Analysis of Front Cover

Rocksound


On the front of this cover the number of colours stuck to are four which are red, white, yellow and blue. These are used for different things. The white is used for titles and to separate band names from another. The yellow text is for freebies in the magazine and competitions like to win a Playstation 3 and free posters and cd's. The blue text is used for sub headings below titles and to separate the different band names. The colours are bright ones which don't blend in the background or clash.
The font used is all the same on the front but just has different sizes for titles and sub heading. The font is the same as the one for magazine titles but it just has been edited in an unique way.


The image used covers up the whole page with that being the only image. The image layers over the magazine title which makes it stand out. With only one image it draws your eyes to it which shows you the main focus of the magazine. This appeals to the target audience because it is a well known music band that the audience would be enticed to read about.

The bar code is in the right hand corner and isn't in the way of any text or any part of the image.

Analysis of Contents Page


The colours used are red and white and black. The red is used for page numbers and some information for some features. The white shows the features titles and sub headings on the first page of the contents. On the second page white is used for the letter from the editor. The black is used for feature titles on the second page and sub headings on different pages. It is also used for the information on who was involved in making Rocksound.
The font that is used is the same as the the ones used on the front cover which is simple and not complicated to read.


The images used are of bands or band members which are the main features in the magazine. These are used because they think these are the people the audience is going to be interested in.


Analysis of Feature Page


The colours that are used on this feature are red, black and white. The red is used as an edit on the images used. There is red in the background showing a simple pattern. I this is because it puts colour in the dark background, otherwise it would look boring. There is black used in the whole background and also the background in the images used. All the text on the pages are coloured white. This would because it stands out the best against the background.


The font which is used for the main text is different from which is used on the front cover and contents. On them two pages the font used looks like Arial. On the feature I am analysising the font used is Times New Roman. The font which is used on small headings is the same as the front cover and contents. The title which is used is the bands logo which they use for their albums etc.. Some of the writing is quoted bigger which would be the best ones for people to be interested in.


The images used are of the band members. The first one is A4 sized of the lead singer. I think Rocksound done this because he appeals to the reader and it would want to make them read it. On the next two pages are the small images of
the other band members. Lastly there is a large picture of the whole band together. All the images are the same as in they were all done on the same photo shoot.

Lastly in the corner there is a small box with the lead singer on a cover from 2008. This is to show how much they have changed and progressed in a couple of years.


Analysis of Whole Magazine


The adverts that Rocksound advertise are full A4 pages advertising a CD by a band, a website with band merchandise, collaborations, gigs with tour dates, websites with album deals, subscribing to the magazine and designing merchandise for your own band. These are all good to advertise in this magazine because the bands are the music genre the audience are interested in. This therefore entices them to do what the advert says and buy these deals and go to the gigs.

This magazine has twenty A4 pages advertising these things. This is a lot for the actual size of the magazine. Though this isn't repeating any adverts just showing a different band or website. This amount of adverts are good because its showing different bands drawing the audience to at least one of them.

The kind of products the magazine are advertising are lots of CD's on reviews, chance to win a Playstation 3, chance to win skate shoes and different branded clothing, band merchandise, vinals, books and DVD's. Though the vinals, books and DVD's are all relevant because they are all to do with bands by the same genre.

The chance to win clothing and a Playstation are relevant because that us the stuff an ideal target audience is interested in.

Analysis of Front Cover


Country Music People



The colour used in this font cover are red and white. The red is used for the title and a banner at the bottom and the white is used for advertising what's inside. They used two colours which is simple but does look really boring.


The fonts used are all the same for the magazine title and everything else that is on there. This font is good because it is simple and easy to read.


The image used is of the main feature who is a musician. The background of the image seems he is in a theatre or somewhere quite posh and wealthy. He doesn't look like he belongs there because of the clothes he is wearing. He has a hat on and a plain black shirt.


The bar code is in the left hand corner which sticks out a bit because the whole red banner seems mainly for that which is a bit stupid.


Analysis of Contents Page


The colours used for the contents page are red, white and grey and black. The red is used for the titles of all the main features in that months magazine. The black writing gives you a little information about the features as a sort of sub heading. The grey used for the page title then particular headings for example features and reviews.

The fonts used for the contents page is the same as the one which is used for the front cover. This is good because then it doesn't look as if its from an other magazine.


The images on the contents page are like screen shots of different pages. As i don't know who the people are i think these are the best features in the magazine their audience would be interested in.

