Genre and Target Audience

Monday 16th October

LO
-To identify target audiences for a variety of music magazine genres

Magazines:

• The target audience for this magazine is a young, British and female adult that go with mainstream trends aged between 16 and 25. This is due to bright colours throughout the cover, the main image contains an artist that young females would be into and bands more of a female audience would be into.
• They would lead a very busy lifestyle, studying and working would be a big factor of their lives. They would like to go out the clubs and parties a lot and stay up late. Their young and rubican would be 'The mainstream' as they are lead by other people and go with mainstream trends.

• The target audience for mixmag would be similar to clash. The cover contains pink and white covers which promote to more of a female audience between 16 and 25 in Britain. The cover lines contain information which a young audience would be interested in. The main image is of a star of the dance genre which appeals to that age range, the profile would be more ABC1 due to being able to go to nights out and always be into the leading fashion.
• They would lead a similar lifestyle to a clash reader, studying and working being the main focus of their lives however.

• The target audience for this magazine is white middle aged men. He was born during to late 1960s to 1970s throughout the era where rock really started to become popular. He has a high paying job as he is able to afford the magazine every week and as the magazine has contents related to festivals it can relates to him as he can go to festivals. Black colours and big bold texts throughout the cover appeal to more of male audience also the main image attracts a male audience. The class category would be more of an ABC1.
• They would lead an easy lifestyle. They would still be in work but have little worries due to already earning a high disposable income. They like to take part in events like music festivals and live music shows due to having the opportunities to. Never would they stop seeking the best out of life however they aren't too bothered if they don't succeed as they have already earned their lifestyle.

• The target audience for Kerrang would be teenagers and young adults aged between 14 - 25. The audience would be more of a female audience into young rock bands however a great percentage would still be male as the magazine still contains bands like Metallica which have more of a male audience. The cover suggests it is more of a unisex magazine due to have pink and bright fonts which attract a female audience however it is darker colours like black in the background which attracts a male audience. The usual reader would have an average disposable income or their families do if they are around the age of 14 as they are able to afford  the magazine but not able to go to festivals as nothing on the cover suggests the magazine is about festivals.
• They would lead a busy lifestyle of studying and homework and be committed to getting stuff done. The magazine would be a form of stress relief or so they can take their own time to read it an have their time to themselves. Their behaviour would be very committed and good to life and always concentrated to getting the best, no matter how stressed the task may be.

• The target audience for this magazine would be young teenage girls into music and bands like one direction. The artists on the front like Rihanna and One Direction attract a young female audience and the colours of the fonts and backgrounds are pink, white and have bright colours which attract young female teenagers. The profile would be ABC1 as the magazine talks about phones and social media which appeal to more of a higher class.
• Their lifestyle would be very relaxed and they wouldn't be very worried about school, their behaviour towards life would be very relaxed and they wouldn't be very committed to getting everything done.

• The target audience for this magazine would be males aged around 20 - 40. The bands on the cover were big when this age range were young so they will be into them, they also have a reasonably high income as they are able to afford the magazine every month as it is rather expensive which makes them have a profile of ABC1. The colours throughout the cover are very bold and strong which attract a male audience 

Music Magazines and Audiences

Thursday 12th October

LO
- To identify and analyse a target audience using demographics and psychographics

Hammer Magazine

• The target audience for this magazine is middle aged men.
• Dark colour throughout the cover create a dark atmosphere around the magazine which attract a more male audience.
• Older men as the main image attract a middle age community.
• There are bold fonts that are mainly sans serif which promote more of male atmosphere
• Contents within the magazine relate to men aged born in the 1970s to 1980s, so aged between roughly 35 to 45.
• The social grade category would be ABC1 due to the magazine being expensive (£4.75 a month). The contents contain themes aimed at more upper class and all the articles are in depth. There is an article about festivals which ABC1 class tend to attend.
• Most people in the audience would have a good job with high education due to having a high disposable income to afford the magazine and understand the in depth articles.
• The race of the audience would generally be white men as the rock genre is genuinely aimed that race, plus stereotypically in Britain white men have a higher disposable income to afford the magazine.
• Sexual orientation would usually be straight as homosexual men tend to like more feminine music and be into to more of a light genre of music.
• Geographical location would be Britain as rock is usually listened to in first world countries and a lot of the articles are based at festivals in Britain.

Identifying the audience

• Gender
• Age
• Ethnicity
• Class
• Lifestyle
• Culture 
• Sexuality
• Where they live
• Interests
• Hobbies
• Nationality
• Religion
• Earnings 
• Personality 
• Mass Audience (Large Audience)
• Niche Audience (Smaller and Specific Audience)

Demographics: The factual data like age, gender, race and location.

Psychographics: These look at lifestyles, behaviour and personality.

The difference between Demographics and Psychographics

Demographics is the factual data, so the age, gender, ethnicity and nationality. Psychographics are the things about the person so their personality, interests and lifestyle.

Reader Profile

The usual Hammer reader is a laid back, relaxed middle aged man. They know they have worked for their position and can let anything happen around them without worry. They are quite a jokey person and don't have worries about money due having a high disposable income. In a group of people they are the relaxed one and not much of a leader as they know they can easily fix any problem due to having a lot of money.

Their life is quite an enjoyable one due to being able to go out and enjoy the things the world has to offer like festivals, live shows and new music.

