Lesson 15/16 - Analysis of Music Magazine "Q"

In Today's Lesson I analysed a monthly music magazine which is called "Q". This is a music magazine in which costs a total of £3.99 on a monthly basis. The title of the magazine connotes that the magazine is an ordinary magazine and also connotes the fact that music will soon be playing as in the fact "Que the Music". I think that the title does not send out many messages to inform the reader about what the magazine is about.
The magazine will attract an audience who are interested in indie, rock and alternative as the music genre. We can tell this by the image that has been used on the front cover which conveys a rock atmosphere. The audience I believe will be people who are of older age 40+ who still like to choose to buy CD's instead of downloading them.

The audience of this magazine will be attracted through the world exclusive to read about the Gorillaz and the  star studded crew , also by the choice of colour that has been used on the front cover of the magazine. There is a contrast of colours on the first page to represent the fact that this magazine will cover a couple of different genres such as pop/rock. The title of the magazine has been placed in bold to try and emphasise that it is the biggest music magazine in the magazine industry. I would also say that the colours of the main image on the front cover will also attract the audience.

There are many different images on the magazine front cover. The main images on the front cover say that the audience who will read this magazine will be into rock/pop and are trendy and like all different types of music in the industry. On the front cover of this magazine, the main word/important messages have been placed at the top and at the bottom of the front cover. With this magazine it doesn’t have a crowded left third instead the magazine has all of it's cover lines at the bottom of the magazine. At the top of the magazine there is a hard hitting selling line "The UK's Biggest Music Magazine" in which entices the reader to want to read the magazine. On the front cover, there is a contrast of colours between blue/red. This means that the magazine may cover different genres in which may have a link between one another. On the front page the some of the text has been placed in bold in which emphasises the way in which this magazine is the biggest selling music magazine in the music magazine industry.

The assumptions that I can make about this magazine is that the publishers talk about the news that the audience who want to buy the magazine , the magazine focuses on mainstream music and the artists that are mentioned and talked about in the magazine show that the magazine is trying to send a message of rebellion to the audience. The images, language and fonts link to the genre of this magazine because of the contrast of colours symbolising the magazine could be read by 2 different people, the images that are used send a message to the reader that the magazine is out of this world in terms of the music they do write about.

The magazine Q is published by Bauer Media Group. Bauer also own magazines entitled "Take a Break”, "TV Choice" and "Total TV Guide".

The audience of this magazine will be people who are aged 20 and over male or female (but most likely to be of male gender) who enjoy music bands which have been around for long periods of time. I also believe that they will be open minded , don't define themselves by the music they listen to. I also think that the audience will have an occupation in B, C1, C2 and E category. This means that they will have a high skilled job, average job or no job at all because of them being a student.

The magazine targets this audience, by what I believe are the price of the magazine, the design on the front of the magazine and also the bold content. The price of this magazine is relatively cheap compared to many weekly magazines so this enables people to buy the magazine. The design on the front cover will also attract the audience because of the burst of colour catchy to the eye and the well structured text in which has been laid out in a way that the audience can catch a grasp of what the music magazine will contain. Lastly, the bold font showing the content will make the magazine more eye catching and easier to read amongst other magazines making it more appealing to the audience.

The magazine i believe fulfils and doesn't live up to expectations at the same time. Whilst the magazine is focusing on trying to advertise to its audience with adverts such as cars, phones and social networking , the inside of the magazine i feel has far too much information in the form of text which may put a lot of readers off. The magazine front cover makes me expect so much from this magazine, I believe the magazine has been a let down as the style has not been carried on throughout the magazine. If the magazine were to have less text, then I believe the magazine would appeal more to its target audience.

There are many major features in this magazine; they consist of the contents page which again sticks with the style from the front cover and clearly emphases what information is available to the audience. There is also a letters page entitled "Q Mail" in which the audience to interact with the magazine on a certain subject and also creates a forum for the audience to argue and discuss a current problem within the magazine. Another feature is pages entitled "Access All Arena's" in which enables the audience to read and view the latest goings on around the country. Another feature in the magazine is "Soap Box" in which one person gives a lengthy text on a certain subject in which the audience can relate to and read about another persons opinion. A fifth feature in the magazine is entitled "New To Q" in which shows a list of all new artists that have recently come about in the industry, this will show the readers new material meaning that the audience will be kept up to date. The final feature in this magazine is entitled "Q Hero" in which talks about iconic artists of the past in which the audience can read about and investigate what the past styles of music were about.

I next analysed a article in this music magazine under the title of "New To Q". The article itself has been written in formal language but the quotes that have been used throughout the article are very informal as words are used very loosely. The magazine has also used a image of the new artists in which the audience can then relate to and identify as a commercial artist. The article has been written in the same style as much of the magazine which sticks with the genre of the magazine.

Looking through this magazine I have found many different products being advertised. These products consist of CD's in which come from artists with a genre of pop/rock which sticks with the genre of the magazine, Music memorabilia in which people can buy from eBay to keep, there are also tickets being advertised in which the audience can buy to go to many different concerts. Other adverts in which are included in the magazine which do not link in with the genre such as new cars, health products and beauty products. This may infer that the magazine is stylish and up to date. The events that I find have been publicised in this magazine are tickets for sale in which will appeal to the audience in the way that they can go an see the bands/artists of their choice.

The magazine allows the audience to interact through web addresses in which have been given to allow the audience to find out more information on a certain subject that the magazine has discussed, also the magazine has a page in which allows the reader to send in letters to the magazine to voice their own opinion about a certain subject within the magazine. This allows a forum to be created amongst the audience. These opportunities help both the reader and the magazine by making the magazine feel more modern and democratic as the magazine allows the audience to voice their opinions on a subject by the letters page. Also being able to view websites will show that magazine is changing their ways to cope with modern technology.

This magazine provides a number of pleasures which gratifies the reader’s needs for escapism, personal identity, personal relationships and surveillance. In this magazine the escapism example that is provided for the audience are reviews and interviews. Personal identity is provided from interviews and letters page in which allows the reader to find themselves and discover that they have their own ideas. Personal Relationships are also found in interviews in which allows the audience to build a relationship with the person who is voicing their opinions. Lastly, surveillance is provided through news and information of events that are currently taking place and in the future.

Through much analysis of the monthly and weekly magazine, I believe that there are a wide range of differences between the two. The weekly magazine feels as if it doesn't hold that much information and the information written about is left open ended. However, the monthly magazine seems to be much more in depth when in comes to the detail that they do include. This means that people who read monthly magazines expect more from the monthly magazine than the weekly magazine. Both the weekly and monthly magazine do stick to the conventions of there genre but I believe that the weekly magazine even though it sticks to its genre doesn't cover entirely artists in the specific genre. However, the monthly magazine I believe does stick to one genre because the audience expect the magazine to have this one genre that they like with more information and going into more detail. I do think that it depends on the monthly magazine to whether the magazine sticks to the genre throughout the magazine. The weekly magazine seems to be more hard hitting in terms of the content that they cover, however the monthly magazine that I have analysed may be more broad and less interesting.