Mojo Double Page Spread Analysis

This is a double page spread from the music magazine 'Mojo', which is based on the genre of older 'classic' music, with big bands from the 80's, 90's and 00's, as well as including modern bands that Mojo classes as 'real music'. 'MOJO magazine is designed for those who truly love music, every month MOJO provides you with music’s greatest icons in exclusive encounters, while celebrating tomorrow’s stars today.' says the Mojo website, and this double page spread is good at presenting the image that the magazine is trying to show. The contrast of the modern, new singers (Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane, both new indie/alternative artists) and the old fashion styled picture. The article is discussing the collaboration between the two which they have named 'The Last Shadow Puppets'. It is arguable that the image is the most important thing on a music magazine, as it connotes the genre, type of interview and representation of the musician, as well as their value to the magazine, and status in the industry. 

This double page spread stretches the title across the two pages, not usually a convention of a double page spread. However, this works in this case, in the way that the artists featured are being brought together, and the two people are at different ends of the pages, separated by the writing of the article. This means that the title is the main thing connecting them. This is also seen through the way the colour of the words blend across the two pages, connoting the two musicians differences, but also the way they are coming together and working in the same way to create a new band, from two different musical backgrounds.

The image has been given a sepia effect, giving it an older look, which links with the genre and target audience of the magazine. With one of the artists giving direct address, and the other looking away it gives the band a modest image, almost shy of the camera. They're not dressed up, in casual clothes and hardly in a studio for the shoot, but positioned up against a brick wall, connoting the down to earth band that they still are. A group avoiding the lure of becoming about image, but remaining loyal to the music they love producing. This is depicted through this double page spread.
The font is in orange and white, adding to the old style effect. The title 'best of both worlds' has the text blending from orange into white, connoting the blending of the two artists together. It is not a bright orange, almost brown so is again supporting the vintage feel of the article. This supports what the title suggests about the article, that the artists are collaborating. The text colour goes from left to right, orange to white, having the connotations of moving on from the old, brown/orange colour and onto the bright, white future that the band has to offer together. The text is in a big, bold font, grabbing the readers attention and staying continuous despite the chafing colours, as on either side of the page is each artist, so this could be a connotation of the equal talent of each. Miles Kane is giving direct address, looking into the camera and inviting the reader in, whilst Alex Turner at the other end of the page is looking away from the camera. The two are styled quite similarly, so through this use of direct address the band could be demonstrating their differences, and also their real friendship through the smirks on their faces. There seems to be an ongoing lack of formality n the shoot, and the artists, which represents them as a band as not serious and likeable. 
There is a short introduction to the article in a bolder font, which offers the reader a quick preview to the article, with the key subjects of the feature being highlighted in the orange colour, keeping the colour scheme continuous. Between the text and the smaller font which is the start of the article is what looks like the shadow, or remnants of a handprint on the wall. This links to the name of the new band 'The Last Shadow Puppets', and has a link to the darker sound of their music. This could also have the connotations of the 'shadows' of their previous bands helping to create their new music. 

Q Contents Page Analysis

Q magazine is a music magazine that is targeted at a young, yet sophisticated audience. Through research, I can see that clearly titling the page as a contents page is a convention throughout music magazines, Q being no exception. The brand name 'Q' has been shown as it is established and brands itself in a sophisticated way, by making the 'Q' a less vibrant colour. Another convention that is shown on this page also, is the anchorage of the main image and headline, the largest and most important feature being shown by size and attention payed to it- the image connecting to the main feature has a specific 'on the cover' piece written about it on the contents, trying to attract readers still and draw attention to that issues main selling point. Anchorage is used to make the most important or main features recognisable from the front cover, so that readers that have purchased the magazine because of a feature advertised on the cover can locate it easily.
Another convention of contents pages is for the pictures shown for anchorage have quotes from the feature, or at least on image does to attract and give the reader a preview. This quote is usually shocking or exciting, to draw them in without them having to read the whole magazine, and then this is advertised by putting the largest shown page number next to it to make it easily accessible.
The features listed are also usually in categories, again making them easier to locate, specifically an 'every week' or issue section, making the regular features reliable and consistently placed. The contents page colour scheme also follows the same one as the front cover, often linking again to the main image, the main contents picture and then the colours used in the double page spread. This includes the text, which is consistent to link the whole magazine together, and make it look less 'messy' and more aesthetically pleasing. Not all pages are listed, but all features are, in the allotted categories, usually in the same text unless in a different type so as to stand out for a particular reason, for example in the quote on the main picture, the 'none' is highlighted by putting it in a different colour, which draws attention to it.
Some contents pages include an editors note, however this can often be found in different areas of the magazine, editors sometimes being given a whole page for their article, so this is not a convention of contents pages, but it would not be uncommon to see one there.
On this particular Q contents page, there is no editors note as they have probably used more than one page for the contents due to the large pictures and amount of space used for other text and imagery. We can see however that it is directed towards a more mature audience, from the language used, which is sophisticated and has little slang, or swear words, unlike NME which is targeted towards a different type of music/audience. The pictures also indicate a type of audience, possibly slightly older, combined with the mature language, and also the ways the pictures have been edited. They have been taken to look like old types of pictures, particularly the lower one as it has a sepia effect, and a man is smoking a cigar, which has older connotations. However, Q is a music magazine that focuses on very different types of music, ranging from new chart toppers to old stars, and so by styling the picture like this makes it easily identifiable to readers interested in that kind of music, possibly older people, which would interest them quickly. The picture of the man singing has been placed overlapping both, and he is in a picture that has not been staged, it is assumed to be taken from a gig. This is Q reinforcing the fact that they are about music, and that is their main concern, and by overlapping this image above the other two staged pictures, identifies that real music is the most important thing.

