Kerrang magazine is "the world's biggest selling weekly rock magazine" and so has essentially created a winning formula for their magazine. But how has Kerrang become so popular, and what do people like about it?Kerrang! is a British magazine that was first published in June 1981, and is devoted to the metal/rock genre of music.
Kerrang's audience is largely radical teenagers that possibly challenge dominant ideology, roughly in the age group of 12 - 18. The audience may also be aspirers who aspire to be musicians. The name itself is such because it is the sound an electric guitar makes when strummed, and so the link to music is immediately mentioned, this connotes loudness and energy, which appeal to the target audience because they too like to listen to loud music (it is clear because the magazine itself is based on the metal/rock genre of music) The Kerrang website can be viewed here: http://www.kerrang.com/
The cover is a standard layout for any magazine, with the masthead at the top, and the main sell in the centre. The masthead denotes the word "Kerrang!" in upper case black font with a screamer at the end of the word. The font itself used in the masthead looks similar to smashed glass, which connotes rebellion and danger, and makes the magazine appear more youth orientated.
The main sell varies depending on the band featured, in this case, the cover on the left is on Corey Taylor from Slipknot. This cover is different from the usual covers because it is one of 9 different covers from the same magazine, encouraging the consumer to buy more than one, so they collect all the covers. At the foot of the magazine is a freebie, indicating that there are free posters inside the magazine, and again after the word posters, there is a screamer. The title itself, Kerrang, is the title because it is the sound an electric guitar makes when strummed. This is a clear link to the genre of the magazine, because the magazine is all about music, specifically rock/metal which feature electric guitars heavily.
Kerrang! magazine usually follows this layout and has cover-lines just above the barcode in alternating colours, depending on the colour scheme for that week. The colour scheme for the cover to the left is predominantly white and red, these colours may be plain and neutral, but it is not them that are selling the magazine, it is the main image, which denotes a man in a scary looking magazine. The main image is a close up of the artist's face, in my opinion i don't think that this is a good idea for my magazine and so i am against having a close-up as the main photograph. The people in the images are being presented as cool and rebels that challenge ideology. For example in the Metallica review below, Lars Ulrich (the image on the bottom far right) is seen spitting his water into the air, which connotes rebellion, and is exactly the way most of the images included in Kerrang! are presented.
The main sell varies depending on the band featured, in this case, the cover on the left is on Corey Taylor from Slipknot. This cover is different from the usual covers because it is one of 9 different covers from the same magazine, encouraging the consumer to buy more than one, so they collect all the covers. At the foot of the magazine is a freebie, indicating that there are free posters inside the magazine, and again after the word posters, there is a screamer. The title itself, Kerrang, is the title because it is the sound an electric guitar makes when strummed. This is a clear link to the genre of the magazine, because the magazine is all about music, specifically rock/metal which feature electric guitars heavily.
Kerrang! magazine usually follows this layout and has cover-lines just above the barcode in alternating colours, depending on the colour scheme for that week. The colour scheme for the cover to the left is predominantly white and red, these colours may be plain and neutral, but it is not them that are selling the magazine, it is the main image, which denotes a man in a scary looking magazine. The main image is a close up of the artist's face, in my opinion i don't think that this is a good idea for my magazine and so i am against having a close-up as the main photograph. The people in the images are being presented as cool and rebels that challenge ideology. For example in the Metallica review below, Lars Ulrich (the image on the bottom far right) is seen spitting his water into the air, which connotes rebellion, and is exactly the way most of the images included in Kerrang! are presented.
Kerrang's content follows a very simplistic layout. Blocky is the word that can aptly describe this layout, the main articles have captioned images, and "this week" has a list of features included in the magazine. I think that this layout looks too amateur and so i will not be immitating this design. However at the head of the contents page is an editors note, which is a brief paragraph of the editor's views on the week. I will include a small image of the font cover on my contents page, because it connotes professionalism, as has the small image of Kerrangs cover at the head of their contents page. Despite being simple, it clearly displays the contents of the magazine, without over-complicating it, this i think is very useful and for my target audience is appropriate, however i think that Kerrang's contents is too simplistick for my magazine.
Kerrang includes features on live reviews, from concerts predominatley in the UK, but if important enough overseas. The image on the left is a typical double-page feature on a live review: the pictures out weigh the text, and for good reason because i believe this is for maintaining the reader's attention, because -broadly speaking- the target audience for this magazine does not have a vast attention span. This double page spread uses one main image as the main image and background, and only a few images to support the main. The ration of images and text is shifted significantly towards images, because of the lack of text i would say that this amount is suitable for the target audience of Kerrang! and because i would like a similar target audience, i won't have too much text on my double-page.
