House Style analysis

House Style Research and Analysis

The house style of a magazine greatly affects the overall tone and allows the editors to appeal to an audience without printing a single word. This means that identifying and understanding how a house style is used makes all the difference when the design phase is reached. In order to accomplish this, I have analysed two music magazines for their house style, which can be viewed HERE.

Target research and Focus Group

Target Research Survey Analysis

I created a survey of questions based around music magazines, and asked 14 people between 16-21 to give answers about what they would want from one. In order to make the data accurate, I covered a number of different aspects relating to music magazines. I can then use this when designing my music magazine in order to appeal to the right group of people.

The answers to this question tells me that people listen to a wide variety of genres, with the most popular ones being Rock and Metal, with Metal being substantially more popular. This was not the result I was expecting, as I thought Pop would be the most popular, as that is the most featured genre on TV and radio. I believe this may be due to my focus group not being an even representation of the whole population, but rather a small subset. However, I will still use the result this data has given me to plan my music magazine, which will try to appeal to fans of Metal.

I asked my focus group how often they buy music magazines to gauge how important a decision they make when buying one. My results show that the vast majority of my group bought music magazines less than once a month, so when planning my magazine I need to ensure that it is appealing enough that they will buy it. This result does not surprise me, as the advent of the internet means that most people between 16 and 21 get their information online, instead of in print.

This question was to give me an indication of what combination of style and substance appealed to my group the most. The answers I received tell me that Rolling Stone's combination of music and other areas of pop culture appeal the most to people, which tells me that it may make my magazine more appealing if I put in articles about popular film or TV alongside music. It also tells me that people do already buy music magazines specific to the Metal genre, so my magazine will have competition in the market.

This question was to give me an indication of what sort of content would appeal to my audience the most. The results show that a wide variety of articles would interest my target audience, but the most popular would be album reviews, gig information and interviews. This lines up with what I expected, as this is already what most music magazines create in order to appeal to customers and stay relevant in the digital age.

The last few questions were specifically about house style, and what would appeal to my audience. The first, on the design of the front cover, gave me an even split between messy and organised. This means I will have to make a compromise and not be able to appeal to everyone, however due to the nature of Metal as a genre, I will have already put many people off with the subject matter. Therefore I have decided to make my cover organised, but with exciting fonts and colours. This is because, while Metal carries connotations of chaos and disorder, people like to see things that look organised, and this makes the information easier to process. My target genre being as specific as it is, it is better to make the information easy to read while still being eye-catching, rather than going all-out on making it stand out.

The next question on house style was about colour scheme. I came up with four styles that I felt would look good, but by far the most popular choice was my initial idea of black, yellow, and white. I came up with this by looking at the general styles of other magazines like Q and Metal Hammer, so it does not surprise me that the colour scheme that draws most from other popular magazines was the most popular choice.

The final question was a simple one to do with the style of font. This seems to be mainly down to personal preference, however as Serif was the more popular choice, I will use a Serif font for the masthead and cover lines, then use a Serif Sans font for the actual article text, as I feel that Sans Serif is easier to read when it is at a diminished size compared to Serif.

Focus Group

I asked a small group of my peers this question:

Why would you read read music magazines?

And these were their responses:

• "To know about new bands and when new music is coming out."
• "When concerts are"
• "Exclusive interviews with bands"
• "to find new music I would like"

Feature article Analysis

Analysis of Double-Page Spread Feature Articles

I have analysed two double page spreads. They are both from Q magazine, I realize now, however they are from different issues and have a very different style to each other. The analysis can be viewed HERE.

Contents Page Analysis

Contents Page Analysis

I have analysed two contents pages of music magazines, Q and Metal Hammer. My analysis can be seen HERE.

Effect of the Internet on the Music Media

Effect of the Internet on the Music Media

The rise of the internet drastically changed the way that the music media had to operate in order to stay relevant. Before the internet, music magazines were the best way to find information on bands that you were interested in, as well as find new music and see the music charts. The internet made this information easily available to people, so music magazines had to adapt to survive. Many music magazines have changed their format in a bid to stay relevant. For example, NME is now a free magazine to incentivise more readers and many magazines such as Metal Hammer and Rolling Stone publish their articles in a print magazine, and then online a few weeks later, meaning those who are eager for the information will still buy the magazine, but those less interested will read the online piece and generate income through things like ad revenue. 

Social media and video sharing platforms mean that new artists have a much easier time being discovered than before the internet, two modern examples of this being Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran. This means that music media moved from covering new artists that were playing in their area, to finding people sharing their music online and introducing people to them. Additionally, the ease of communication between like-minded people over the internet means that people can find artist recommendations more easily than before, making the media’s recommendations less meaningful.

