a headline and picking out quotes from the interview to make sub headings. However, this may be because this magazine is not a mainstream magazine and is for real enthusiasts. They already like the magazine as it is about a subject they are passionate about and therefore do not need to be drawn in as much.

The article talks about The Specials latest tour, as well as Sir Horace's time in The Specials in the 1980s and what equipment he uses whilst playing. It sets out to inform and educate the reader, and possibly to persuade them to use the same equipment as Sir Horace.

Analysis of magazine covers-NME

NME is a weekly magazine published by IPC media (International Publication Company Ltd.) IPC media company publish many magazines which can be split into five divisions; Connect (women's weeklies such as Now), Inspire (leisure and specialist), Ignite! (men's lifestyle and entertainment), SouthBank (women's lifestyle and home interest) and TX (portfolio of television titles.) The title NME stands for New Musical Express, which shows NME passions for new music. NME is currently priced at £2.20 and is widely availbale in newsagents and supermarkets. The NME brand also has a website (www.nme.com), a music channel, a radio station, a tour and even its own awards ceremony where the winners are voted for by readers. 

 NME covers quite a wide range of music, mainly focusing on indie and rock. Some of the music included is quite mainstream, but NME prides itself on championing new bands and helping them make it big. Indeed NME almost looks down on some mainstream artists, especially those in the pop or RnB style, however it does deem some artists 'credible' enough to include in their magazine for example Lady GaGa and N-Dubz. In the early 2000s NME did try to cover more pop music, even including some pop stars such as Hear'say and Beyonce on the cover. However, this did not please its readers and consequently any pop bands featured now would rarely be put on the cover.  NME also includes features on bands fromt he oast, that still make have an influence on music today. For example Joy Division, The Clash and The Beatles. The cover shown features Morrissey. NME would have followed Morrissey's career right from when he started off in The Smiths in the 1980s and throughout his solo career. Therefore this particular issue may attract people who were fans of The Smiths in their heyday and are now interested in Morrissey's solo work. It may also attract a younger audience who are aware of The Smiths through possibly their parents, or people who have only heard Morrissey's solo work. The other bands mentioned on the cover are more mainstream such as Arctic Monkeys and Panic! At The Disco. The cover shows the range of articles the magazine includes, it mentions live reports and festivals.   Like Kerrang! NME has the scrap-book feel to it, possibly imitating the style of homemade fanzines. It does however, still look professional and is a lot glossier from the older versions of NME which were more like newspapers than magazines.  NME sometimes include a tiny lyric on the cover of their magazine, it can be seen just above the bar code on this cover. It is often a lyric form the artist on the cover (for example the one on this particular cover is a line from Morrissey's song 'You Have Killed Me.') This is often only really spotted by avid NME readers.

The pictures on the cover of NME are all amle and NME has a mainly male fanbase and writers. However, it does not only include male bands and often includes articles about female artists such as Lily Allen. NME does have a tendency to champion a band when they are unknown, but change their opinion on them when they become more mainstream. However, this is not a hard and fast rule. NME does put a lot of emphasise on discovering new music. 

NME's popularity can be attributed to its emphasis on new music. It introduces people to not only new bands, but it can also introduce its younger audience to bands from the past that they may never have heard of before. Its inclusion of older bands also attracts an older audience,which some of the more mainstream magazines wouldn't. NME is such a big institution that many people have been being it for years; since they were a teenager up to adulthood.   

  

Analysis of magazine covers- Bass

Bass Guitar magazine is a monthly publication for bass players and enthusiasts. The title of the magazine clearly indicates this. As it is such a specialised magazine, it is not available in most shops, so readers normally susbcribe to it (you can do this via the website.) Each magazine is priced at £3.95. The magazine is designed by Oyster House Media Ltd. As well as the magazine, the Bass brand also has a website http://www.bassguitarmagazine.com/ and an online community called BassLife where readers can sign up and talk to other enthusiasts, like a mini social networking site exclusively for readers.