Kerrang includes features on live reviews, from concerts predominatley in the UK, but if important enough overseas. The image on the left is a typical double-page feature on a live review: the pictures out weigh the text, and for good reason because i believe this is for maintaining the reader's attention, because -broadly speaking- the target audience for this magazine does not have a vast attention span. This double page spread uses one main image as the main image and background, and only a few images to support the main. The ration of images and text is shifted significantly towards images, because of the lack of text i would say that this amount is suitable for the target audience of Kerrang! and because i would like a similar target audience, i won't have too much text on my double-page.On ocassion Kerrang! has features like the one on the right, which are dedicated to the "100 Best of..." (in this case albums of 2009) these features follow a basic la
yout with images scattered around the pages. This is audience related because the results are chosen by the readers, who can vote online, thus maintaining the audience's attention and keeps them buying the magazine.
yout with images scattered around the pages. This is audience related because the results are chosen by the readers, who can vote online, thus maintaining the audience's attention and keeps them buying the magazine.Kerrang! addresses it's audience by using rather simple language, that is colloquial and specific to their target consumer - teenagers. Words like "why 2009 ROCKED!" and "also in this week's MAG" are colloquial terms, which are solely used by the youth of today, so it could be said that Kerrang! specifically adresses the teen audience, which is slightly patronizing but not overly.
Kerrang! magazine is published by Bauer Media, who are also associated with such magazines like; Heat, FHM, and a vast array of other magazines, including the music magazines; Q and Mojo. This means that Bauer Media have a huge sum of knowledge on publishing magazines because it publishes aproximatley 59 magazines (from http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands)
Started in 1983, Metal Hammer magazine is the second largest selling rock magazine in the UK (second to Kerrang!) Unlike Kerrang! Metal Hammer is dedicated only to Metal music, which is gaining an increasing number of fans, and is a monthly magazine (where Kerrang! is weekly) Becuase M.H is a monthly magazine, it can afford to be slightly more expensive and upmarket. The name Metal Hammer is associated with the genre that it is about: metal. This title connotes toughness and violence, words that are linked to the metal genre itself. Below is a link to Metal Hammer's website:http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/magazine/
The audience is again radical teenagers, more radical than the audience for Kerrang! and moving into the young adult ages aswell, so roughly the 15 - 20 age group. The audience would be made up of people that challenge dominant ideology and share a passion for music, i would say that the audience for music magazines is an audience largely comprising of musicians. The target audience would also be in the C1/C2 category, because of the fact that the magazine is more upmarket (due to the glossy cover) and expensive.
Metal Hammer is the title largely due to the magazine's metal music contents. It connotes violence and toughness, words that are typically associated with the metal genre of music. The masthead denotes the word 'Hammer' in big upper case, white letters, with the word 'metal' also in upper-case, but in black and tilted vertically in the 'H' of 'Hammer', alos 'metal' is in a different font that is more gritty and edgy.
Metal Hammer is the title largely due to the magazine's metal music contents. It connotes violence and toughness, words that are typically associated with the metal genre of music. The masthead denotes the word 'Hammer' in big upper case, white letters, with the word 'metal' also in upper-case, but in black and tilted vertically in the 'H' of 'Hammer', alos 'metal' is in a different font that is more gritty and edgy.
Metal Hammer uses a dark colour scheme, red, black,orange, white, the colours used connote anger and rage, fire colours like reds and oranges help support this. These colours share the same connotations as the metal music which the magazine is based on. M.H uses a sans-serif font and refrains from uses long words, this is so the magazine doesn't confuse its target audience of teenage under-achievers.Metal Hammer uses the usual features of a music magazine: live/album reviews, music news etc, but what makes M.H unique to other music magazines is that it has a segment called "tatts life" 
Tatt's life is a feature on muscian's tattoos, it includes images and the story behind the tattoos and a little advice for the readers. This is one of the main selling features of this partcular magazine, because of its originality, also because the radical target audience are the type that want tattoos. M.H has found a niche subject that appeals to its target audience. The photos used throughout the magazine are of the musicians, who are always in tough poses, these photos feature the musicians predominately (instruments included) and do not feature objects on there own. In this double page spread, M.H has included a substantial amount of pictures - most interestingly the circular images which do not follow the traditional rectangle/square frames - I think that it is important to have numerous images on a double page spread, but all of those on this example make the page seem some what cluttered and untidy. I am keen to have a photograph on a double page that blends into the background seamlessly, such as the image of Corey Taylor (bottom left) This double page has an equal ratio of images and text, this is important because it keeps the readers interest and prevents boredom.
What makes M.H appeal to its target audience is that, aspiring musicians amongst M.H's audience have the oppurtunity to feature in the magazine by sending in a demo of their band and they then have a chance to appear in the magazine if they are selected.