They have strong self goals and don't let anything get in their way due to their position.

Magazine Cover Terminology, Layout and Analysis

Monday 2nd October

LO:
- To analyse music magazine covers using appropriate terminology.

- Look at the magazine covers below and answer the following questions, in full, about both covers.

1) The masthead is the name of the magazines, the big title usually found at the top. The masthead of  a magazine usually links to its genre so for example the title mojo links to rock and billboard links to  billboard music, for example pop music.

2) Both the magazines have the masthead located at the top. Both have the main image of a famous singer located in the middle and top with the main headline, their names, located near them to capture the interest of people. The subheading is directly located underneath under the main headline. Both magazines have cover lines located to the side and around the magazine that contain more information about the magazine. They both have a dateline, on the mojo magazine it is located on the barcode and on the billboard magazine it is located under the masthead. On the Mojo magazine cover,  all the cover lines and main cover lines are based all around magazine cover in an unorganised way. This is because the magazine is a rock magazine with target audience of more of a male gender and it relates to more of a loud, crazy and insane type of magazine. However, on the billboard magazine cover the over lines and main cover lines are placed in a calm, settled and organised way as the magazine attracts more of a female audience and presents more of a calm chart hit music genre.

3) Both magazine include a dateline and both include cover lines with information on what is inside the magazine. Mojo includes a barcode however billboard doesn't.

4) There is a main headline on both of the magazines containing the names of the singers on the main image.

5) The cover lines that have been used contain little information in the magazine as they want people to read all about the subject inside the magazine. Both magazines contain about five cover lines with bold fonts to attract the reader. Mojo uses shorter cover lines however to fit to a more impatient and crazy rock genre with a male audience however Billboard uses longer cover lines to fit a more female audience that like to read information about the charts and big stories in the music industry at that current moment in time.

6) Both magazine use bold fonts with colour that stands out from the background of the magazine to attract the reader into buying the magazine. They both use serif fonts however Mojo uses more bold capitals to attract more of a big male audience and it also presents more of a crazy and mad rock genre. However Billboard uses settled and calm fonts with no capitals apart form the start of words on the main cover line to attract more of a female audience. They uses serif fonts that are capitals on the cover lines however the cover lines are small so it still presents more of a calm atmosphere on the cover. The calm font also relate to the genre of calm chart hit music which the magazine is about.

7) On the Mojo magazine cover there is an edited picture of a crowd in the background. Also they have a blue background and fonts are different throughout the cover lines. However on the Billboard magazine cover it contains no images apart from the main image and there is only a simple pink background. All the fonts are the same throughout.

8) On the Mojo magazine cover they use dark colours like blue and black that relate to rock and the fonts are brighter colours to make them stand out. On the Billboard magazine cover they use colour like pink and brighter colour that relate to the pop feminine target audience. Again Billboard uses opposite colour to the background to make the text stand out so darker colour like black.

9) Both magazine contain cover lines that contain little text and information on the subject to make the reader interested in the subject and read the magazine.

10) Both magazines have a main image to get across the main subject in the issue of the magazine, so for example in the mojo magazine they use a picture of Dave Grohl to get across the subject of Dave Grohl. On Billboard they only use on image which is the main image however on Mojo they contain two other images for the same reason.

11) Only Mojo contain freebies which is a CD, as it relates to the subject of David Gilmour.

12) Both magazines contain a menu strip which contains all the main subjects and information on what is inside of the magazine. However, Billboard contains a longer menu strip with more information to give out more information on the charts attracting more of a male audience. Mojo contains a shorter menu strip with little information which attracts a more impatient male audience that just want to read the magazine. It also presents rock the genre as rock music usually contain shirt and snappy lyrics with loud and heavy music.

13) Mojo contains the genre of rock and grunge and Billboard contains the genre of mainstream pop and popular songs and artists, like Katy Perry. Mojo covers rock due to a more male audience and rock fits a more stronger male audience and Billboard covers more popular chart music to fit a calmer more settled audience.

14) Mojo targets more of a middle aged male audience that can afford every new issue. It contains darker colours on the cover and the genre of the magazine relates to a more male audience. Billboard magazine targets more of a younger female audience as the more soft and brighter colours relate to the gender. Also the genre of mainstream pop attracts more of a female audience.

15) Mojo magazine relates to its audience by using cover lines that fit its audience, a crazy and unorganised layout to fit a more crazy and unorganised rock genre and big and bold and crazy fonts to attract a big male audience. The cover lines are quick, short and snappy which will attract a male audience that just wants to go through and read the magazine and not have to read whats on the cover. Billboard uses more of a calm and organised layout that attracts a female audience that wants to read all the information and is patient enough to read the cover. They use a calm mixture of serif and sans serif fonts which attract a female audience. The cover lines are longer and use more complex words to allow the reader to know about all the information without having to go in the magazine. This promotes to more of a female audience which the magazine is aimed towards. 

16) The masthead, main images and main title are the mastheads main selling points as readers want to read about popular subjects. The main images usually are the biggest factor of a magazines USP due to it containing the main story of the magazine. So on the Billboard cover Katy Perry is the main image and people want to read about her, so people will buy the magazine. Also, the magazine is aimed at more of a female audience the USP will contain a more feminine story. This is a similar concept with the Mojo cover. As it attracts more of a male audience its main image will contain something related to the genre. This is why the main USP in the main image.