Music Magazine Market Research

Music Magazines Published in the UK

• Q• NME• MixMag• Kerrang• Uncut• The Wire• Metal Hammer Media

Publishing Companies and Other Magazines

• TimeLine Inc. – Q • Bauer media – NME and Kerrang• DMC (Disco Mix Club) - MixMag• The Wire Magazine Ltd. – Wire• Axel Springer – Hammer Magazine

MixMag

Key Stats• 55% of all copy's are sold in

the UK and USA• Over 2.3 Million online

impressions per month• Over 1.2 million unique users

per month• 98,000 subscriber world

wide

Their Mission Statement

• “Mixmag is the worlds biggest dance music and clubbing magazine. Mixmag has the history, the authority and the creativity to give the right brands an authentic association with dance music and club culture.

Typical Reader• 72% Male – 28% Female• Median Age is 24• The majority of readers are single and live

in cities

QReadership Statistics

• ABC1 are 71.8% of their readership• Median Age is 34• 70% of readership are in employment

Their Mission

• Q mission is to continue to be the ultimate guide to modern music, providing the readers with the latest information through their unrivalled access to music's biggest name.

• Their Typical Reader

• Their typical reader is a 29 year old male who lives in Leeds. Music is incredibly important to him and he loves to go to live events.

Key Stats• Male: 74%• Female 26% • Median age: 23• Student 42% • ABC1: 68%• Circulation: 33,875• Readership: 325,000• ABCe Unique Users:

5,342,246

Typical Reader

NME readers love music and use NME to keep up-to-date on the latest news and products. The readers trust NME as a brand as they give honest answers and true interviews. They also enjoy watching films at home and at the cinema.

Their Mission Statement

To provide the newest news and reviews for the best music - “The First For Music News”

NME

Music MagazineCover Analysis

Mixmag Cover Analysis

This Splash Image is a long shot and shows that he will be the main focus of the magazine

The Masthead on this cover is set back behind the main splash image. This makes the main splash image the most prominent feature.

The tagline on this cover and the cover of most of the magazine is the

Main Cover line the main cover line gives context to the splash image and follows the same colour themes of the rest of the cover

A plug is used to show that there are added exclusives in that edition. This is to persuade to reader to buy

A puff is used in the cover to persuade the reads to buy it as it is a “Special Edition”

The front cover also contains a plug that is a competition to win a trip to a Dance Music festival

Here are some splash features that inform the reader of what is inside. They have alternating red and white coloured backgrounds to make them stand out from each other.

The page is split up into thirds and the left third it occupied primarily by splashes, plugs and puffs. This is because as we read left to right these will be the first things the reader will see.

The middle third is occupied by the splash image and the main cover line as the centre is where the readers attention will be focused

The right third mainly contains the extra information and exclusives in that edition.

Q Magazine Cover AnalysisMasthead

The main Cover line is the name of the artist who is the main splash image. It is written in a different hand written for to give the effect of his autograph.

In the right hand corner of this cover we can see the masthead that is Q Magazine Logo. This is a trend among all of the editions of Q magazine. The colour theme of the logo is carried through the rest of the cover

Cover lines are used on Q Magazine to tell the reader what is inside. This is good as it highlights to the reader the main articles in the magazine

The cover has a main splash image of a medium shot of the key artist in that edition. This is centred and fills most of the cover.

This cover contains a puff that draws the readers attention to the plug that is inside of it.

Inside of the puff is a plug for a featured article in the edition and the word “Essential” emphasises the importance. It also follows the same colour theme as the Masthead

This edition of Q magazine contains a bottom bar that contains a plug. This bottom bar is useful as it covers the whole width of the page so that it is more prominent to the reader. This is good as they will notice the plug and more likely to buy it.

NME Magazine Cover Analysis

The black and white splash image is effective as because it is black and white it emphasises the colours of the text drawing the readers attention toward them

The “Glasto” graphic has a yellow background and black text to make it stand out as it is different from all the others. This is good as it is advertising that this is a limited edition.

This puff is used to plug one of the main articles inside the magazine.

Cover lines are used here to give details on what the articles about Kanye are about inside.

The preview on the cover provides a mini contents that will show the reader what to expect from the magazine

The text on this cover is evenly spread across the three sections so that the main splash image can be clearly seen.

The NME Masthead is feature in every cover and is a prominent feature on it. This clearly informs the readers which magazine it is.

Music Magazine Contents Analysis

MixMag Contents AnalysisThe text on this contents page (including the mast head) is very clean and straight. This gives it a modern style that will appeal to their younger audience.

