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.