Research - Music Magazines.

Whilst researching music magazines, I thought it was important to not just look at those of the same genre as my own but to look at a wider range. By doing so, I get a wider range of different conventions and what makes them successful.

"Kerrang!" is "the world's biggest selling weekly rock magazine", and is most commonly associated with rock/metal music. It's readers are aged between 14 and 25, the most common ages of music magazine readers. It aims to promote live, heavy music, covering bands such as Slipknot and Green Day, including interviews, photoshoots and gig reviews which appeal to the younger generations. During the last six months, Kerrang! circulated around 60,294 copies, making it one of the most popular magazines for music. Although Kerrang! is a different genre to my own, for example it represents a different, heavier kind of music than "indie", it's conventions are the same. It has a large masthead, overlapped with a photo of an artist related to the genre, with other smaller photographs circulating on the page, this seems to be the most successful layout for a front cover.

Q Magazine could be considered a music magazine for the older generations as it includes artists in the mainstream spotlight. Q usually covers artists that are well known, for example Madonna and U2, artists that many people have grown up loving. Although young people also enjoy to read it, the readers are usually above 25. Q appeals to many as it tends to includes coverage of well known festivals, such as Glastonbury, or well advertised gigs, such as Muse playing at Wembley. During the last six months, Q circulated 113,174 copies, making it one of the most popular magazines for various generations. It's layout differs to most others as the main photograph does not overlap the main titles or masthead, which is always in the top left corner. Although these are different conventions for a music magazine, they prove successful and therefore when considering my own front cover, I will look at changes and different ways of representing the masthead.

The last magazine I have researched is NME because it's conventions and genre are very similar to my own. It is most commonly known as an "indie" magazine, featuring some mainstream artists such as The Killers and Muse but also non-mainstream such as Vampire Weekend and MGMT. It's readers are mostly aged between 15 and 25, as it looks closely at gigs and festivals which appeal to teenagers and young adults. Every week new, young and unknown artists are featured, including interviews, gig coverage, and the NME radio chart. During the last six months, NME circulated 56,284 copies, which makes it one of most read music magazines for lesser known artists. If this many people read just one magazine, the amount of new music promoted is increased therefore giving new and unknown artists a chance in the industry, similar to my own aim.

Research - Magazine Sales.

An ABC circulation report showed that magazine sales from January to June in 2008 had begun to decrease and people were finding their music elsewhere, for example, online. Here are some magazines, of a similar nature to my own, and their decreasing sales:

Q Magazine.
Sales Jan-June 2008: 113,174
Previously: 131,330

NME Magazine.
Sales Jan-June 2008: 56,284
Previously: 64,033

Uncut Magazine.
Sales Jan-June 2008: 86,925
Previously: 91,028

These decreases are a result of music lovers looking elsewhere for their updates. A prime example is www.myspace.com/music. Myspace allows any artist, whether mainstream or simply a group of friends, to upload their music for anyone to access. This is a considerably cheaper way of looking at music, as the artist can post blogs, updates and bulletins. Here are three examples of lesser known, indie artists using online ways of promoting their music:

• Little Man Tate: www.myspace.com/littlemantatemusic
  
• Milburn: www.myspace.com/milburnmusic
  
• The Sunshine Underground: www.myspace.com/thesunshineunderground

With online networking sites taking over music updates, during the production of my magazine I will look into ways to add an edge to it, creating advantages over the internet. During further research I will look into other magazines and their style of music journalism to see what I can add to my own, whilst keeping to the conventions of my own genre.

Initial Ideas.

These are my initial ideas for my music magazine, however over time and through research, progress may change these.

The Magazine Name.
My magazine will be called "Underground", as it represents the live music by unknown artists that is most commonly found in underground locations or very small arenas, such as Manchester Club Academy. These allow lesser known artists to increase their fan base and as my magazine will aim to promote new artists, this name is perfect.

Magazine Target Audience.
Magazines of a similar genre to my own, such as NME, are aimed at the younger generation as most teenagers grow up with a keen interest in music. The readers are approximately aged between 14 and 25, and are both male and female. Most teenagers and young adults like to go to mainstream concerts or non-mainstream gigs, this therefore fits in with the live aspect of my magazine. As it will promote young unknown artists aged between 18 and 25, the target audience is apt to be of a similar age, if not a bit younger. My target audience is therefore teenagers and young adults aged between 14 and 24, of both genders.

Magazine Genre.
The main genre of my my magazine is indie, however it can be split into three producing a hybrid:

• The genre of the magazine will be music.
• The genre of the music the magazine promotes will be indie.
• The genre of the music promoted will also be live music.

Therefore I will later research the conventions of my genre and aim to create a suitable front cover, contents page and double page spread.

Introduction.

For my AS Media Coursework, I have chosen to do the DTP task and create the front cover, the contents page and a double page spread of a music magazine. I decided to do the printing task, instead of the filming task, as the individual work gives me the opportunity to use my creative skills and explore one of my own interests, music journalism. There is a huge variety of music magazines being published at the moment, ranging from those that specialise in mainstrain music such as Q, to those that include rather less known music such as NME. I personally listen to new and upcoming musicians, that come under the genre of "Indie", therefore, this will be the genre of my magazine and the focus will be on those unknown artists wanting to get into the industry. As I also enjoy live events, such as festivals and underground gigs, I will include aspects of live performances, such as photographs and interviews, in my magazine. The picture to the left, is the NME issue for the 16th February 2008, it is a typical indie magazine and includes all the conventions you would associate with my chosen genre therefore I will look further into them later on in my research.