Magazine AnalysisProduct Research (3 Front Covers)

Jack Liddle

The layout for Kerrang! Is very organised for a magazine with all these stories because it has the mainstream bands at the top and more at the bottom so the audience looks at it all to be thoroughly entertained for the music genre they like which includes, rock, pop-punk and metal. The Splash image isn't obscured in any way which could mean that the band and genre which is represented is boasted where the audience is a subject to cultural hegemony because of all bands they have within their pages.

A necessary feature for magazines is the barcode where it can have the issue number to see how long it’s been published as well as ordering any that you may enjoy. It’s usually small so it’s the last things the audience see. This is because if they see the price first an expensive magazine will put them off buying it.

The font and colouring for this particular issue is quite interesting because of the woman (Hayley Williams) on the cover. The sub-headings (good charlotte) are the same type of colour as her hair. This would be because the company want to make this eye catching towards the audience so they read the sub-headings to make it eye catching for the audience.

Menu Strip with buzzwords.This is here as a last attempt to get the reader to buy the magazine. It lists well known bands who’re generally advertised more often because the publishing company (Bauer media) knows the target audience will buy the magazine if it features more mainstream bands. They have on occasion, smaller or local bands that are similar to bigger bands to get the audience to listen to other music, sometimes genres they don’t enjoy, so they have another reason the working class will listen. They generally have some artists similar to the feature headlines to tie into that specific genre. This reflects the readership because if they know the open minded target audience enjoy knowing about new artists then they’ll buy it again if they’re likeable and within their genre of music.

The woman on the cover (Hayley Williams) expresses hegemonic masculinity because she’s a popular female singer in this genre of music who’d appeal to the men. As well she’d be a role model for the people in bands who listen to the type of music she plays. As well she's an aggressive pose which would compare with the `rebels` sub-heading. It could say that their type of music is rockish where it could be loud which conveys different messages for the issues that they write about. that could be political views, life, a special person or just sticking it to the man etc.To contrast this she’s in a feminine view because of her hair; she has it quite long which could say that she’s your all average teenage girl who’s audience are both male and female. As well as this, her hair and makeup say that she’s fine with the way she looks. It doesn’t look like she has too much to convey the confidence she has to transpire to her female audience.

Feature headlines are there for the big thing. By this I mean the latest story. For the audience this would create a sense of knowing, they’d know up to the minute latest information. It reflects the readership for teens because of a stereotype of feeling they need to know up to the minute information.

The pug (freebie) is there to make the audience think, if you buy a magazine just for the product it could be cheaper to buy it in the magazine . This tell us that not all the audience (working class) could be loyal to it if they buy it for the one band.For the long-time buyers it’d be an added bonus to the weekly magazine because they’d feel that this is a one time offer to make them more interested in looking at the magazine and buying it.From the look of that it’s been painted on it tells that this type of magazine is quite messy and the audience may not be expecting something’s that may be included in the magazine that they’ll fully enjoy. It says that the audience could've done it themselves to tie into the `rebels` sub-heading which ties into the stereotype of the teen audience which is the target audience

The masthead is the title kerrang! With a white background. The wearing away of the letters could mean that the amount of bands they have in the genre to say that it’s expanding but getting old.The smashed screen effect links to the sound a guitar makes when its really loud and plugged in. It adds to the fact that this type of music uses lots of guitars for the music every band makes which fits in with the emotion of the songs for example anger and rebels within the magazine for the stereotypes are aggressive teenagers, some of which who buy this publication so it reflects the readership of the target audience because it is teens that buy this magazine.

Buzzwords are there to attempt the reader into buying the magazine. It says that you need to know these things if you have an interest in listening to these bands. These words afflict with `dirty little secrets` because it’s gossip and everyone secretly does want to know about others secrets. This reflects the target audience for the female gender because of a stereotype for the amount of gossip some women know of.

Special is a buzzword because it gives an idea that it wont be out ever again (this particular issue). This says that its audience could be desperate to get this issue, being the audience is the working class this says they do enjoy listening to bands like this (Panic at the disco) because of a number of reasons; emotions from the songs, the gender of people in the band etc.

Young is a buzz word because it connects to the target audience for the feeling that this band is similar to the audience that read it so it creates a connection between the two.

The subheading afflicts with a secondary band that the magazine covers, usually not in so much detail. The reason for this is to acquire a bigger audience so if they don’t thoroughly enjoy one band they will another. As well they have the sub-image to make the audience think the story is bigger than they realise which could say they’re on the same amount of exposure but they wanted to have the bigger fan base of Paramore’s band read this issue. It reflects the readership because it’s saying that if there's one band they don't particularly enjoy then there’s many others which they can.

Metal hammer's masthead is black. This is to do with the type of music it writes about. Very hard, loud music . They have the title as metal hammer because a hammer is a working mans tool which says that the readership is mainly male (64%) continued by the fact its a magazine aimed at the working class (CZDE) through the price (£3.50) as well as that this type of music is dominated by the male population of bands and singers such as the man on the front cover (Oil Sykes). As well the title has a bit of irony as a hammer is a metal object to tie into the fact that the magazine represents hard and loud music.

Feature headlines (bring me the horizon) covers the centre of the image. This could signify how mainstream the band is or how much they’ve grown in the music industry. It signifies that the magazine knows what their target audience wants, which is loud heavy music in which anything can happen. `accusers` inflicts that they’ve committed a crime. The word `Heretics` backed up by the magazine signifies that they’re their defending them and they will continue as long as they make this type of music i.e. Metal backed by the target audience by both genders which buy it. As well, you can say that even though there’s dominance of the male gender, there’s an influence because of the amount of women reading the magazine (36%).

