Journalistic Style Of A Music Magazine

The Journalistic style of a music magazine must be informal as it must relate to the reader and make them feel as though they are being talked to by someone who familiar to them. "They distractedly touch each other. And no, its not that they're gay." The author of this articles taken from "Smash Hits special addition for Take That", relates to the reader well by writing as though the reader has asked them a question. 

Rhetorical questions are often used in magazine articles to involve the reader in the topic they're talking about, even though the reader doesn't actually have any say in what is going on. Direct address is used to show that the article is only there entertain that particular reader and make them want to read on. 

Columns are used in magazine and newspaper articles as it makes it easier for the reader to connect to as it doesn't look intimidating visually for the reader, it also makes it easier for other visual images such as logos and photographs to fit round. 

Questions from the author to the artists are common to double page spreads. This will appeal to the reader as it lets them find out information about the artist first hand which is probably the closest they will ever get to asking a famous artist questions without going off second hand newspaper articles ect. The information given in the magazine is very specific commonly used to make the reader feel as though they are there involved with what the author is doing at that time. This makes the reader want to find out more so that they have a clear picture in their head of what is taking place in that particular article. 

Articles are often biased towards particular topics talked about regularly at the time the magazine is going on sale. Usually the author will write biased towards the most popular point of view amongst the general public making it easier to relate to the audience. Hyperbole will often be used when describing particular events or people to make it clear to the reader if they are being biased towards the subject they are talking about.

When writing my article I must take into consideration what my audience will want to see and read about.  

Discussing The Conventions Of A Music Magazine

Unique Selling Point

My music magazine is aimed at a female audience who are interested in knowing about the indie genre in music. To make sure my magazine sells I must chose wisely when deciding what information to put in my magazine and also how to decorate it. Two of the key decorative selling features are the fonts used and also the colour scheme. The font makes my magazine stand out if used wisely. The font must be large and eye catching to draw the audience's attention, it must also be different to any other font used in other magazines that will be on sale next to mine. To decide what font to use I have been visiting a site called DAFONT.com which enables me to look at many different fonts of a wide variety. The colour scheme must also be decided carefully as it must fit in with my target audience, females ages 16+. Because of this i have researched using questionnaires what colours females would be attracted to and look for when searching for a magazine. The colours most popular amongst females who listen to indie music were pink, purple and light blue.

Another feature my magazine must have to be unique and stand out is a main photograph of a famous and well liked artist popular or upcoming in the music industry, there will be one main photo on my front cover that looks individual and that will entice the audience to look at it when scanning through magazines on sale. The photograph will take a direct mode of address which means the artist on the front cover look straight out of the magazine. This makes the audience feel connected with the photograph when looking at it making it appeal to that person and often leads to the purchasing it.

Information on the magazine cover is what ultimately sells the magazine and makes it unique to all other magazines on the market. I will fir my information around the logo and photograph used making sure the font and colours stand out on the page. I am going to use the following information on my front cover and in my contents page:

"Bands to look out for in 2010"

"Win a free ipod"

"What band is coming back from the dead?"

Festival tickets on sale soon for 2010 and what makes that festival so popular?"

"Horoscopes"

"Posters for you to start collecting"

By asking rhetorical questions the audience will feel as though the magazine is relating to them in some way.

I also decided to make my magazine quite unique compared to all others by looking round shops and supermarkets to see what magazines genres were on sale at the moment. I found many magazines using the pop music genre aimed at young females and indie genre music magazines aimed at either both females and males together or just males. Because the indie genre was so popular on the market at this current time, i decided to use the indie genre for my music magazine but aim it at females only instead. By using the indie genre aiming it at females it makes my magazine stand out to all others and is a unique selling point for my magazine.

Feedback 6.12.09

Laura, I am very concerned about the amount (or lack of) work on this blog. You only have 3.5 weeks of lesson time to complete this project and you don't appear to have made much progress and there are no drafts saved but not posted either! What have ou been doing? I need to see evidence of your research and planning asap. You should be starting production this week. You cannot hope to complete this coursework in lesson time alone, you have to use your own time also. Please see me asap.

Mrs A

Preliminary Task

My preliminary task is a front cover and a contents page about St Mary's College aimed at students attending the college. I have used a different font heading 'SMC catch up' to attract the audience's attention and then used a slogan underneath to explain to my target audience what my magazine is about. There is a pupil on the front next to the leading caption 'whats the latest shocking news...' linking the information on my front cover together. There is also other information about the magazine on my front cover that i thought would interest my target audience.