Overall i think the contents page is too boring because it looks so empty and there's too much white space. It looks really quickly put together and its not worth how much it is.


Analysis of Feature Page


The colours used on this feature page are black, white and blue. The black is used for the small text and the actual interview. The white used for the text on top of the images. This makes it stand out. The blue is only used for the big title which is the bands name.


The fonts used are different on the interview from the front cover and content pages. The font used for the interview is Times New Roman. The font used on the pictures and some sub headings are the same as the ones on the contents and cover.
This would be because it is simple and easy to read. The font used for the title isn't their band logo but the same as the magazine front covers title. Though on this feature page the title isn't bold.


The images used are the three band pictures which is one to each page. They are all taken on the same shoot which on a farm. The images are simple and bright just like the magazine itself.


Analysis of Whole Magazine


For this magazine the adverts they are advertising are for example country club membership which fits perfectly in with this magazine because the target audience are people with taste of that music. There is an advert for a book which features music like the stuff the magazine advertises. This would entice the reader to maybe purchase this too. These is an advert for a website which does music distribution. This shows images of CD's of the country music genre. The reader would possibly be interested in this too. There are more pages on sites which are advertising country music CD's.


The kind of products the actual magazine are writing about are lots of CD's with reviews and tour lists and a chart list of songs. These all appeal to the target audience because it is the music genre and bands that they are interested in meaning that they would be enticed to do what these adverts say.
A page has about subscribing to the magazine and you get three country music CD's. On the back advertises tours and musical events.
There are six full pages of adverts which isn't much. I think this is because the magazine is very serious about the stuff they write and publish. Meaning they are careful with what they pick to advertise.

Music Journalism Practice

I am going to write two short reviews for two different magazines. I will write about a game which will be Fable 3 and the two audiences will be for a magazine who's audience is teenage boys and the second will be for a woman's magazine which is completly different to the other magazine.

Teenage Boy's Magazine


Fable 3 is a brand new game out which continues from other Fable 2.


This is completly different from the last one, writing this you should know what we're writing about if you are Fable 2 player. The game play is different from fable 2 with it not being so free- roaming, you have to complete it before you can properly roam. The good things about the game are the storyline which does get you quite hooked and want to play on to find out what happens. Also the 'Road to Rule' is very good having to open up chests by earning guilds by doing quests. The actual communication with other people in the game is smart because it is smoother with actual dancing with others. The multiplayer has improved a lot with you able to communicate better with other players and more options to do more things together. The bad things about the game is how glitchy it is. Hands and bodies go through each other on cut scenes and your dog runs through you occasionally. The new way text is shown above people is a good thing but if you don't have a HDTV then it is really difficult to read the text. Once you have completed the game then you can roam but if you are trying to stay good then a lot of people die in the game and there isn't any way of you buying things in the shop. The creatures that are in there are amazing in the way they look because they look so much better then before but there isn't as many as Fable 2 which has let it down big time because it gets boring fighting the same things over and over again. I think everyone would want the Banshee's and the Troll's back! The whole storyline is so short. That was also a let down in Fable 2 so in 3 we would expect something longer but it was nothing like that. Overall the game wasn't really a big success with many people taking it back to Game and GameStation.

For a Woman's Magazine

Fable 3 is a game which is out for xbox 360. It was released on the 29th October and hasn't really been a big hit in the game industry. The game was impressive in the storyline with becoming king or queen. The other contents which is good is that the new menu screen with the butler who helps you. The way you can purchase items, change weapons and change clothes is a brilliant new way of a menu screen and something that isn't expected in Fable. The 'Road to Rule' is a new way in completing the game. It is nice to see Threasa back in the game and her helping you through. The bad contents is the lagging in the cut scenes which is like a video when you don't play. Also you dog cuts through you which puts the game down a lot. Overall the game is a let down which ended up with lots of copies being taken back to Game and GameStations which are shops which specialise in games for all consoles.