A necessary feature for magazines is the barcode where it can have the issue number to see how long it’s been published as well as ordering any that you may enjoy. It’s usually small so it’s the last things the audience see. This is because if the audience see the price first an expensive magazine will put them off buying it.

Menu strips are set all over the cover to spread out the variety of bands that are being advertised to the audience. This is because there's always an audience for music so the company spreads out the bands around the cover and issue so that the viewer will read every band name before making a decision to buy the issue and reading it in its full.

The font is interesting for this particular issue because they start of with `Bring Me The Horizon` really big and in a bold yellow font which is the fist thing the audience will see. This is to do with the `accusers` statement and it could represent a light of hope from the heavens; i.e. the fans) that let them know they’re innocent.

For splash image; the man (Oli Sykes) is to the subject of cultural hegemony because not everyone does like this type of music and not everyone will enjoy it. This says that the target audience should be the defendants because if they enjoy his type of music then they’re getting in the way of the arrows and being accused to.According to his pose, tying in the idea of accusation, I assume he’s looking at a judge and awaiting his verdict. He looks quite laid back where the assumption is that he’s free to go because his band’s music is everything that metal hammer stands for; i.e. for the working class people that make music for their fans who enjoy the hard sound that comes from this type of genre.As well he’s a feminine view of desire because he’s shirtless, quite well built and has tattoo's. A positive of this is that it will reach out better to the female audience (36%) because of the stereotype of women enjoying men like this, tall, who has dominance, not afraid of pain and has an artistic side of things because of his tattoos.A stereotype of this genre of musician is he’ll have a tattoo to show that they’re not afraid of pain but as well to show their fans they don’t back down easy.

They use the different fonts to represent status for different bands and how mainstream they are within the world. ` a day to remember, Matt Tuck` etc. ,are well known within this type of music; i.e. loud icons to tie into the main image with the convention of rebellious where not everyone does enjoy the music. this tells us that target audience of 18-19 year olds enjoys hearing more mainstream artists so we can say it represents one generation of the audience within this specific magazine.

There’s a lot of subheadings within the front cover which suggests that this magazine is weekly because of the amount of information. This tells us that the audience enjoy hearing about other bands similar to the cover. They’re subject to cultural hegemony because they’re listing bands that are in the same genre to the band on the front cover (bring me the horizon)

For this issue, the splash image (Lily Allen) is in the view of the male gaze because of a few things. Firstly because of her clothing. Its quite small which exposes her legs, arms and breasts. They do this to get the message of sex to the older target audience of 22- 34 year olds across because some musicians don't care about it and some do. Lily Allen uses a raunchier view of herself because she wants to get across better to a male audience in which if people think she’s like this then her music would be. She advertises herself to get across to a bigger fanbase so that more people know who she is. However their opinion is they like her music or not. Another is because of her makeup. With her being dolled up, she does look good where she looks comfortable in her own skin. Because of this, she's being exposed in a feminine view. By this I mean the Females who read this magazine will look up to her and think this is the way they could look where some girls could steal her style like many do with different celebrities.

Spin has lots of artists for its headline and subhead-lines on the cover to simply get people to buy the magazine. People buy it because it has their favourite artist so they’re up to date on the stories concerning them. An obvious choice would be Lily Allen simply because she’s a household name. (a well known artist). They list many other and sometimes `different` artists/bands to attempt the reader to listen to them with more mainstream and `known` artists/bands that have been in the industry for some time (cultural hegemony) . This includes Bruce Springsteen, Lady Hawke and the cover artist Lily Allen. The magazine enjoy mixing with some `underground` talent from the current world. This would be from artists like Charles Hamilton, Glasvega and king Kha.This would suggest that audience do look at the articles with the many different artists/bands named so they may know who they are next time they’re in a magazine such as this.

I feel that spin is different to other magazines on the market. This is because of the layout is has. It has lily Allen placed in the middle. I feel they do this to build the magazine around the `cover star` (her) to get an idea of what the audience wants from the magazine. For Lily Allen its the fact that that she’s bold and artistic from the way she looks on the cover to her pose that draws the reader in because It looks as if she’s staring at a hater and saying, listen to my music. This pose communicates herself as an artist because she's a mainstream artist to communicate to the audience from different ages to ethnicities whom enjoy her music, being in this publication (Spin). As well they have her in front of the masthead to make the other parts of the magazine stand out and let other bands have an identity. They’re not part of a collective genre, they’re their own artists so they’re not being compared to one another.

I think that other magazines such as Kerrang! and Metal Hammer when doing photo shoots for their cover do theirs according to a pose for a specific place on their front cover but Spin does theirs in a way for they have a crashing effect to make the audience look so see who they’re talking about if they cant fully see the name. This does make it seem more visually pleasing so the audience. They’re intrigued into reading it with their favourite artists/bands included where cultural hegemony is inserted here because of the amount of artists named on this cover..

For the magazine, the masthead’s big and bold so it sticks out and gives you the magazines identity straight away, where this will usually be one of the first things the audience sees if they’ve never seen it. From the Red on the background of the masthead, it could convey passion some songs have. This says that its audience enjoy songs from lily Allen because her songs do have a passionate quality they find demanding ,for example, her song; `smile`.

A necessary feature for magazines is the barcode where it can have the issue number to see how long it’s been published as well as ordering any that you may enjoy. It’s usually small so it’s the last things the audience see. This is because if they see the price first an expensive magazine will put them off buying it.

Buzz words for spin include `Big in 09`. This would be because it gives off a idea that all the bands listed as sub-headings are quite well known mainstream bands and it gives off the music taste afflicted with this magazine. This tells us that the audience enjoy this type of music because they enjoy the best, the biggest and sometimes the more relevant music within this genre.