Flatplans for magazine front cover, contents and double page spread

Conventions of Different Genres of Music Magazines

Photography Comparison

The Vanity Fair cover focuses on the main image of Lady Gaga,  an artist known for her individual style and pop music. This front cover uses the third rule of photography, positioning her body on the right centre third line which gives the reader something to focus on. Her face is also on the upper third line, which means that her face (mouth primarily) is a focal point on an intersect point. Her face is the point of interest, and our eyes are attracted to the eyes in pictures generally, however this is reinforced in this image as her face is at the intersect point.
The top half of her body is straight going down the right third of the page, which leaves a space for the left third of cover lines, and she is positioned sat on the ground, which allows her to move her legs at a different angle. This gives the effect of her body being the shape of a right angle, as her legs fill the bottom left third of the cover. Her arms are also being used to emphasise her shape and importance on the page, as they are also straight lines. They give her a larger, dominating shape, as the lines and angles of her arms and legs give her a larger space on the cover.

The background of the image is grey, as is the floor we see her sitting on. Lady Gaga has been styled in a black, which stands out against the pale background. The black clothing contrasts with the light of her face and hair. Her face is the focal point, and although quite small, her hair has been placed to fall around her face, which attracts attention to her face as it is lighter than the background and clothing. Her hair styled as it is creates the effect that her face is bigger, so that our eyes are more quickly drawn to the brighter area of the page. The light has been positioned so that it falls directly onto her face to give this and her hair a glowing effect contrasting with the dull background.
The photographer has also taken the photo from a lower angle, giving her a dominating sense, seeming more powerful as she looks down on the photographer. We can see this from the angle her eyes are looking at us from in the direct address, and this could be being done to show her importance, and that even though we can see that she is sat on the floor, she is still more important/powerful.

This is the front cover for The Source magazine and in contrast to the previous magazine direct address is not a feature. The cover image shows the man with his eyes shut, and his face scrunched up. Unlike Lady Gaga, his body is not shown, his face fills the page and goes down to just past his shoulders. The image is situated in the middle of the page, the middle third, which is not a formality of magazine covers however, the rule of thirds is used also along the features of his face, particularly his eyes, which still makes them a point of interest as this point of the page (2/3 of the way up) is where our eyes generally focus at.
The light in this image is used to make his face appear brighter and also add attention to the gun he is holding, through the light falling on it making it brighter, which contrasts with the dark skin that its against, attracting the readers eyes to it as it is a key feature of the image.The light is also shown to be falling from above, which linked with the image and imagery of death seen on the page, could be a connotation of heaven or death as this is often referred to as 'light above'. The background for this image is also grey. however seems to be less of a set as the Vanity Fair one clearly was, but a brick wall which connotes the urbanisation of the musician and the magazine as a whole, and also adds more attention to the main image of his face from standing out against a dull background.
The angle of the camera appears to be straight on, however the person on the cover seems uninterested, and this could be the effect that the photographer is trying to present.

