Music Magazine Textual Analysis

By Katie Pearl

Language The main model in this magazine cover has a direct mode of address by staring straight into the camera which establishes a relationship with the reader. This image of Taylor Momsen is a close up and was most likely to be taken in a studio, she is also situated taking up the majority of the front cover which follows the conventions of music magazines.

This magazine cover has many different puffs including a ‘massive Halloween special’ inside a box out of a pumpkin. There are also ‘awesome posters’ advertised at the centre of the top of the page which act as a lure as it may be an incentive for the reader to buy the magazine.

The colour palette for this magazine is red, yellow, black and white which creates a house style and allows the brand to be instantly recognisable through the continuity. Red connotes passion, along with black which also connotes power and all the colours are very bright so they are eye catching and would stand out on a shelf.

The feature article cover line is larger than the others as this is what will sell the magazine.

There are also many tag words including ‘awesome’, ‘secrets revealed’ and ‘massive’. The words create a buzz around the magazine and make the magazine appear to be special and something worth buying.

The cover lines adhere to the rule of the thirds by being on the right hand side of the page and this is also the place where the reader will first read the article. These cover lines advertise the stars and articles inside the magazine.

This magazine cover also uses many language techniques, such as alliteration with ‘creepy clowns’ which create rhythm and help the reader remember the article. The editors also write that ‘Andy spills his guts’ this signifies that Andy told the magazine personal information and is also a form of a metaphor and a hyperbole.

The typography is all in capital letters although there is a range of different fonts and sizes used to make it interesting but to also highlight the difference of importance of the information.

There is a website advertised on the bottom left of the page, along with the barcode, price, issue and issue number. The price is given in pounds and Australian dollars which suggests Kerrang magazine has a global readership which prominent loyal readers in Australia as well as England. The website allows readers to access more information and establish loyalty within those readers. The issue is ‘Oct 29 2016’ which suggests this magazine publishes weekly editions.

The masthead is towards the top of the page in the top centre third, which adheres to the rule of thirds. The main model is covering the majority of the title which suggests the magazine is so iconic and recognisable that the whole title doesn’t need to be shown. This also shows that the main star is of higher importance than the masthead.

Audience The primary target audience for Kerrang magazine are 16-34 year old males in the ABC1 demographic and explorer psychographic. The secondary target audience would be 16-34 year old females also in the ABC1 demographic and explorer psychographic. Kerrang are successful in reaching their audiences through magazine, radio, TV and with a large online media presence. They have 745,000 Facebook fans and 920,000 listeners tuning into Kerrang’s radio show every week.

Representation The representation of this magazine is very dark and gory and links into the zeitgeist of Halloween. Kerrang is successful in representing their brand as being loud (both in content and design), alternative and wild.

Institution Kerrang is published by Bauer Media Group who also publish Q magazine and MOJO. It was first published in 1981 as a one off insert in the Sounds newspaper. In the 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. The founder of Kerrang is Alan Lewis and the editor is James McMahon. They are the biggest selling weekly music magazine in the world and sell three times the amount that NME does.

Genre The genre of this magazine is rock and this is directly shown through the stars they display in the magazine such as Andy Biersack, Taylor Momsen and My Chemical Romance.

Language The colour palette for this contents page is black and yellow which connote danger and darkness along with white which allows the important information to stand out. These were the same colours as on the front cover to show the continuity and follow on the house style.

There is one main image dispersed with typography and a few smaller images and the layout is very similar to the front cover.

The main star has Halloween makeup on, continuing the theme and the image is a close up. The main model also has a direct mode of address by staring straight into the camera and establishing a relationship with the reader.

She has her tongue out signifying defiance although her tongue is covered in gold glitter looking glamorous and extravagant.

This page follows the conventions of contents pages by having of image of the front cover shown with extra information next to it.

In the bottom right hand corner, the posters are advertised again. This shows the importance of these posters to the magazine in acting as a lure for an incentive for the readers to buy the magazine.

The pugline is also shown on the contents page addressing the issue number and date of issue.

This magazine also challenges stereotypes of contents pages by not having a masthead anywhere on this page. There is a title on the top right hand side of the page although this is smaller than usual and is bold.

Under the masthead, there is a note from the deputy editor detailing their usual editor is on holiday and pointing out some of the Halloween inspired content.

This contents page also has a column on the right hand side of the page illustrating what is in the magazine along with page numbers so the reader can go straight to the page they are interested in. This challenges the conventions of having smaller pictures linked to articles as the pictures on this contents page are linked to a lure and the editor’s note and has one image dominating the page.

Audience The target audience for this magazine is 16-34 year olds in the ABC1 demographic and psychographic through the use of young artists and in the rock genre.

Institution Kerrang magazine is published by Bauer Media Group who also publish Q magazine, Grazia and heat. Bauer Media Group have a worldwide circulation of 38 million magazines a week with their many brands.

Language This double page spread adheres to the rule of thirds by having space for three columns on each page. However the image of the star, Taylor Momsen, challenges stereotypes for double page spreads as the image lies across both pages with the typography in between.

This is an effective layout for impact although it is difficult to see her face because of the fold in the page.

This double page spread is the feature article so is usually the reason the reader bought the magazine and therefore the star, Taylor Momsen, dominates the pages.

There is a lot of negative space in this double page spread although this helps to frame the writing and images.

The masthead also appears on every page at the bottom next to the page number which adheres to the typical conventions of magazines.

The colour palette for this double page spread is black, white and red which connote power, danger and dominance. These colours are also used in their house style and shows their continuity.There is a pull quote on the left page which is in capital letters and a large font size to highlight the importance of it. This pull quote is quite controversial to make the reader read the article and to spark an interest.

The typography is white against the black background as the majority of the writing is a small font. This would be to portray as much information as possible to meet the readers wants although this articles covers four double page spreads. This is also why there isn’t a main title on this page as it was shown on the previous double page spread and this page is a continuation of the same article.

This double page spread also uses a range of language techniques to make the article more interesting. For example, alliteration is used with ‘Fear Factor’ making the extract memorable and rhythmic. Furthermore, this article is called the ‘Halloween Spooktacular’ in the top right hand corner which is a pun and is comical.

Taylor Momsen is starring in this magazine for synergy as she is selling a her third album, Who You Selling For which was released a week before this Kerrang magazine was released. This helps her promote herself and her album along with generating sales for the magazine. The narrative of this double page spread is about her views, life and recording her music.

There is a red box out running along the bottom of both pages with information about what frightens Taylor Momsen. This is more personal information which is shown with pictures alongside the writing. These make the double page spread look more interesting and the readers eyes are drawn straight to it as the box out is bright red. It also has blood splatters in the corner to act as continuity for the Halloween theme.

Representation This double page spread reflects and represents the rock genre by having a stereotypical rock artist looking defiant and provoking, with the knife in her hand. She is looking straight into the camera as a direct mode of address which establishes a relationship with the reader. She is also wearing the clothing of a rock artist with the leather jacket, wearing clothes in all black, with dark makeup and silver chains.

Audience This double page spread would be aimed at Kerrang’s younger, female audience as they would target the fans of Taylor Momsen. Her fans are female, 16-25 year old rock listeners in the explorer psychographic and E demographic as she would have established an amount of her fans from starring in Gossip Girl.

Institution This magazine is published by Bauer Media Group who publishes other magazines including Empire, Q and heat. Bauer Media Group is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group with over 300 magazines along with radio stations and TV stations.