However, the rise of the internet has also helped the music media. Having almost every song available to listen to on the internet means that the media no longer have to describe the sound of a band, they can simply show their audience. This also gives the consumers of music media instant gratification, they can immediately see whether or not they like a band with little effort required, instead of having to buy or hunt down an album or recording as they did before the internet.

Before magazines embraced using the internet, many sites dedicated to bands were run by fans, and were therefore sometimes inaccurate or not kept up-to-date. The convergence of technology means that magazines can now be produced digitally and look exactly the same as their print versions, creating synergy between them that allows for the target audience to access the content more easily than ever before. This also created the need to increase the quality of the journalism in music magazines, as digital magazines can be distributed much more easily than print magazines, so they rely more heavily on fans, so unique selling points are more important.

Readership Profiles

Readership Profiles

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone magazine sells approximately 1.4 million magazines a year. 61.7% of its adult readership is male, and 50% of sales come from 18-34 year olds.

This magazine is aimed more at men than women, as the colours are serious and the dominant image is of a hip-hop icon (2Pac), which is a predominantly male appealing genre. This also appeals to working class people, more those in black communities, as that is where the genre is most popular. Additionally, the cover-line on drugs may appeal to working and middle class people, as they are more likely to do drugs than upper class people.  The age range for readership is around 16-35, as this is the age at which hip-hop is the most popular. The readership’s social grades are B, C1, and C2, as they are the groups that are appealed to by hip-hop music, but they also have enough disposable income to afford a magazine like Rolling Stone. For modern hip-hop the age range is more likely to be 16-25, but the “Greatest hip-hop songs of all time” will most likely extend further back and appeal to a slightly older audience. This magazine appeals to people who enjoy music, more than people who see it as a hobby, due to the fact that there are other stories unrelated to music, such as “Will Obama Try to Kill Legal Pot?” and “Secrets of ‘The Hobbit’”. It is most likely for people who have a broad range of music and media in general, but also those who do not use the internet a huge amount, as wider media stories are often gathered from the internet. The personality types of Rolling Stone readers would be Mainstreamer and Aspirer, with perhaps some Strugglers or Resigned, due to the main article’s subject matter.

Metal Hammer

Metal Hammer is a metal music magazine with a yearly circulation of 20,961.

This magazine definitely appeals to men more than women, as the models are up close and in stereotypically “tough” poses (especially the model in the background rather than the foreground). They also both embody the “manly” image, which is long beards and chiselled, weathered faces. The Social Grade of the readership is middle class (ABC1), include upper and lower, but mainly the lower half, as the genre of music appeals mainly to that demographic. This is backed up by the cover line, which is about the classic metal band Slayer. People who were fans of Slayer when they were at their most successful are now most likely middle class, so are the prime demographic for the magazine. Additionally, two of the secondary cover lines are about classic bands, specifically “Motorhead Studio Exclusive” and the line “Corey Goes Classic”, which shows that a large amount of the content is aimed at an older audience. The main age range for readership would be 18-45, as the magazine appeals to an older range of people outside of the traditional magazine readership age range. The cover lines on the cover also all refer to music and music news, so unlike Rolling Stone magazine, Metal Hammer is aimed specifically at metal fans, instead of just people who are interested in music, which reflects the specialised the genre is. The personality types of Metal Hammer readers are most likely Explorers and Reformers, as Explorers enjoy new frontiers and are the first to try new things, while Reformers enjoy freedom from restriction, which is often embodied in metal music. Some readers may also be Aspirers, as some parts of metal are focused on image and appearance, which appeals to Aspirers.

NME Magazine

New Musical Express is a music magazine created in 1949, and went free in 2015. Pre price drop it had a circulation of around 15,000, and has a post price drop circulation of 300,000.

The magazine is aimed at both men and women, judging from the models used on the cover. Palma Violets are a modern Indie Rock band, which is a genre appealing to both men and women, specifically those between 16-25. The secondary cover articles also cater to both men and women’s taste, with bands like Foo Fighters and Florence + The Machine. This magazine’s Social Grades are ABC1, as these are the Grades who are interested in the music covered in the articles, and have the time and money to go to the concerts advertised on the cover. However with the price drop, classes C2, D, and E may also read the magazine, even if nothing directly appeals to them, meaning some ads may be targeted toward them. The magazine covers a wide variety of musical genres, unlike Metal Hammer, but unlike Rolling Stone, their articles are still mainly about music. With their change to a free magazine, NME has moved towards more pop-culture orientated articles, obviously in an attempt to attract more readers. The age range for readership is similar to that of indie music, so 16-25, as they are most interested in the new music covered in the magazine. Older people may also be appealed to, mainly because of the lack of a price tag rather than the content being covered is meant to appeal to them. The personality types of the readers would be Aspirer and Mainstreamer, as Mainstreamers like following trends, which are covered by NME, and Aspirers are inclined towards image and appearance, which is again covered by NME magazine.