Conventions Of A Music Magazine

The Conventions Of A Music Magazine:

All magazines are made up of the same rules no matter what genre magazine they are. When designing a magazine the image and logo must be made to fit the content and the target audience. The name of the magazine and the colour scheme is also important when designing a magazine as it must appeal to a wide audience in order to sell.
The mode of adress is a key selling point for a magazine. The most common mode of adress is the direct adress which means the person on the cover looks out to the audience making the audience feel as though he/she is looking at them. Indirect adress is also used, this does the opposite of direct adress and makes the person on the cover look away from the audience. Indirect adress is not convention but it has been used on magazine covers in the past. Mode of adress can also refer to how a writer adresses the reader in his/hers article, usually in a normal friendly approach.
Celebrities are used to increase sales and profits as they sell a magazine by appearing both on the front cover and on the inside of a magazine. Celebrities inspire people and magazines use this as people will want to read about them.
The magazine cover is one of the most important conventions of a magazine, it is the magazines main advertisement because it represents the magazine as a whole. Magazine covers are more often than not bright, interesting and eye-catching to grab the audiences attention and make them want to find out more about that magazine. Colours on the front cover of a magazine are important as they should reflect the target audience and present the genre of the magazine. Fonts are used on the front cover to make it visually interesting and different to other magazines. The header is usually at the top of the page and this is used to make it recognisable to the target audience. A slogan is often used under the header to explain what is in the magazine and also explain how that magazine is different from any other. A main celebrity or modal is used in the centre of the magazine usually covering most of the page in a medium shot or a close up, some music magazines will use group shots. The leading caption is known to dominate the page and is focused on the magazines feature article, it should 'anchor' the cover story. Subheadings are the main stories used in the magazine so the magazine advertises them on the front cover to appeal to the audience. Straplines usually go at the bottom of the magazine highlighting any other vital information the magazine may think is a key selling point.
Contents pages are usually bright and colourful encouraging the reader to carry on reading the magazine. Images are used to dominate the text and it is common for page numbers to be printed over images. Direct adress is used in the images and a header appears on everypage. The contents page is used to give information on what is in the magazine as a whole and it has a list of contents telling the reader what information is on what page.
The feature article is used to attract an audience and then keep them interested (puns or shocking information on the celebrity ect). Celebrities don't appear on the front of a magazine unless they have something to sell or they want to become even more famous and talked about that what they already are. The images should dominate the article as again the magazine will want to draw the audience into reading it. White space is often seen on feature articles to balance out the images and the writing, depending on the audience the writing should be clear and easy to follow directed at the reader.
The majority of the money that makes the magazine possible comes from the advertising revenue, not from the actual sales itself. The sales are important however as the more a magazine sells the more likely it is for businesses to want to advertise in that particular magazine.

Feedback 24.11.09

Laura, your prelim task and refelction should be here by now. You need to be working on your research at home in your own time too. Outline the conventions of music mags in gerneral and analyse front pg, contents and dble pg feature from similar text yto your intended one. Say how it targets audience, suggests genre etc, Include rel theory - AIDA, U&G theory etc. Also conduct some audience research and collate your data etc. Say how your findings will inform the product. See me and/or checklist.

Mrs A

The Project I have chosen, why and my initial thoughts of the project

The project i have chosen to do is a music magazine. I have chosen to do this option because I am interested in both music and a career in journalism. I am working on my own to create this project.

The chosen genre for my music magazine is going to be indie and the target audience will be teenage girls and young women. I have chosen younger women for my target audience because the style of my magazine is going to be quite feminine in the way it is written, set out, the music displayed, the pictures used and the colour co-ordination. By doing this i believe it will sell well to my target audience. To make sure my project will sell to the target audience i have chosen to use, i am going to do a number of different kinds of research to make sure my magazine is going to be successful.

I want my magazine to be successful and grap the attention of my target audience. To make sure this happens my magazine needs to be unique. To make my magazine unique I will use a creative style when taking photos and I will also use eye catching information on the front of my magazine, on the contents page and also on my double page layout.

Part of my research is going to be looking at magazines currently on the market that are aimed at my target audience. I will be looking at how the front cover is set out, what photos have been used, the colouring, the logo and also how I could improve or better that magazine.

I feel my product with be successful because young women are common buyers of magazines and indie music is one of many popular genres of music. I am prepared to make changes and also add some ideas to the music magazine after doing plenty of research, by doing this my magazine will comfort my target audience to make them feel ok buying it but also be something different making it stand out next to other magazines.