Music Magazine Research

Music Magazine Research

The genre of music I will be publishing my magazine in is indie, indie rock. Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. The meaning of the term ‘indie rock’ is contested today by many musicians and fans. Some use the term ‘indie’ to describe independent music defined as any music produced by artists working within the network of independent record labels and underground music venues. Others see indie rock as a distinct genre of rock music with a specific artistic aesthetic, and care less about the context in which it is made. Many embrace both meanings of the word, believing that the aesthetics of the genre and its means of production are deeply intertwined. Indie rock artists are known for maintaining in complete control of their music and careers, releasing albums on independent record labels and relying on touring, word-of-mouth, airplay on independent or college radio stations and, in recent years, the Internet for promotion. However, in the 2000's many acts with a musical style identified as "indie" signed to major record labels and began promoting themselves through more traditional media outlets. This has led to a further blurring in the meaning of the term.

The media that exist for this genre of music are mainly dominated by the brand ‘NME’ or ‘New Musical Express’. It started as a weakly published magazine in 1952 and over the years has turned into a brand by opening ‘NME Radio’, ‘NME TV’ and ‘NME.com’. The ‘NME’ is a major competitor for indie music magazines and one that I can look at in more detail and use it for inspiration.

The producer of ‘NME’ is a company called ‘IPC Media’.  ‘IPC Media’ also produce other magazines in Women's weeklies such as ‘Now Magazine’ and ‘Look’ they also produce leisure and specialist magazines like ‘Ignite!’ and men's lifestyle and entertainment magazines and women's lifestyle and home interest. IPC Media are UK's leading magazine distribution business and because of this I think that looking at there music magazine it will help me because they are obviously doing things the right way and I can use there techniques and style as inspiration for my magazine.  

In current publications of ‘NME’ they typically include Interviews with well-known bands and up and coming bands reviews on gigs and festivals, the latest news about bands, albums, music and festivals. Also they do a main story, which is normally to do with the main image on the front cover and normally follows with a large section dedicated to in inside.

‘NME’ costs £2.30 and for that you get a 66-page publication, with interviews, reviews and exclusives and NME which is published every week normally on a Tuesday.

‘NME’ is aimed at people who clam to ‘Indie’ and enjoy alternative music and like to be first to hear about new bands and future stars.  

The NME or New Musical Express is called this because the magazines genre is music and it’s all about new music and up and coming bands. And the Express is due to the frequency of the issues released.

My music magazine should have a name that reflects the contents and style that I would like my magazine to have. It has to be music related because the magazine is based around music and I want the name to be easily recognized and associated with music. Also the name has to represent the style of magazine I’m producing, for example because my magazine is an indie, alternative music magazine I will avoid words that you wouldn’t link to that type of music.

The band on the front cover of this NME magazine are a new band called ‘The Vaccines’.  The band members are relatively all equal as their heads are the same height; however the lead singer is in front of the other members to show his importance. In the image the band members are just sitting on a sofa looking at the camera holding guitars because of the tag line ‘The return of the great British guitar band’.

On this cover of NME they have used a picture of John Lennon, one of the members of The Beatles. The shot is a close up of his face and he is smoking, which represents how music was different back then as now smoking is frowned upon.    

On this cover of NME there is an image of Paul Weller from the well known band The Jam. This shot is a mid shot and in the image he is standing up with his arms crossed and has a face is looking disappointed, which goes with his quote “This generation needs to stand up and fight”.

On this cover of NME there is an image of an old retro vinyl record. The shot is a close up of the vinyl, this is because it goes with the tag line on the cover of 'the 100 greatest albums, you've never heard'. 

Student Magazine Project Conclusion

In conclusion we had to write up a proposal about a college student magazine that we would later have to create a front page and a contents page for. I felt my proposal had all it needed init and more, although I could have gone into more detail with things like taglines and talked about why they would work and whom they are mainly aimed at and how the taglines will attract my target audience. The second part of the project was to research already published college magazines, I looked at two magazines that I found on the Internet and deconstructed there front cover, this helped me see what was needed to put in my magazine and how it should be laid out. Also what types of taglines the magazine uses. All these things helped me and influenced the final outcome of my magazine. After that I went out around college at took many pictures of people and places I could use for my front cover and images I could use in my contents page. I think the images I look where every good, I remembered the rule of thirds and that I needed to make room for things like titles and taglines so it can all fit into the image without blocking out any of the important parts like peoples faces etc. With all this research and the images I then created my front cover and contents page. I started off using InDesign to put together my front cover but having had working with Photoshop before I felt I could get a better quality front cover and contents page then if I used InDesign which I didn’t have previous experience with. I felt my front cover come out well, I had a very good starting image and I used techniques used in published magazines to make mine look more professional. My contents page was a little rushed as I missed a lesson due to a college field trip in another lesson so its not the best I could have done, however with the time I had I felt it is sufficient enough as it has the main things it needs and the images I’ve used link with the taglines which makes the whole page flow and work. I also uploaded all the photos I took onto Flickr, an online photo storage website, so they can be publicly accessed by anyone and can people comment and I can get more feedback then I normally would. Doing this project I feel it has helped me understand what is needed to make a professional and interesting magazine front cover, however I will have to look at more music magazine when it comes working on the music magazine project. Also having working on programs like InDesign and Photoshop has given me more experience and understanding to be able to produce a better outcome, also working on this project I have become more use to using the Macs and becomes more confident in what I can do on them meaning my future work can only get better. 