Research/Survey

The second question that I asked allowed me to see what the most popular genre of music was, so that I could apply this to my magazine and meet the highest in demand, or possibly target a niche market if the results showed one to have a fan base. However the results were fairly evenly spread, with the most popular appearing 'indie/alternative', with rock and pop a joint second. Due to this result I will focus my magazine towards an indie/rock genre, as I think that there will be a similar audience for the two and the genres often mix within music (indie rock bands), and although joint with rock I will avoid the 'pop' genre, as I think a magazine of this genre would have to be marketed differently and aimed at a completely different demographic.

This question will help me with deciding on how often an issue should be, and as a result also help on how much to make the price of the magazine. The results for extremely often and very often were the same, which was a demand for a weekly magazine. The results for not very often were high, followed by often (once a month or more). From these results, I think I would conclude by issuing initially an issue every two weeks. This is because I think that the people that have responded to this survey is a generalization of the age group intending to be targeted and seeing what the results say, meaning that not all people will have an interest in music at all. For this reason, I think that the people that have responded with 'extremely and often' are the people obviously most interested in music. However, with results saying not very often and often, these need to be taken into account, and so I think that a fortnightly magazine would be best, as it can also be a lower price as dedicated readers will be buying two a month.

This question was 'What are your favourite features of a magazine?' The results show that clearly interviews are the favourite feature. This can help me decide a lot about my magazine, in what I will be promoting and advertising on the front cover, the headline, cover lines, main image and quotes, and also the double page spread I create as it will now meet demand and be an interview. Gossip and Celebrity stories is second, implying that when creating my front cover in particular I should advertise this. When creating my magazine, I do want it to be music focused rather than a tabloid magazine, however from this feedback I can possibly combine the two, giving a 'celebrity gossip including interview'? Free gifts are also shown to be popular, which I could also take into consideration when designing the front cover and promoting the contents of the magazine, and could advertise a free gift or competition, drawing in these readers. These are three main points I can take from this.

The next question is 'How did you gain your last music track. I have asked this question to work out the most popular kind of access to music, whether it's downloading, or purchasing real CD's or vinyls to see what kind of free gift or advertisment could be included to reach the largest audience. As a music magazine we cannot advertise for illegally youtube converting music, however, the results do show that CD's and downloads are very close. I think from this datat that it would be a good idea to use both, and by doing this meet the high demand for each group of people, one week offering a free musical download and the next a free CD, like MOJO does each week.





Question 6 also helped to define what sort of selling price to market my magazine at. From the results I would conclude that a sensible selling price would be around £2.30-50 as this is affordable for people that would want to be buying every issue.















This question allowed me to help design the actual layout of the magazine, and the content that will be advertised initially, and the way the content of the double page spread will be displayed, and how much text to include compared to pictures. The results came back to be equal, so I will try to incorporate this into my results when constructing my magazine.

Offering a free gift/competition for money off or to win something often brings in a larger market, so I asked this question to see if adding a free gift would increase sales of the magazine. The data shows that there would be larger sales if there was a free gift or offer advertised, so I shall take this into consideration when constructing 'Tones'.







Asking how old the person is allowed me to see what type of age category I was getting results off, allowing me to get an average and make a correlation between age and results. It shows that the mean age was 16-30, which includes the target market for my magazine. This proves that the results gained are valid as I can apply the results to the age range I'm targeting, and when creating my magazine can take the feedback and apply it.

Research and Report into Target Audience of Music Magazine

Research for Music Magazines

Music magazines are targeted towards all kinds of audiences and genres, appealing to all age groups in different ways. You should be able to identify the target audience and genre basis of the magazine from the front cover, and the fonts/colours to connote the subject of the contents. The magazines are targeted at people that have lives that revolve around music, going to gigs, owning merchandise and being passionate about the people they listen too, so would want to read a magazine like this to learn more about their idols (older people), and the editors know this and include content relevant to people that live and breathe music.
NME is a music magazine targeted at an audience of an average age of 25 year old males (taken from the magazines online media pack).


• 75% read about music online at least once a week vs. 41% AA

• A third download music at least once a week (53% NME 16-24’s)
• 58% say that adverts for bands/new music releases influence how
they discover new music, rising to 68% among NME 16-24’s
This knowledge then makes them the authority in music in their peer group. 

