Research into the music magazine market

Genres of mainstream Magazines in the UK:
.Dance music Magazines
. Alternative music magazines
.Rap/hip hop magazines
.pop magazines
.ect

A list of the biggest music magazines and their genre and audience:

Magazine title                     Genres                        Target audience

Artrocker                         modern                         18-30
Big cheese                       rock/punk                      14-18
Black Velvet                   rock/punk                       16+
Clash                             modern pop                     16+
DJ Mag                         Dance/Electronica            18-25
The fly                          Alternative                        16-25
Kerrang!                      Pop punk                          14-20
K Mag                        electronica/Dubstep           16-25
Metal Hammer            Heavy Metal                      16+
MixMag                     Dance/House                      18-25
Mojo                         Classic Rock                       30+
NME                         Indie                                   18+
Q                              Mainstream Indie                 16-30
Rock-A-Rolla           rock metal/Experimental       18-30
Stool pigeon             Indie                                     20+
Terrorizer                Metal                                    35+
Top of the Pops      pop/chart music                     12-16
Uncut                     Rock/Indie                             25-35

Magazines under Media Publishers:

IPC:  NME, Uncut
Bauer: Kerrang!, Mojo, Q
Future publishing: Metal Hammer, Classic Rock , Rhythm

Magazine Circulation Figures:

The Fly(free)- 108,827:  8.4%
Mojo- 85,149:  -2.4%
Propaganda(free)-  76,339:  68.8%
Q- 64,596:  -19.7%
Uncut- 63,003:  -4.5%
The stool pigeon- 54,588:  N/A
Kerrang!- 40,203:  -6.6%
NME- 23,924:  17.6%

evaluation

  Evaluation   
 1. How do your magazine pages conform to (or depart from) the typical Conventions of magazine design.                 

The magazine I have been working on (in which it centre's around a college magazine for Priestley)  has many conventions which have been played by the rules and also some which haven't. For starters, my magazine provides the typical masthead of the conventional magazine and also uses techniques like the left third( which is the majority of text on the front cover of the left hand side). Of course, My magazine also includes a model with an close up shot in the middle of the page and it also includes many over devices like prices and bar codes, slogans and minimal colour. Unlike my front cover, My contents page differs slightly from it. More colours have been used, there is staggered images in spaces and text filled in the columns, and there is a use of convergent media.ia.

2. How are young people represented in your magazine?

Considering it is in the theme of a college magazine, young people are definitely going to be portrayed in an optimistic way. Usually in newsletters surrounding schools/businesses, there is always something to be  achieved by students/workers. Unlike in the popular media where most of the time teenagers are portrayed with a reputation to party and drink, College/school magazines shine in a completely different perspective. Unlike the pessimistic portrayal of teenagers in which its view is over exaggerated,  the college magazine portrays teenagers in a good way but yet it is rather subtle.

3.What have you learned about technologies in the process of producing these pages?

Being introduced to new software I have never used before or barely use, you can easily pick up vital basics in creating things. For example, I have never used Quark before and have barely used Photoshop a lot, but slowly after a couple of weeks i got a good grasp on it. At first, the production and software seems a bit hard, but by using it frequently, I managed to develop a decent looking piece of work considering OI was a beginner.

Final outcome on magazine contents page

Final outcome of magazine front cover

Steps in creating a contents page in quark

Steps in creating my Magazine cover

concept sketch for contents page

Concept sketch for magazine cover

Notes on doing a photoshoot

-Make sure there is a good source of light in your pictures.
-create as many photos as you can so you can pick out a good selection of film.
-direct your model to do various poses you want.
-Talk to your model so both you and them can become more relaxed in the process.
- make sure you have a good background; something simplistic and not too busy is perfect.