College Student Magazine Contents Page Deconstruction

College Student Magazine Front Cover Deconstruction

Photos Taken For Student Magazine Project

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakebooth-asmedia/
This is a link to my Flickr Photostream where you can look at all the photos I took for my student magazine project. It has the images I used and the images I didn't use. Feel free to have a look and comment. 

My College Magazine Contents Page

My College Magazine Front Cover

College Magazine Images Deconstructions

Lesson Overview

Today in the lesson I have uploaded more of my college magazine project on to my blog however I have still have to deconstruct the images I have used and so I can't add the rest of my work until I have done them so it can all go in the correct order. things I have already finished but haven't yet put onto the blog from the college magazine project are, my finished front cover and contents page, deconstructions of my front cover and contents page and a conclusion of the project. Also today I have made a good start on my music magazine research which I plan to finish later tonight along with deconstructions of covers and contents pages of already published music magazines. Also will be starting to think of a name for my magazine as I think this will be hard to come up with the name and I will need a lot of time to think about it and i will also research and deconstruct other music magazine names to see how theres work and fit into the genre they are in.  

'College' Magazine Deconstruction

C.U.E Student Magazine Front Cover Deconstruction

Student Magazine Proposal

I will be aiming my student magazine at students already attending the college. This is because the college already has a persecutes for new students and that comes out a few months before they chose a college so if it was aimed at them.

My magazine will be about student life and everything students are interested in, music, films, TV etc and will also contain information about college. A typical content would be a few pages on music consisting off latest band news and gig that are happening locally that students could attend. Also have student write about their favourite bands and even bands in the college. The music section will be like a compact local version of the popular music magazine NME. The TV section would have a TV listening so people know what’s on and have student’s reactions to the previous weeks TV shows.  There will also be a section on films where students review films they have seen at the cinema in the past week. All these things will make my magazine a must have for entertainment news but also will have important messages about the college and up and coming events around the college that people might be interested in.

Ideas for cover lines would consist of one major headline from each of the areas of the magazine, one music, one film, one TV, one college etc. I would do this because it will appeal to a wider audience then just putting cover lines about one area, as from being at college have seen that it is a divers place.

The title I have come up for my magazine is ‘Student Interest Press’ or ‘S.I.P’ for short; I have chosen this name because it states what this magazine is about and its contents, the things that interest students. Also as it has the word student in it students will clearly see this is meant for them and the fact it’s got ‘Student Interest’ in the name shows that they should like what the magazine is publishing.  A title I chose not to choose is ‘South Downs College’ or ‘S.D.C’ this is because it’s too common as I feel a few people who can’t think of a name would go for this name. Also it’s not very imaginative and I don’t think it will stick in the mind as well as ‘Student Interest Press’ and also ‘South Downs College’ is already known for being a college not a magazine that the college publish. Another name I chose not to use is ‘Student Exclusive’. This is because I didn’t feel this rolled of the tong as easy as my other title ideas. Also the word ‘Exclusive’ brings with it expectations of exclusive interviews and items which would be impossible for a weekly college magazine.

I want to keep my magazine simple and minimalistic and I feel having a tagline will clog up the front page. Also I don’t feel students care that much for taglines and will be a waste of time coming up with one and finding somewhere to put it on my front page.

I will publish my magazine during the academic year as this is when all the students will be in and around college meaning they will be in college to buy it. Also this is when things are happening which can be put into the magazine so it will be filled with news and information which the students will be interested in.

The font I would use would be something clear and easy to read, this is because I would want it to reflect the clear and easy readable contents of the magazine as students have a lot of work to-do so they need something fast and easy to read to get there entertainment news.  To get the images I will ask friends to pose in a student way with note books and bags etc around college and chose from the best once to be my main image.

This magazine would only be able to publish 3 or 4 issues a year, where as if its amid at students already at the college it can be sold to them every month 

My magazine will be A4 size because I feel anything smaller then this will be thrown away and messed around with but A4 size is big and will be kept in a bag until they do need it, meaning it will be kept and used. 

The images that I will use on my contents page will link with the items and cover lines which will help my magazine to flow. I’ve chosen to have red as the main colour for my magazine and contents page as red is a colour that stands out from the page and is what my magazine must do to attract readers.