Analysis of 3 Music Magazines



In order for me to produce a music magazine to the best of my ability, i am going to write an analytical piece on each of 3 successful and well known music magazines that are still being produced to this day. I will choose the 3 magazines, from which i think relate the best to my chosen genre- 'indie'.

I am going to analyse the following three:

• NME
• Kerrang
• Clash



Music Magazine Genre and Genre Research

What is the chosen genre, which your magazine will focus upon?

I have decided to base the genre of my music magazine upon 'Indie'. I have chosen this genre because I think I will be able to present it better than i would other genres. I originally wanted to do 'dance-pop', but then when I thought about it, I came to realise that I wouldn't be able to portray it or bring it across very well as I maybe would compared to 'Indie'. Therefore, I finally decided to do 'Indie'.

What are the key features of this genre (i.e what are the main cultural and musical elements of this genre that give it its own individual appeal- how does this genre represent itself)?
'Indie' music is basically 'independant music', therefore artists associated with this genre tend to be less staged as a 'pop' artist would be. A 'pop' artist would be alot more manufactured and rehearsed than an 'indie' artist would be, because they are independent and work for themselves, generally doing all the work on their own and not having teams of large numbers working behind them. Key features of this genre would definitely be that Independence and the fact they associate and belong with small music labels, as opposed to huge, major music labels in the music industry. 'Indie' artists will probably also have less money than major names in the music business that fall under 'Pop', they wont be as well known and they will struggle alot more with getting by in life. Successful 'Pop' artists that are huge and extremely well known, will probably always belong to a  famous record label alongside other huge artists, and they'll all know each other and maybe work together abit more than 'Indie' artists would. 'Indie' artists keep themselves to themselves and only extremely successful ones might belong to major record labels, i think that's a key feature of 'Indie' music. The music is nearly always played with guitars mainly and follow a more relaxed however heavy rhythm to the tune of the song. Songs produced by 'Indie' artists wont be as hyped-up and happy-go-lucky as 'Pop' music would be, and would follow a lower beat and maybe a more down-to-earth approach to their songs, giving the themselves identity, making themselves different from the rest such as really famous artists, of course making themselves individual. The genre represents itself through guitars and the particular clothing they wear. 'Indie' artists tend to wear vintage-style clothes such as drainpipes and checked shirts etc, as opposed to hardly wearing anything like 'pop' artists tend to do. Although they show less skin than 'pop' artists, it would definitely not go as far as maybe 'rock/metal' music would go where they show no skin at all. 'Indie' artists also have that look of swept hair, sticking to their style and come across however they wish to. They don't show off in huge, expensive cars and wear lots of bling like 'R&B' artists, they are toned down but present a very individual approach around themselves.


What magazines, currently in publication, cover this genre?
Personally, I don't really think there are thousands of huge, well-known music magazines out there, associated with purely 'indie' music. Having said that, I'd say if i was to choose one well-known magazine that I personally think was the most 'indie' (ish) I would say 'NME'. NME has been publishing weekly magazines since the 7th March 1952, and is still ongoing to this date. This magazine has seen very famous faces pose for the cover and bases around most genres at separate times. For instance, one week it could focus upon 'indie' and the next maybe 'punk'. Other magazines such as 'Kerrang' and 'Clash'are also associated with the genre  have chosen-Indie and i ill then analyse them in a later post as well as NME.





What features do they have in their magazine and how do these features tie in with their target audience's expectations of representation?
If NME was focusing upon 'indie' music one week, the producers would deliberately associate the cover and contents with the 'indie' theme. For example, the images will revolve around that genre and relate to things associated with that particular style of music. Features in NME include the recent music charts and how artists in general rank against each other each week with their new releases. The magazine also features stories and interviews around different artists, whether their famous or just well known, or even just...known. I suppose it brings attention to those artists not quite in the spotlight as well as promoting those who are in the centre limelight at that time. Images probably make up over 50% of NME, and when I have actually read it myself, its amazing at just how many photographs there actually are displayed and featured in it. NME is defiantly associated with rock and indie music more than 'pop' and happy-clappy music. This is presented through the images they use and generally the background on the magazines are dark colours, making the images and text stand out more and look more effective and powerful. Again, if they were focusing a weeks edition on 'Indie' music, they most likely would photograph an artist playing the guitar or looking down the camera in associated clothes (drainpipes/checked shirts, sannies etc). This would then meet the expectations for the people who bought it that particular week or edition.


What additional features could you put in your magazine to make it stand out and appeal to an audience that is not already being marketed to?