The target audience for Bass magazine is very specific. A lot of the articles are very technical and the interviews with music artists (always bass players) is often very focused on their instrument and what equipment they use. Therefore, it is clear that the magazine is designed to appeal to bass enthusiast. A lot of the articles they feature are about men, but that is more a reflection on the fact that they're are more male bass players in the music industry, rather than a conscious decision made by the magazine. The magazine can be seen as being more aimed at men than women, as men are more likely to have a serious hobby. Also, the focus on the technical side of bass playing may bore some women. However, it does include interviews with female bass players and does not exclude women in any way. Bass magazine has interviews with a variety of artist from all different styles and genres of music. This week's cover star is solo bassist Richard Bona (the fact he is holding a bass clearly shows that he is a bass player), but it also includes interviews with more main stream artists such as Muse, whose picture is also on the cover. It is clear from the cover that the articles are quite specialist, as the reader can see that the magazine includes reviews of bass gear and the competition is bass related. Richard Bona is wearing a yellow T-shirt on the cover and the cover continues with the yellow theme, with the header featuring black writing in a yellow strip. The background of the magazine is black and the writing is either red, white or yellow. There is a clear colour scheme running throughout. Th title to articles are always written in block capitals, in order to attract potential reader's attention and then the article is briefly explained underneath in lower case and smaller writing. Although the magazine itself is quite unusual, the layout is very conventional and is simlar to other more mainstream magazines. It does not go for the more homemade scrapbook style that Kerrang! and NME favour. This may be because the magazine is more glossy and therefore a smoother style works better, whereas NME and Kerrang! are almost newspaper like in their printing style and texture.

The magazine assumes that the reader has a certain amount of knowledge in the subject, therefore a lot of the articles would be uninteresting to someone who does not play bass guitar. The magazine brings bass players together and unites them, making them feel like they are part of a club. All of the adverts in the magazine are related to bass playing. They are often for equipment such as amps or indeed actual bass guitars, which are expensive.

All the celebrities featured in the magazine are bass players. This does not mean to say that Bass magazine undermines the other members of the band, just particularly celebrates bass playing. Bass magazine has very little competition. It is probably one of the few of it's kind, as it is for such a specific target audience. It does boast however, that it is the UK's number one bass guitar magazine. The reason for the magazine's popularity can be attributed to the fact that it is so specialised and has little competition. Therefore it is the best magazine to buy if you are a bass player.

Analysis of magazine covers:- Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a weekly magazine, which is published by Bauer Consumer Media. Bauer Consumer Media is a large media company based in Hamburg in Germany. It also publishes Q magazine, another music magazine. It also owns many music channels such as Q TV, Kiss TV and 4Music. This is known as cross media ownership.The name Kerrang! is described as onomatopoeic. It represents the sound made when strumming a guitar. The exclamation mark suggests that the sound is loud and gives impact. This name has connotations with the style of music that Kerrang! focuses on, i.e. rock, metal and emo. Kerrang! is currently priced £2.20 and is readily available in the UK. Kerrang! has now become a brand rather than just a magazine and has branched put into many different areas. There's a Kerrang! website (www.kerrang.com), Kerrang! radio, Kerrang! TV, Kerrang! awards and the Kerrang! tour.