Institutional Data- IPC Media

IPC Media produces over 85 media brands, with their print bands alone reaching nearly two thirds of UK woman and 44% of the UK men. Almost 27 million adults buy the magazines and online brands collect 20 million users every month.
Their men portfolio (IPC Inspire) produces a wealth of leisure brands including Countrylife, House and Hound, Rugby World and Decanter. As well as producing lifestyle brands like Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.
Their mass market woman portfolio (IPC Connect) produces famous womans weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman. TV entertainment brands include What's on TV, TVTimes and TV and Satellite Week.
Their up coming womans portfolio (IPC Southbank) produces luxury fashion brands like Marie Claire and Instyle. Lifestyle brands Woman and Home and Essentials and home interests including Ideal Home, Livingetc and House to Home.
Pinpointing how far back IPC's roots stretch back into the midst of publishing history is hard. The IPC was formed in 1963 following the merge of UK's 3 leading magazine publishers George Newnes, Oldhams press and Fleetway Publications who came together with the Mirror Group to form IPC. IPC Magazines was created five years later in 1968.
Below is the history for IPC Media:
1800: 'The Field' launched in 1853 and within a year became the largest newspaper in Europe with 24 pages. Eight further IPC titles that are still around today that were launched in the late 1800's are Countrylife, Horse and Hound, Cycling Weekly and Amateur Photography.
Early 1900's: The first of IPC's four traditional woman magazines Woman Weekly launched in November 1911. The same year golfers north got the first copies of their own new title Golfers Monthly. Home and Gardens became one of the first magazines to be published after the first world war.
1920's:Odham's launched the new monthly Ideal Home in oppositions to Newnes Homes and Gardens. Woman and Home entered the market in 1926 and by its 3rd birthday in 1929 had grown to 144 pages, mainly fiction.
1930's: The 1932 launch of womans own heralded the arrival of one of IPC's traditional 'Big Two' with the show of Woman following five years later. Newnes promoted its first issue of Woman's Own with a free cover mounted gift- three skiens of wool with every copy. The first issue of Woman in 1937 cost 2d and was the first full colour magazine at that price. Other titles launched in this decade included Caravan, Stamp magazine and Prediction.
1940's: A key wartime role was played by IPC's woman weeklies. Keeping up the Morale of Britain Woman and supplying an essential information service and behave of the Government.
1950's: The upsurge in the music scene heralded the arrival of New Musical Express in 1952. Launching Radio Luxembourg. NME set the ball rolling with its compilation of the first offical UK record chart- topping that bill as Britain's very first no.1 was Al Martino's Here In My Heart.
1960's: Life for magazines staff would never be the same again following the 1963 formation of the IPC bringing together three rival magazine companies Newnes, Fleetway and Odhams Press. 1969 saw the birth of Football Weekly- Shoot!
1970: IPC welcomed the Queen and Duke of Edinbough to it's Kings Reach Tower HQ. HRH drops in on Horse and Hound, Countrylife, Woman and Womans Own, while Prince Phillip makes a solo visit to Anglers Mail and Yachting Monthly. Successful launches including Aeroplane Monthly and SuperBike.
1980's: IPC announces the formation of European Magazine LTD a joint venture company with Marie Claire to launch the UK edition in 1988. This decade IPC Editorial Awards are introduced. The launch issue of Essentials is a sell-out and after just six issues launches in France.
1990's: What's On TV made an entrance onto the scene on 1991. It goes on to become the UK's best selling magazine. NME becomes first UK music title to get it's own internet site which went on to become Europes most popular music website.
2000's: IPC Magazines is renamed IPC Media in 2000.
2004: Ignite! launch Nuts the worlds first weekly men's magazine in January 2004. It's the biggest launch in IPC's history.
2005: Pick Me Up launches in January 2005. It is the largest sampling exercise in UK magazine history.
2007: IPC Connect launches Look. The UK's first glossy high street fashion and celeb style weeky magazine Look is IPC's biggest even launch.
2008: IPC launghes Mousebreaker in June. It is a free-to-play gaming site. Featuring over 200 online flash-based games.
2010: In Janury IPC media restructured around three key audience groups: Men, Mass-market woman and Up-market woman.


Institutional Data- NME Magazine


The NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly magazine in the world. The award- winning www.nme.com launched in 1996 has grown to be the biggest commercial music news site in Europe. The key facts about about NME are:
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
NME have found out lots of indepth things about their audience who purchase their magazine. This is what they have found out on their audience:

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

This information i have used i have taken from NME Classified Media Information which was done a few years ago. All magazines have an idea about their target audience like NME do. Knowing this they know what things to publish in their magazines to attract that audience to read their magazine.