In terms of age, I would probably feature a slightly more older artist associated to my genre, to make it that little bit more appealing to the older generation who maybe wouldn't buy the magazine if it contained all young artists. Young people are being marketed for alot more sufficiently and better than older people are, therefore, if i did decide to do this it would attract them and promote a positive vibe of maybe equality and fairness.

GENRE RESEARCH

  



POP

Pop is basically music in the form of 'popular music'- generally in the charts and tends to be very upbeat, happy and also catchy. Pop music is the sort of music where it will be suck in your head all day, because of a catchy gimmick from a song. Pop is an extremely huge sector of the music industry and makes up practically all of the 'Top 40' music charts- and they are usually the main winners at award ceremonies. At the moment, there are thousands of successful music artists which fall under pop, for example: Katy Perry (above), Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Miley Cyrus, Take That etc. These are all incredibly well known. Pop artists generally tend to follow guidelines on how to style themselves, which has received negative attention in the past as they apparently look- "manufactured" or "fake" and also "all the same".

I wanted to choose pop for my own magazine but when considering the requirements on the photo quality, I thought my model would be better suited to a different approach.

R&B

R&B is abbreviated for "Rhythm and Blues" and is commonly known as American music. Most R&B artists are American born, it originated in the 1940's and is incredibly popular among all audiences worldwide. Being one of the main genres of music, successful artists include- Rihanna (above), Alicia Keys, Akon, Beyonce, Jay-Z and many more. British R&B singers are recently becoming more and more popular, for example, Jessie J is a new artist on the scene, and has just been voted Critics Choice for 2011- signalling that R&B will become even more bigger than it already is. Along with Pop, R&B is probably is one of the top two contributors to music to this date. Stereotypically, the genre is dominated by African American and is audited to have a thumpy rhythm with very quick, witty lyrics. It is also known to be quite aggressive and even rude.

ROCK

Rock music is also another main group of the music industry. This tends to be a low/heavy beat and some people describe it as "just noise". The singers tend to shout and the music comes across, to some, as violent or aggressive. The music created is based around the electric guitar and drums, creating an intimidating pulse to people who aren't too keen. There are very successful rock bands/artists around, such as: Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses (above), Sex Pistols, Rolling Stones etc. Stereotypically, people who are linked to the Rock culture, are thought of to wear black clothing, with black hair and in general, follow the 'gothic theme'. Artists who do belong to this genre, also do win big at award ceremonies and despite there not being as many younger rock artists around, the rock name and theme has continually and persistantly been carried on throughout the years.

COUNTRY

Country music is still going strong, and with the increasing number of fresh, young artists associating themselves with Country, has definately brought the profile back up. For example, teen sensation Taylor Swift (above) is huge throughout the world, and despite being only 21, persistantly releases singles which all hit somewhere in the Billboard Top 10. Basically, Country music is music generated from a mixture of traditional and popular (Pop) music, brought together to form this whole different genre. Traditionally, Country orignates from the Southern States, and is particular popular in places such as Tenesse, Canada. In the 1940's, the genre was referred to as 'Hillbilly' music and then refounded itself as Country and Western. Country music has grown up with some top record producing artists, such as Elvis Presley, George Strait, Gareth Brooks and Taylor Swift (above) etc.

INDIE

Indie Music is the idolised term for Independant music. Music that doesn't origenerate from mainstream record labels, as the artists usually tend to be signed to smaller, less well-known and more often than not, unsucessful labels/companies. Indie adopts the apporach of 'do it yourself' and the artists in this genre, are alot more involved in producing their image that projects to the public eye, as compared to Pop where the artists don't have much say. The music itself, tends to be very realistic and down-to-earth as opposed to boppy and funny. Indie artists, like earlier stated, are somewhat more involved with the production of their records and see more profit from the word go. Even though Indie artists don't happen to be as well-known as other artists belonging to different genres, some bands/singers do hit the big time. For example groups like 'The Ting Tings', 'The Temper Trap' and 'Arcade Fire' (above) do make it into the top 40's, for example 'Arcade Fire', just last night won the main award at the 2011 Brits, 'Album of the Year'. This only proves that indie artists have just as much chance as Pop, R&B etc.

(some information has been taken, editted and re-written from http://www.wikipedia.org/)

New Music Magazine Brief

In order to successfully design and produce a music magazine, i am going to follow a specific brief/criteria. My aim is to make it so it looks like an original magazine that you would find in the shops and isnt obvious  its not proffessional. So, it requries me to use only my own images that i have independantly produced as opposed to copyrighted images. Every image, however big or small, which features on either my front cover, contents page or double-page spread will all be my own work. Overall, i must produce a well structured and well designed magazine associated with the music industry in which i can choose a genre, theme, article topic and how and where i shoot my images. I must then produce a contents page, telling the audience whats in the product and a double-page spread giving a detailed article associated with my genre and theme etc.