Metal hammer is published and distributed by Future publishing, who also publish similar music magazines such as: Classic Rock, Total Guitar, Rhythm and more! So Future PLC have a wealth of experience in publishing music magazines. For a full list of Future PLC's portfolio, visit: http://www.futureplc.com/what-we-do/portfolios/
Rock Sound is a monthly british magazine which leads in alternative music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts. It also has a (as of Jul-Dec 08) readership of 74,000, this proves that Rock Sound has a rather large audience. The target for Rock Sound differs slightly from Kerrang! and Metal Hammer in that it also targets alternative peaople who prefer the underground acts that are less commercial. The audience for R.S would be more like achievers and aspirers than radicals, and more post-modern and hedonistics, an audience that embraces new music, possibly D-C2 on the Jicnar scale aged 16-24 both male and female in an equal ratio.Rock sound's contents page is dominated by a main image and has the listings on ither side of the image, from loeft to right at the bottom of the page. This is an interesting layout because of this, however i think that it is too different to incorporate into my magazine, mainly because when i first saw it, i was confused whether it was the contents or not and so if i was confused, i think the audience would me too, and so that is why i am not going to include this risky layout into my contents. On the following page, R.S has a secondary cotents page with all of the necessary information on each with a strap-line and a page number which are highlighted in a different colour to the rest of the text. As with Kerrang!, R.S has an editors note on the contents page, reviewing the magazine and the month in general. This contents has few images and sticks to a red, whit and black colour scheme.
The title Rock Sound is all to do with the style of music that the magazine is about, it connotes music, and the overall sound of rock. The masthead itself denotes white, upper -case letters in a sans-serif font. The images used connote aggression but also humour, as you can see from the cover example, it clearly denotes a decapited male, but because it also denotes obvious cartoon-like blood and gore, this means that it appears more comical than an actual decapitated head.
A common article in R.S, follows a typical basic layout: few 
images and plain almost bland text. The test itself is in a sans-serif font on a standard white background, the only parts that are emphasized are the headline (bold,bigger text) and the strap-line (which is reversed out) Despite the layout being rather basic, i think it suits in well with the target audience of Rock Sound, who don't need lots of images to stimulate their brain (like in Kerrang specifically) and are content with a couple of important images.
What makes Rock Sound unique from the other muisic magazines, is that it focuses a vast portion of its pages to new music - most of which are unsigned and very underground - it also features articles on more commercial acts. Not only does the magazine cater to features on musicians, but alos underground producers, such as Sam Hayles (left) this adds more variety and depth to the magazine, because it is not just about the music, but about making the music and new upcoming acts. Also, rock Sound magazine features the usual suspects found in music magazines: live/album reviews, band features and interviews.
A double-page spread in Rock Sound, follows a standard layout, the colours are all very monochrome, apart from the images. Such with the first double page example (above) a double page in Rock Sound will usually have one page solely for pictures and the other for a combination of text and images, In most cases the article will only have a small photograph of the person the article is about, and focus more on the work that they produce, this ethic is one that i feel is important for more established magazines such as Rock Sound, but for my magazine i don't think i can afford to have few images of the artist in question.
images and plain almost bland text. The test itself is in a sans-serif font on a standard white background, the only parts that are emphasized are the headline (bold,bigger text) and the strap-line (which is reversed out) Despite the layout being rather basic, i think it suits in well with the target audience of Rock Sound, who don't need lots of images to stimulate their brain (like in Kerrang specifically) and are content with a couple of important images.What makes Rock Sound unique from the other muisic magazines, is that it focuses a vast portion of its pages to new music - most of which are unsigned and very underground - it also features articles on more commercial acts. Not only does the magazine cater to features on musicians, but alos underground producers, such as Sam Hayles (left) this adds more variety and depth to the magazine, because it is not just about the music, but about making the music and new upcoming acts. Also, rock Sound magazine features the usual suspects found in music magazines: live/album reviews, band features and interviews. Rock Sound uses very relaxed terms in its magazine, it doesn't use colloquial language as much as Kerrang! but still has a flavour of it in the reviews, R.S uses standard english words which make it seem more professional because it is slightly mor upper class than Kerrang!. R.S uses quotes heavily from the artists, because it uses a lot of interviews within its pages.
A double-page spread in Rock Sound, follows a standard layout, the colours are all very monochrome, apart from the images. Such with the first double page example (above) a double page in Rock Sound will usually have one page solely for pictures and the other for a combination of text and images, In most cases the article will only have a small photograph of the person the article is about, and focus more on the work that they produce, this ethic is one that i feel is important for more established magazines such as Rock Sound, but for my magazine i don't think i can afford to have few images of the artist in question.Rock sound is published and distributed independantly by Rock Sound itself, (who also have a tv station) Here is a link to the Rock Sound website: http://www.rocksound.tv/
Excellent research into similar magazines - you have used appropriate terms excellently and considered target audience, layout design, details, contents, ideologies and representations. - well done.
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