Individual Analaysis of Magazine

Rock Sound, October 2013 Paramore edition

Audience• The audience for Rock sound are people between the age of 15 and 24,

they aim to attract all young audiences and interact with them and to do this they interview bands which people of that age group listen to, they report on musical events that these people will attend and they discuss issues with the stars that people who are young want to know about: things like bullying and low self confidence are 2 things they talk about because they are heavy on their audiences mind. Rock Sound knows that people of that age aren’t going to have a lot of money to spend of CD’s and music so they give away free CD’s and posters of the artists to give them an opportunity to have something that they might not have had access to before. Rock Sound is incredibly popular because it aims at people who aren’t necessarily interesting in the most popular of music, perhaps those who are into darker music and theme’s and because of this they have become amazingly popular with people who are young.

Elements that connect the 3 parts of the magazine

• All of the pages use the same colours: red, white, yellow and black. They are all quite simple colours by they all stand out in contrast to each other so that all pieces of text can be read.

• All important pieces of information are written in capitol letters.

• All of the pages contain large images of artists.

History of Rock Sound

• The first edition of Rock Sound was published in 1999 by a French publisher, Editions Freeway with its main headquarters being in London. The magazine has become well known for giving away a free CD with each article, particularly of bands who are wanting to gain more exposure and know that by offering free CD’s to be sold with Rock Sound they will gain fans from their target audience. The majority of Rock Sound’s sales come from newspaper stores though some of their income does come from subscriptions and they still manage to run despite the slight drop in sales as the years have gone by.

Front CoverThe masthead has been placed at the top of the magazine, starting on the left, so that it is in the main C of the magazine, which shows it to be very important. It uses a fading red colour outlined by white which suggests, just like the NME cover, that it is an informative magazine because red is used on newspaper covers. The words are bold however the R is split and seems to be almost rockish, which fits in with the genre of the magazine.

Masthead

Main ImageThe main image takes up the majority of the page and it has the three members of Paramore, with the lead singer at the front. This draws the most attention to her which suggests she will be featured most predominantly in the magazine, however the 2 male members are just as visible. The main image is a mid/ long shot which allows for us to see all of the bands clothing. They are all wearing dark colours, mainly black, and you can see their tattoos in the image which fits in with the rock genre of the magazine cover and highlights it. The woman’s makeup is dark and her hair a bright red, just like a lot of people in the rock genre they have their own style that can appear to be slightly strange, however it is very definitive of being a part of the rock genre.

The left third of this image contains a long list of articles in the magazine in large font, which suggests that they have a lot to write about and a lot of information, and this will draw in those interested in the rock genre. They use the word ‘revealed’ which suggests that secrets have been told specifically for this magazine and that they have links to the rock world which other magazines might not.

Left Third

The header for this magazine includes a bold yellow which highlights that the magazine is giving away a free cd and poster with it, which tells us that they give their readers more than they pay for just to spread the word of music. On the right of the header they have pictures of rock artists that they will be featuring in the next instalments of the magazine which tells us that they have many links in the rock genre.

The main cover line is the name ‘Paramore’ in big, bold, capitol writing. Behind it there is a tinted red box to make sure that all of the writing can easily be read . The effect of putting the main cover line in capitol letters makes it stand out on the page and shows that it is of vast importance. It will capture the attention of Paramore’s fans and because this magazine features them it will convince their fans to buy this magazine just to read about the one artist.

Header

Main Cover Line

Pull Quote

Date/ BarcodeThe barcode for this magazine is relatively small compared to other things, but still is large. They want to place emphasis on the cheap price especially because they are giving away free things.

The pull quote on this magazine is “I used to feel guilty about who I was...” and it seems to have been a quote taken from the lead singer of the band. The word ‘used’ clear shows that now she doesn’t feel guilty about who she is and because of her pose she seems to be showing off who she is. The use of the ‘...’ will grab peoples attention because they will know that more information is to come in the article- and for those people who feel the same way about themselves they will want to read on to find out how she overcame those feelings.

Contents Page

Contents Headings/ SubheadingsThe page numbers for the contents is in black and this differs to the rest of the magazine as black is not used regularly for text, and it makes it stand out to the yellow of the content headings. The content headings are all in bold to make them seem important and stand out, and underneath each there is a sentence or two in smaller, white writing which briefly goes over what is in the article.

The band index on the right hand side of the page draws us to it by the bright circle at the top and the yellow writing. ‘Need to hear!’ is quite informal and will draw in their audiences as it suggests the bands are really amazing. All of the writing is in capitols and alternates between white and yellow text to make sure that people can differentiate between the different bands that people should look at.

The main image of the contents page is of the band Paramore. In this shot all three are standing together which shows them as being one unit and a close band. The lead singers pose, hand covering mouth, seems to suggest that something has been/ is going to be revealed in the articles in the magazine along with the slightly cheeky smile on her face. Again they are all wearing dark clothing, however the man on the right has a massive smiley face which suggests these people are also happy.

The Editorial for this magazine is extremely informal. It starts with a question that would usually be used in conversation and it even goes on to use swear words throughout it- this is to connect with their audience who probably speak in the same way and it even ends with the Editor saying he is going to sleep until the next article, which is probably something that the majority of their audience does as well.

Band index

Main ImageCopy/Editorial

LayoutFor Rock Sound the contents page is over a double page spread which suggests that they have so much to write about that they could not fit it on only 1 page. The majority of the information about the rest of the magazine is on the right hand side and the left hand side and the bottom contains large pictures. This is because they have a young audience who probably aren’t looking to read masses of text and so the use of many pictures will definitely attract their target audience.

This magazine uses large images added all over the pages with either a white or yellow outline. Each has a caption and a page number which links to an article- it is basically a picture version of the Contents and this allows for fans of these artists to work out quickly, and without reading, who has been written about in each magazine edition so that they can purchase the magazines with articles that they will actually be interested in. All of the artists are wearing quite dark clothing which fits in with the rock genre.

Extras

Double Page SpreadMain Image

There are 2 main images on this double page spread, both of the band. In both you can see all of the artists outfits and, apart from Hayley Williams outfit on the left, they are all wearing relatively normal clothing- but they are still all dark which again links to Rock Sound being a rock magazine. The image on the left shows them as being quite relaxed, especially the posture of the men with their hands in their pockets is very casual. The image on the right seems to be an image where they are all having fun- Hayley pulling a face a Yaylor laughing and Jeremy is smiling with his arms resting casually on his knees. This suggests that the band itself is quite fun and shares a lot of laughs when they are together, almost like siblings. However in each you see their tattoos which again reinforces the rock genre of the magazine and tells us about the type of music that they produce.

Header

The Header for this double page spread is the same as the pull quote on the front cover, only this is in black and white writing and is the only quote on the page from the artist. It shows that this is the beginning of the article on Paramore and it also shows the audience that in this part of the article you will learn the context of the quote.

StructureThe structure of this magazine article is slightly different to what is usual as it contains 4 different paragraphs- the first in orange is an introduction to the band and their success, and being in orange makes it stand out and shows readers that it is supposed to be read first. Next to that, in slightly smaller writing, is an introduction to the article and what it will cover. And underneath that contains the main article with a key line in capitol, orange writing to make it stand out as being where people start to read, almost like a drop cap. This is only the start of the article on Paramore as it continues onto 4 more pages, each having an image of Paramore and a quote from Hayley Wlliams as she is perhaps seen as the most important member of Paramore and that the majority of the fan base wants to learn about her.