The main type of music covered in Kerrang! is rock, more specifically punk, pop punk, metal and screamo. This covers quite a wide range of bands and styles. Whilst pop punk bands that are featured on the cover such as Paramore and You Me At Six are mainstream, metal bands such as Slipknot which are also mentioned are more niche. As Kerrang! is one of the few magazines to feature metal and screamo bands, it is more likely that fans of these types of bands would buy Kerrang! more often. Pop punk bands appear in a wider variety of magazines and therefore fans of these bands would just buy any magazine they featured in. If we consider the metal side of Kerrang! we would assume that it has a mainly male fanbase, ranging from teenagers to late twenties. The band featured on this particular cover is Fall Out Boy, a mainstream band who music is often described as 'emo.' The colours are quite bright, with white and blue being the main theme. This suggests that despite the mention of metal bands like Slipknot, that this particular issue has more focus on the more mainstream side of bands covered. Kerrang! has the almost scrapbook look to it that other music magazines such as NME also favour. The way the text is sometimes slightly askew and appears in different coloured blocks which almost looks like they've been made on a label maker, makes the magazine looks more random and homemade. This is possibly to resemble or imitate the style of homemade fanzines, which were the early basis for music magazines. However, the magazine still looks professional and a lot less amateurish than the early fanzines. Kerrang! boast that they have an 'exclusive' interview with Fall Out Boy, which will encourgae more people to buy it, as they cannot find out the story anywhere else. This will especially attract fans of Fall Out Boy.

The pictures featured on the cover of Kerrang! are all males, perhaps reflecting their mainly male fanbase. However, they do include arcticles on Paramore, a female fronted band. This male dominated environment is not so much a decision by Kerrang! but more a reflection on how the type of music covered Kerrang! is mainly produced by men. Female dominated groups, such as girl bands like The Saturdays or Girls Aloud, but also solo artist such as Little Boots and Pixie Lott, are often more evident in pop music, a style which is not covered in Kerrang! as they are not the sort of bands that would appeal to their readers and are almost the complete opposite. The lack of more mainstream bands shows that Kerrang! does cater for quite a niche audience, but does not exclude all bands that are considered mainstream. It is more about the style of music than the amount of coverage or radio play the bands get.

Kerrang! popularity can be attributed to its inclusion of more niche bands, whose style of music is maybe reflected negatively in the media and society. Metal bands are not often seen in a positive light. However, Kerrang! praises these bands and by including them with more mainstream bands, shows that they see them on a par with these more 'accepted' styles of music. Kerrang! promotes the metal lifestyle (though not exclusively) and promotes it as a a positive thing, which is unusual.

My focus group

For my music magazine focus group, I wanted to involve people who had a keen interest in music and also a mixture of ages and genders. Therefore, I decided to use a new focus group rather than use the same people from my student magazine focus group. I did this because, my focus group last time was made up of only girls and they were all 16 years old, which does not give me the variety I need for this task. Also, some of my focus group aren't particularly interested in music. The members of my focus group are;


Name: Alex Burnett-Scott

Age: 14

Favourite Artists: The Strokes, Bloc Party, The Smiths


Favourite music magazine: NME

Alex regularly goes to gigs in London where he lives and also goes to the Isle of Wight festival in the summer with his family. The best gig he's been to is Blur at Hyde Park. He uses his i-pod, i-tunes, Spotify and hypem.com to listen to music. He plays the guitar and the bass and is in a band.






Name: Gemma Howard

Age:16

Favourite Artists: The Libertines, Los Campesinos, Patrick Wolf

Favourtie music magazine: NME

Gemma regularly goes to gigs and most recently went to see The Decemberists. The best gig she's ever been to is Pete Doherty at Sheperd's Bush Empire. She loves to listen to music either on her i-pod, itunes or the radio.






Name: Rosie Marks

Age: 14

Favourite artists: Manic Street Preachers, The Smiths, Tokio Hotel

Favourite music magazine: Q

Rosie recently went to see Morrissey at Brentwood Centre, which she says is the best gig she's ever been to. She is nearly always listening to music, either in her i-pod or using i-tunes.






Name: Ryan Webster

Age: 16

Favourite Artists: The Beatles, Oasis, Bob Dylan

Favourite music magazine: Q

Ryan likes to go to gigs and is looking forward to see Ian Brown this month. The best gig he's ever been to is Oasis' last night at Wembley Stadium (which turned out to be their last stadium gig in the UK.) He uses Spotify, radio, YouTube and I-tunes to listen to music. He plays the guitar.