In the right third there is a medium-long splash image. This is consistent through most of MixMags Contents pages and often shows an image of a party which will appeal to their audience.

On the left third there is the contents, listing all of the articles and a small description in the form of a cover line.

At the top of the contents list it is titled as VIP. This makes it seem to the reader that they are important and are getting an exclusive.

This contents page contains a bottom strip which also acts as a plug for a free exclusive in the edition.

They may have chosen to use an image of a female as MixMags readership is 72% male so this a appeals to the idea of the Male Gaze.

Q Magazine Contents AnalysisOn this contents page of Q Magazine there is a Long Shot of Dave Grohl. This advertises to the reader what the main story is about. He is also looking at a picture of the cover. This may be used to draw the readers attention toward the plugs featured on the cover.

All over the contents page there are numbers directing the readers to the page at which they will find that artist or article. As Dave Grohl is the main story in this edition the page number that he is on is bigger and is the largest and most prominent text on the page. The font used is modern but sophisticated.

On this page a lot of puffs are used to interest the reader in the most prominent articles. These images link to the list of articles and page numbers.

Down the left side, much like in the MixMag contents page, there is a list of the main featured stories and articles with their page numbers and a small description. Q Magazine will have chosen to put this in the left third as you read from left to right so it is the first thing they will come across.

The mast head used on the contents page is much smaller that the one used on the cover but still follows the same colour theme.

NME Contents Analysis

In the NME Contents page down the left side they have an Index of the bands included in the edition. This suggests that the readers of NME are more interested in individual bands than the culture as a whole.

On right side on the page there is the contents. In NME the contents if split up into groups of coverlines by the type of article they are. This suggests that the readers of NME like a more organised Magazine and may therefore be other than the readers of MixMag.

At the bottom of the contents there are plugs and puffs pointing out special articles and exclusives in the edition.

The splash image on this contents page is a lot darker and grainier than the ones on MixMag and Q. This suggests that NME specialise in older types of music.

The Masthead on this page uses a very simple font (much like you would see in a newspaper) and it is red, black and white following the same style as most of the rest of the page.

There is an advert featured on this page advertising a subscription to the magazine. This is unusual as it is a very expensive spot but as it is adverting their own product they can do it.

Double Page Spread Analysis

MixMag Double Page Spread Analysis

On the MixMag double page spread they use very bright and vibrant colours that will appeal to the young audience of the magazine. These colours continue into the headline, sub headlines and the top banner.

The layout of the double page contain a mix of images and text. On page one it is half and half of text and images. The images are Medium Close Ups and contain similar colours to the rest of the page. The text is ordered into four columns with a sub headline and another small image. This gives the page a ordered yet full style.

On the second page it is split up into two half's that contain two different articles. They both again contain text and an image with a colourful headline. The images are all medium close up shots which gives the reader an effect that they are in the party with them as all of the images used are set in a tightly packed party situation.

Each article contains a small need to know fact that acts a small summary for the main article. This is a great feature as it provide the reader an idea of what the main article will be about without having to read the whole article.

Q Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis

This double page spread has a background image that covers the whole of the two pages. This image has a filter on it that makes the main feature of the image (Ed Sheeran) stand out more. The shot of Ed is taken as a Medium Long Shot and he fills the majority of the left page.

The headline of this double page spread is a quote from the artist who is featured in the image. The quote is set out in a way that shows the “I’m Back” part of the quote as the main part and the “Bringing Ginger” as the secondary part. This is to draw the readers in as they want to read why Ed has come back. Also the “Ginger” is in red which follows the main colour scheme and making the headline stand out more.

In this magazine they use a much more organised layout for their text than in MixMag. This is because their target audience is a an older more mature reader that prefer a more formal layout. They have put their text in a white box so that it can be easily read and the sub headlines inside of it are in red so that they are more prominent.

NME Double Page Spread Analysis

This double page spread is much like the Q Magazine pages as it contains an image that covers the majority of the left page. The image is a medium shot of the artist that is featured in the article.

The headline is styled as a headline of a newspaper. This is a good choice of style as NME is now a free magazine so needs to suit and interest a wider audience. By using the style of a newspaper it is a more general theme that allows them to write about anything they want (News, Articles, Gossip) and it can still suit it. However they do use a bright pink to highlight the key points and this gives it a casual and younger appeal to it.

The text on this double page is ordered into 3 columns which makes the overall layout of the article professional and organised. However the dark text is on quite a dark background so it is not as formal as in Q Mag but is not as colourful and casual as MixMag.