Task 5

Research into similar music magazines on which you could base

your magazine.

Similar magazines I am going to base my own on.

• NME• Q• Kerrang!• Vibe• Blender• Billboard

Q magazine research

Q• I wish to make my magazine based around Q as it covers rock and pop genre’s from all

different decades which is the kind of style I am hoping to achieve.• Q is a popular monthly magazine that is published in the UK. It aims to appeal to both older

and younger audiences as most music magazine around nowadays do not do this and only cover contempory music. It was first published in October 1986 producing high quality photography and articles.

• It has an extensive review section featuring new releases, concert reviews, compilations, and also radio and TV reviews. It is also well known for its compiling lists such as "The 100 Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists".

• They also give away promotional gifts such as cds and books.• Every issue has a different message on the spine, which then has to make the reader think

about what is inside. This changes every month.• Its current editor is Paul Rees and comes from the publishing company Bauer.• Q also has a history of being linked with charitable organisations.

Q double page spread

Articles featured in Q

• Interviews• Reviews on music• Feature articles giving information on artists

and albums.• Pictures• Activities (crosswords• Album releases

NME magazine research

NME

• NME stands for New Music Express• It has been published every week since March 1952.• It was the first British paper to include a singles chart

and in the 1970’s was the top selling music magazine. • Is mainly closely associated with punk rock.• It is published by IPC media.

History of NME• During the 1960s the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The

Beatles and The Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the front cover.• By the early 1970s NME had lost ground to the Melody Maker as its coverage of music had

failed to keep pace with the development of rock music, particularly during the early years of psychedelia and progressive rock.

• After sales plummeted, Alan Smith was made editor and was given a short period of time by IPC to turn things around quickly or face closure. As a result the paper's coverage changed radically from an uncritical and rather reverential showbiz-oriented paper to something intended to be smarter, hipper, more cynical and funnier than any mainstream British music paper had previously been (an approach influenced mainly by writers such as Tom Wolfe and Lester Bangs). In order to achieve this, Smith and his assistant editor Nick Logan raided the underground press for its best writers, such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler, Ian MacDonald and Californian Danny Holloway .By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Logan in mid-1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies per week and was outstripping its other weekly rivals, Melody Maker, Disc, Record Mirror and Sounds.

NME...• However in the 1980’s sales dropped again and was in danger of closing and by the end of the

decade, Danny Kelly had replaced Alan Lewis as editor.• The start of 1990 saw the paper in the thick of the Madchester scene, and covering the new

British indie bands and shoegazers.• By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene was dying off, acid house was suffering from being

the subject of a vigorous campaign to outlaw it by the John Major government, and NME had started to report on new bands coming from the US, mainly from Seattle. These bands would form a new movement called Grunge and by far the most popular bands were Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

• From the issue of 21 March 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, color covers.

• In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed editor. With a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley Andrew Kendall, James Looker and Pieter Van Hattem, and a high turnover of young writers. It focused on new British bands such as The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs who emerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Later, Arctic Monkeys became the standard-bearers of the post-Libertines crop of indie bands, being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespread commercial and critical success.

NME..• In May 2008 the magazine received a redesign, aimed at an older readership with a less

poppy, more authoritative tone. The first issue of the redesign featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single. Circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. In the first half of 2010, the magazine's circulation was 33,875, 53% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442.

• In 1996 under the stewardship of NME editor Steve Sutherland and then NME publisher Robert Tame, the NME started its website NME.COM. Its first editor was Brendan Fitzgerald. Later Anthony Thornton redesigned the site, focusing on music news. In November 1999 the site hosted the UK's first webcast, of Suede 'Live In Japan'. In 2001 the site gave away a free mp3 of The Strokes debut single "Last Nite" a week before its release. The site rallied around The Libertines after their debut single "What A Waster" dropped from playlists due to its profanity - giving away the single as a free mp3 download.

Articles featured in NME

• News• New bands• Gigs• Reviews• Interviews• Pictures

Articles featured in Vibe

• Interviews• Articles• Style • Playlists• Editors letter

Artists/bands that have been featured in NME, Q and Vibe.

• Adele

• Rolling Stones• Coldplay• Snow Patrol• U2• Adele• Madonna• Rihanna• Oasis• Lily Allen• Arctic Monkeys• The Beatles• The Clash• Cheryl Cole• Take That• Katy Perry• Alicia Keys• Bruce Springstein• Noel Gallagher

• Usher• Eminem• Beyonce• John Mayer• Chemical Romance• Foals• Lady GaGa• Florence and the machines• Mark Ronson• The Drums• Amy Winehouse• Kasabian• The Killers• Foo fighters• Nirvana• Mumford and Sons• Jack White• The Strokes• Muse• Pete Doherty

Possible names

• RAR (rock and roll)• Wave• Stop• GT• TrueMusic• Go

Possible genres

• I want to cover a wide range of things in my music magazine as I would like to cover rock/pop music from different times such as The Rolling Stones to the more modern types of bands such as Snow Patrol and Coldplay.

Idea’s for articles• Interviews with bands • One main girl on the front cover- new artist releasing her album-double page

spread interview with her inside• Contents-show interviews, articles on bands, top 10 albums of the year, offer for

subscription, masthead featured, date, price, follow the rule of thirds layout, one main image.

• Front cover- also follow rule of thirds, one main image(medium close up image of girl) subheading for other articles and interviews.