Kerrang magazine
Audience
This magazine has an audience of people aged around 13 +. I wouldnt say any younger because most children under that would not be interested in music as a hobby, and so wouldnt actualy buy a magazine. But 13 year olds would just be developing an interest in things, and so would probably like to buy the magazine to gain knowledge about music they do and dont like.
The sexes would be both male and female, as music is ever really aimed at one or the other. So the magazine would be aimed at both aswell.
They would be around a D and a C on the Jicnar scale. They would enjoy things like socialising at places like gigs, and parties. They would be at the point in their life where they are finding out who they are musically, what they like and what they dont like.
Genre
This magazine has a genre of rock and mainly 'emo' music. Although sometimes other kinds of music is profiled in the magazine, it is usually of those two genres. 'Emo' music is formally known as emotionally expressed music, and it is the type of music where every lyric holds a sort of message, or take on the world. So the magazine caters for the audience of the music by making sure that they have interviews, and pages on where some of the artists explain their music and tell us what inspired them.
Title
The title of the magazine is the masthead, and it says 'Kerrang!' which is the magazine name. It is of a sans serif font and is behind the bands head. This is because Kerrang! is a very well known magazine and the layout and colouring makes it automatically recognised, so the masthead has no reason to stand out completely and hiding it a bit wouldnt be a risk on the magazines behalf. The colour is black, which yet again doesnt exactly make it stand out but it is unnecessary to do so. The colour black is classed as quite a smart colour, so although the magazine is not about making itself look pretty, it is about being organised and appealing to the audience, the colour black is just an easy colour to use. It makes the magazine look less amateurish and it automatically goes with everything else on the page.
Style
The layout of the page is fairly simple, and organised. They have managed to keep everything chronological yet still make it appeal to the audience. They places three bands name at the top of the magazines front cover. These bands include Enter shikari, and Funeral for a Friend. These two bands are very famous in the rock world, and would automatically let the potential reader know what this weeks issue will involve, and with these two bands being advertised Kerrang! would be certain of a sure sale. Also in the cover featured, it also has 'Travis Barker update' in with the two bands name. Travis barker is in a band called Blink 182 and he was recently involved in a terrific plane crash where it was feared he may never walk again. So putting the word 'update' next to his name readers will be instantly compelled to buy it as Travis Barker is a drumming ledgend. Then underneath that it has the masthead. Then it has the picture of the main featured band for this weeks magazine. This picture is usually quite large and covers over half of the magazine cover. Then it has two other features advertised, one being posters and the other being an interview. Then underneath that it mentions more names of bands in this weeks issue. The way everything is ordered has obviously been made to be less difficult as the audience suggests that they would not like to be bombarded with mounds of information. Also the use of pictures is balanced with the use of words, as the reader would like to have the pictures explained, like for example they may be confused if there was a picture on the cover, but no text explaining what it means or why it is there.
Content
The features in this magazine are generally the same every week, they have interviews, news, reviews, gig reports, new band information, posters and a main biography or interview with the biggest bands. The ones featured on my front cover example are news on Travis Barkers accident, a main sell of You Me At Six which combined a biographical text with an interview, it had posters for Madina Lake, Trivium and The Gaslight Anthem and there is an interview with the singer fron disturbed. Kerrang! rarely change the feature scheme, although on christmas they do a wish list from several famous singers or members of bands, and before the new year they put in peoples new years resolutions.
Photographs
The main photograph on the front cover of this is of the band You Me At Six. They are in a very typical, unoriginal stance, with them all slightly behind each other with the singer in the middle at the front, pulling a strange face. Music photography has become very limited now with very many bands trying to come in and create new styles, so Kerrang! have not tried to over complicate the picture, which is good as it then lets the potential buyers know exactly who there main sell is. You Me At Six are being represented as a fun, young band with a lot to say.
RockSound Magazine
Audience
The audience of this magazine is similar to the audience of most rock/punk/emo music magazines. The age would range from about 15+. I dont think it would be younger as this magazine prides itself on being 'more underground than commercial'. For this reason i dont think younger people than 15 would know a great deal about non commercial music, and so they would be more tempted to go on to magazines like Kerrang! where they are very commercial. They would be radicals and hedonist, post materialist and a B on the Jicnar Scale. They would the type of people who have a small weekend job, and save a small amount to go to festivals such as reading and leeds or download. They would go out socialising most nights, either drinking and partying or going to events such as a concert or the cinama. They would be 'fashionably' dressed wearing very abstract clothes, such as skinny jeans and leather jackets.
Genre
The Genre of this magazine is more indie/rock than Kerrang! was. It is very noncommercial, so will have alot of new and alternative bands featured in it, bands who may not be able to commit to a label of a genre. While its non commercial it still manages to cover the best and most famous rock bands, such as Paramore, Lostprophets and Trivium.
Style
The colours of this magazine are very plain and simple, using mainly light blues or green as the background. The masthead is of a bright green colour which makes it fit in well with the rest of the colour scheme, and making it slightly stand out. Having matching colours or colours which compliment themselves will make the magazine look very proffesional, and more appealing to any buyer. Again the masthead is very similar to Kerrangs! in the sense that the editors have slightly hidden it by putting it behind the band. RockSound, although not as popular as K!, is a well known rock magazine, and simply the layout and colouring of the magazine will make it automatically recgonisable, so the masthead is not really needed to jump out at us. Underneath the masthead we have a picture of the mainsell band, and then we have a freebie on the left hand side of the picture. Having a picture of the mainsell band undernead the masthead is a very common thing, as it is the first thing people tend to look at first. Then having the freebie information next to that is very clever, as it makes it very noticable and it will entice the reader furthurmore. Then on the bottom left hand side we have the list of all the more famous and recognisable bands that the magazine will be writing about in that weeks issue. Then on the right hand side there are three reverse lines, one includes an interview, another includes a chart to the top 20 thrash albums of all time, and the last involves a story on the band Megadeath. These are all things the editor thought would be good to advertise on the front page to the potential buyer, as they are all things people in the rock scene would like to know about.
Content
The features in this magazine are generally the same every week, they have interviews, news, reviews, gig reports, new band information, posters and a main biography or interview with the biggest bands. The ones featured on my front cover example is a story on Muse, an interview with Megadeath, there are posters, and there will be album, single, video and gig reviews for all the bands listed. RockSound rarely change the feature scheme, and the things they include in their magazine are very unoriginal and all very cloned. But it works well and they are a very popular magazine.
Photographs
The photographs in the magazine are usually taken by photographers payed by Rocksound, including all gig reviews and posters they may include. The main picture is of a band called Muse and again, as kerrang! did they have the band standing side by side, with the singer in the middle. It doesnt really portray any personality of the band, or what their music is about, it just shows them, which is all they want, because it is enough to entice anyone to buy it who are fans of that particular band.
