Music Magazine
Industry Research
Becky Bailey
BAUR MEDIA
Music Magazines Baur own
Kerrang
Mojo
Q
Kerrang
Kerrang is a rock music magazine and caters for
a mass audience because rock is part of the
popular culture. The name of the magazine is
onomatopeic as it refers to the sound made
when playing a power chord on an eletric guitar.
The cost of the magazine is £2.20 and the
target audience is 16-25 year olds and specific
towards rock fans. However more recently
people as young had 14 have started to buy the
magazine as new bands have come out.
Total circulation sales are 52,272 from 1st
January – 31st December 2008. The
images used on the front cover of the
magazine specifically try to target rock
fans as the main image on most of their
magazines are young men in rock bands,
with facial piercings and black hair, that
wear black clothes. These are
stereotypical of rockers and the men on
the front are seen as ideal selves or ideal
partners for those who read the
magazine.
Mojo
This magazine focuses more on classic rock and the target
audience is more 30+. This is because older people tend to
have more interest in this sort of music rather than the modern
music today. Mojo targets it’s audience by concentrating on
bands that are assosiated with class rock such as Pink Floyd.
This magazine is targeted at a mass audience as it is mainly
aimed at older people. Mojo comes with free CD’s for it’s
audience whereas Kerrang would come with a free download.
Also Mojo concentrates more on it’s articles whereas Kerrang
has a lot about gigs and festivals which are aimed at younger
people. Mojo had an average monthly circulation of 98,484 in
the second half of last year which was 0.8% higher than the
previous six months meaning circulation for the magazine had
risen.
Q
Q magazine is very similar to Kerrang as they both focus on heavy
rock/metal. However it also focused on pop singers such as Lily
Allen and Madonna. The magazine is aimed at females and males
aged 15-30. It targets it’s audience by having a lot of articles
similar to Mojo. The reason for this is older people would prefer
reading articles over line ups for festivals. The front cover of the
magazine seems more mature as it isn’t as busy as magazines such
as Kerrang, this would target and older audinence. Also the people
in the pictures of Q are of an older age. The colours of Q also seem
a lot more friendly than the cover of Kerrang which is just black and
white. This is because Q are trying to get a bigger target audience
as the magazine doesn’t just focus on rock and heavy metal. Q
magazines’ circulation figures fell 5.4% in the first half of last year
leaving their total circulation at 94,811 which is considerably less
than the total circulation of Mojo.
IPC Media
Music Magazines IPC Owns
NME
Guitar and Bass
Uncut
NME
The cost of this magazine is £2.20 and like most music
magazines although it is aimed at females and males it is
aimed more towards males. It is aimed at people between
15-10 and features bands such as Franz Ferdinand and the
Kaiser [Link] keeps fans interested by launching
worldwide competitions to keep readers interested and like
most magazines targeted at young people have articels
about gigs and festivals. They target the younger audience
by having young people on the covers which teenagers see
as an ideal self and also use colours such as red and white
to draw the younger people in. In the first half of 2009, the
magazines circulation was 40,948 which was 44% down on
2003 figures of 72,442.
Guitar And Bass
Bass and guitar is aimed at people learning to play
guitar, mostly teenagers and young adults. The cost
of the magazine is £[Link] and it features a lot of
famous people who play bass and guitar to draw the
readers in as they aspire to be like these people. They
also feature reviews and interviews with these famous
people to keep the readers interested and on the
front there will always be a famous person playing
one of the instruments. The cover is also quite
colourful to draw a younger audience in. Circulation
figures for guitar and bass are 11,994 from January-
December 2008.
Uncut
Uncut is aimed at mainly men aged 30+. It targets it’s
audience by featuring reviews about older artists such as
Pink Floyd, Jimmy Page and John Lennon. It also features
old album reviews as well as reviews on new albums and
music. Also every month when a new issue comes out it
will come with a free CD with either new or old music on.
The cover of the magazines are mostly black and white
and have an older style of font than most magazines
targeted at young people. Also the image on the front
cover will be of an old pop star which the older audience
will find interesting and it will help to draw the readers in.
Circulation figures for uncut are 87,069 July to December
2008.
Synergy
Other ways companies advertise their products is through
synergy. This is advertising using other areas of their
company eg. Tv, radio. Kerrang for example has a
magazine, radio station, tv channels and the internet. Also
most magazines now have a website which is free and easy
to access to help advertise their magazines. By using the
internet sites people can catch up on the latest bands, gigs
and festivals, then they will want to buy the magazine to
find out more about it as the internet will not tell them
everything they want to know. Also if people are watching
Kerrang music channel and they hear a song they like they
will want to buy the magazine to read review on the song
and the band leading to Kerrang making more money.