Initial Ideas for Own Music Magazine

My ideas for my own magazine will be for the image on the front cover will be of one person which will symbolise a band member from a popular band. They wouldn't be smiling because in music magazines simular to mine the images aren't really smiley on the front or they are pulling a funny face. The name of the magazine will be linked to what music that the magazine is advertising. The colours i will use will be probably black and red because red stands out against black. For example using a navy blue won't stand out against the black. I am going to use black because music magazines that are the same to kind of one i am going to do is a colour which they use a lot. I think this links to the music advertised which is rocky. The font i am going to use in my magazine will be simple and easy to read because my target audience aren't a well educated posh person who would be interested in reading in some fancy font. They will want to be able to read something quick and easily instead of trying to figure out what things say. The font for a feature page will be something like Times New Roman because in magazines i have looked at have different fonts on the actual writing for feature or interview. On my front cover i will put my bar code in a corner which wouldn't be in the way for any part of the image or information. The text with 'Whats in' the magazine that week will be in a banner along the bottom. I have noticed this is something that magazines do whether the banner is at the top or the bottom of the front cover. The contents page and feature page will stick to the same colours as the front cover to keep it consistant throughout my magazine. The images used on these pages will be of the main features which i think my audience would be most interested in.

Mood Board for Own Music Magazine


This image shows everything my own target audience would be interested in. I have shown the food they would like, the games they would play, the type of house they would live in and their pet they would own.
Added information for my magazine is:
Class: C12
Gender: 60% Male 40% Female.
Job: Shop Assistant, Supermarket worker- Full time.
Holidays: Cheap, not far and with friends.
Family: Boyfriend/Girlfriend long term.
Race: White British.










About Mood Board: The games consoles are on my mood board because my target audience are the young males. For young males that is what they are interested in as their hobbies and in their spare time. The house image is the type of house my target audience would live in. This is a small house or i would expect a small flat. They would have recently moved out into their own place. The dog is the type of dog i woulc expect a young male to own. Maybe not the youngest male but in the 20's i would expect this because its manly dog. The word skins symbolises the type of TV programme they would be watching. Skin's is aimed at young audience and is on late at night because of it's contents. Late night TV is the type of shows they would be interested in. The car is a small affordable one but still looks good for them to not be embarrassed to drive it. The pot noodle is the type of food they eat because it is quick and easy to cook. This would be the majority of the time when they can't be bothered to cook or are busy. The Radio 1 logo is the type of radio station they would listen too. This wouldn't play their type of music but it would be simular and the next best thing to it if they wanted to listen to the radio. The band image is of the type of music they would listen too. This music is heavy metal hardcore sort of stuff and it's quite alternative. They wouldn't be to everyones fancy but there are a lot of fans for this type f music. The game image is the type of game they would play on their consoles. That is a First Person Shooter. This is a game you can play online on both consoles and play with your friends. Boy's don't really get bored of this. The type of clothes they wear are skinnies or tight trousers and normally band tops or plain tops when they want to look a bit smarter. Lastly in their spare time going to the cinema with their friends is something they would do together or go out for meals or possibly go bowling together.



Analysis of Target Audience For Own Magazine


The demographic profile for my target audience would be aged 16-25. They would fit into an audience class C1 and C2 depending on their parents class. The gender for the magazine would be about 60 % for male and 40% for female readers, this is because of my magazine contents. They would live in a small affordable house or a friendly situated flat which would be in a town. Their marital status would be either single or have a long- term boyfriend or girlfriend.
The phschographic profile would be Individuals or Aspirers. This would be because the young ones aged 16-19 would be Individuals who are still uncertain about where they're going in life and the rest would be Aspires working towards a luxury lifestyle in the future.
The lifestyle Subset for my target audience are young individuals. Their lifestyle would be different from many others. Their hobbies would be games which would be for example Call of Duty or Medal of Honour more aiming towards the male audience. Socialising would be part of it because they would either be someone who has friends round a lot, cooking meals, watching films etc or going out with them to the cinema or bowling. They would also go to gigs quite often which would be cheap unsigned bands usually but their would be the occasional signed one when they have the money and transport. They could possibly be in a band themselves for fun mainly which would take up a lot of their free time.

Breakdown of Cast, Props, Setting, Location Report for Magazine

The cast for my magazine will be a few people who could pretend to be in a band. On the front cover i would have a friend to act as a lead singer of a band because they are the most important one you see in magazines. If i was to use props i would have them with their instrument because then you would see what they actually do in their band. The setting for my front cover would be to have them standing up against a well lit white wall so they stand out or agaisnt a brick wall because that would also look good. The location for this could be anywhere. For the white wall i could use just a wall in my house for them to stand up agaisnt and you can find brick walls anywhere for them to stand against. He would have his hands in his pockets or to the side of him or possibly sitting down on a bench. I would edit the background of him quite dark because in magazines like mine i have looked in their images have been dark. With the person looking quite dark and the background pretty much black.