Final Cover and Contents together (including mock up)

Evaluation

To evaluate my whole project, i am going to use LIIAR to analysise my finished product:


This project was very time consuming and gruelling hard work, however i was pleased to have finally completed it when i did. I think i used my time quite well, however i did find that i was rushing towards the end, making me quite worried that i wouldn't finish it. If i was to do this again, i would definitely schedule my time more efficiently and carefully, ensuring that i was done before the panic point, leaving me satisfied. I also didn't have time to ask for advice on what to change and adapt because of time, therefore, also making me wish i had taken my time more.  If I'm honest, it took me while to get started and i struggled at first for ideas and inspiration. If i would have started form the word go, i don't think i would have had this problem.
The denotation for my front cover is a young boy, a student at Wyke college, holding a red file and books, looking straight down the camera, engaging and interacting  with the audience. The young boy, signifies a young however mature student attending the college. The file is a red colour, connotations of red are warmth and welcoming, submitting out a positive, friendly and exciting vibe through the magazine. As the student is young, this signifies that the college is for young students, possibly in the age category of 16-19 year old. The title, is bold and to me, i personally think it stands out well and draws in the readers eyes. The central image is a medium-close up, involving the reader more and allowing them to maybe feel as though they are also in the picture. I decided on the sell line 'where ambitions run free' because i thought it was about aspirations, adding to the ideology behind my magazine.  I don't have that many cover lines on the front page, but i like the banner i have going across the bottom of the cover. I think this grabs the readers attention and also works well with the magazine as a whole. As the writing on that banner was involved with English, i thought it was appropriate to have the same boy reading a book, relating to English. The background for the magazine is lined paper, working well with the theme of general college, hopefully creating effect on great scale. The pens i used as bullet points also work well with this.

The institution for the magazine is obviously Wyke college, as the masthead clearly states that. Wyke college is a 6th form for 16-19 year old, with also a 99.7% pas rate. As wyke is a 6th form, older students above 19 years don't usually come to the college, also backing up why i have a Young student on the cover.

I asked my good friend for some honest feedback about my magazine and he also agreed that i could add more cover lines on the front cover, which i totally agree with. I appreciated the advice and am glad i can the  use this in the future if i ever need to do something similar again.

I used media technologies to edit my images such as erasing the background and changing the colour on certain things. I really learned alot about certain programmes such as Photoshop and even publisher, defiantly benefiting me in the future, as i can then apply these skills for future needs. I also used the Internet to research other magazine cover, produced by other institutions which i then later analysed for my own benefits. I could then learn from their weaknesses and even their strong points, and adapt them to my own work, hopefully benefiting me in the best way.

I think the combination of my images and text work quite well together. For example, my front cover is a model simply holding some files, then placed on lined paper background. That could be representing anything and the college as a whole, which therefore made it easier for me to think of cover lines/ancillary texts. In the end, i tried to make the cover lines about college and not particular subjects such as 'win a macbook'. This then could relate to any pupil doing any subject, working with my general theme and images.

If i was to do the project again, there are certain elements in which i would change and adapt to make it better. For example, i would definitely include more cover lines to make the cover more involving and maybe interesting. I would also maybe use a real background, like a photograph or an actually image instead of just lined paper, maybe creating more effect and making it more appealing.

Final Contents Page

So i had my images selected and editted them, i was then ready to make up my contents page for real. I used the same background as before, being lined paper to make the magazine and contents continuous.
Here what it looked like:

Content Page Props

Like i did with my front cover using the pens (which i also included in my contents page), i wanted to include a notice board so that i can pin up my images. I had a notice board at home in the kitchen, so i took a picture of that. As it was full, i then took all the objects off it and all the pins and then took a picture of that. When i had this, i then erased the background in photoshop. Here are the steps i took below:

1) This was the first picture i took, my notice board with all the notes on.



2) This was the second picture i took once i had cleared all the notices off it.



3) Next thing was to erase the background on Photoshop so i had purely the notice board. Then as my notice board was quite dark, i tried to enlighten the image and make it brighter with the 'Colour Balance' option. I selected the middle of the image and made it a natural/neutral colour. The outline border was fine as it was, so i left it.  I found that it looked quite amature, which at first i wasdisspaointed with (cartoon like) but i was willing to give it a try.