This is information taken from the NME IPC media pack, which gives key facts and figures about the type of audience NME are targeting. It shows that the target market are dedicated to music, and keen to learn more, so gives them an indication of the ABC rate, and education of the readers, which can help determine how much writing/pictures is included. From the NME cover above, the target audience can be seen that it is for an older audience through the colours used. The cover star is one from a slightly more mature band, that does not have as much publicity as a band in the charts (one direction ect) so this connotes that the type of reader should have broader musical knowledge and interest, and also the language used gives the impression that it is not for younger reader. 'I couldn't give a s***..' not language most young children would be reading. NME represents itself as a magazine that does not necessarily conform to the rules, and has an 'I don't care' attitude, except when it comes to music, of course.

In contrast to NME, it is clear that We Love Pop magazine is targeted at a very different audience. Just the title has the connotations of a younger target audience from the heart in the mast head. It is a very light hearted mast head, and the audiences of pop genre music tend to be a younger audience. This magazine is targeting young girls, as seen from the pink, bright girly colours on the front cover. Instead of NME, this magazine advertises content and features that are not really relevant to music. Being targeted at a younger audience of 13-16 year old girls, the cover star is of a very famous chart topper Rihanna, however the story following this is to do with gossip surrounding her life, rather than her music. This is seen continuously through this cover, implying that readers are not as passionate about the music being produced, but the stories surrounding celebrities. The cover is filled with pictures and colour, rather than writing, and advertises posters and pictures, connoting the fact that readers maybe are not as developed as NME readers, in that pages of writing and text will not interest them as much as loud, vibrant pictures. There are also features found in We Love Pop that is not as all relevant to music, which does not occur on NME, and again this is being targeted at the audience of young girls, as being adolescent they may not have enough attention to dedicate to one subject (music), so extra features are added like fashion articles to expand the range of subjects, appealing to a more young girls, as it is informal and chatty.

Kerrang! magazine is one of the biggest UK music magazines, and has extended massively as a brand. The mast head alone connotes loudness and the chaos of the music that comes with it. From Kerrang!'s online media pack, they describe the target audience as 'Kerrang! readers are the heaviest music consumers purchasing over 6 albums per month on average (53% more than the national average) and 8 times more likely to spend over £200 a year on albums. The readers are also 5.5 times more likely to attend a rock gig.' 
This is what Kerrang! are targeting, people that are all about music. It is also quite a male targeted magazine, with much like NME, 25 year old males being the average reader. Kerrang! go about targeting their fairly young audience through includng features that they consider relevant to this age group such as free music downloads, and posters. Kerrang! readers appreciate the real music, and authentic musicians that are in their favourite bands, and also the loud, crazy rock sound that they are surrounded by. Compared to NME, the cover seems slightly less mature as this is targeted towards a possibly less mature audience, as the rock music often featured is held in rougher bars, and festivals, places where it is all about the music and not image. This is connoted through the fonts and lay out of images and cover lines on Kerrang!.

Mixmag is a magazine based on dance genre of music, DJing and clubbing. The target audience for this magazine is slightly younger, 17-24 year olds, due to the connotations of the music being featured. Club music has links with hard partying, drinking, and holiday destinations such as Ibiza and Magaluf, famous for young peoples first holidays. Mixmag targets its audience well through its front cover and the representations it offers, as even the mast head has the connotations of quite modern, technological music due to the font, and links to a record or mixing deck with the 'i'.
The cover star is famous for her music in this genre, and the image of her makes her look quite electronic, with the headline supporting the connotations that the genre already has. Mixmag also offers a free mix CD, adding to the readers collection of music, which the media pack for this magazine expects readers to always want to do.

Sales Figures for the Magazine Sector

 Sales Figures for the Magazine Sector

The magazine industry is struggling, there is no denying it. It might not seem that way from the millions of magazines sold every single day, but with the development of social media, and online press, print magazines are a rapidly decreasing market. There are obvious perks to having a real life magazine; the tangibility of a real, readable magazine, you can keep it forever, free gifts that may not be received online, and readers often also develop a sense of loyalty to a real magazine that they would not online. However, with online magazines becoming ever more popular, through being more portable with iPads and smart phones, free gifts and offers, and the obvious that most of the time, they are free. As a result, it is a battle between existing magazines to grab the most readers, whatever way possible. 

In the second half of 2013, UK magazines dropped in sales by 6.3%. This compares to an average yearly decrease of 4.9%, which was a big drop in the industry. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/feb/13/nme-sales-falling-off-charts-music-magazine-circulation 

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/uk-magazines-lose-print-sales-average-63-cent-full-abc-breakdown-all-503-titles