At the begging of the main task I will look at the music magazine's industry. I will compare some of the magazines and analyse them through the key media concepts. This research should help me to come up with an idea for my own music magazine and I hope it will also clarify my understanding of how we can use the media conventions within music magazines.
To do my analysis I chose ‘NME’ and ‘Q’ magazines, as they have different publishers and are aimed at a bit different audiences.
NME - New Music Express
Language - The visual language of ‘NME’ is created in a way to attract younger and prospering audience. Front page is built of many features and is always busy and a bit hectic. The used fonts are san-serif, as it is a modern magazine. The masthead is generally in the biggest font size out of all the text, however sometimes the main headline may be bigger than the masthead, as the editors want to attract the audience by this particular article/band (as we can see in the used example, the name of the band stands out of all the text). The next convention used in NME, as well as it is used in Q, is that the masthead is positioned in the upper-left corner. The colours used in NME are very bold. There is also a use of primary colour, as in the posted front cover we can see red and yellow. The use of colours is restricted up to four colours: which are red, yellow, white and black, and the main image (picture of The Gossip) follows this colour scheme. All theses features create this rather strong image, however it is still very much universal and may approach a wide audience. While on the contrary to NME, "Q" uses more 'peaceful' and 'mild' colours, as the magazine is targeted at more adult audience.
Institution – ‘NME’ is published by IPC Media, which is one of the UK’s leading consumer magazine and digital publisher. http://www.ipcmedia.com/about/
Ideology – ‘The NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music.’ ( text taken from IPC’s website) The ideology standing behind NME is to inform its audience about recent happenings and events, mostly within indie and rock music. Through the range of good articles, interviews and short press notes it conveys and at the same time promotes the particular music genre. NME's coverage is done in an intellectual and funny way in order to entertain its readers, as from the early years of the paper's existence it has been focusing on the best quality journalism. [Alan Smith was made editor and the paper's coverage changed radically from an uncritical and rather reverential showbiz-oriented paper to something intended to be smarter, hipper, more cynical and funnier than any mainstream British music paper had previously been (an approach influenced mainly by writers such as Tom Wolfe and Lester Bangs). In order to achieve this, Smith raided the underground press for its best writers, such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, and recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler and Ian MacDonald. - taken from the Wikipedia]
What makes the NME stand out of other music magazines is that it has got direct influence in new music. NME has helped to break bands including The Strokes, The Vines, The Libertines and The White Stripes and still helps to promote successful newcomers. We may even say it tries to shape its readers' tastes, for example the main part of the first issue in 2009 coverage is about ten new bands/artists, which according to NME, are a "new noise" of 2009. Another thing which makes NME unusual is the fact it tries to seem like it goes against mainstream, e.g. by giving vinyl as a free gift, or as I have written before; by being one step ahead one step ahead of mainstream popular chart music; setting the path of music trends.
The link to the media pack where is more information on the NMS's audience:
(The sources which the information was taken from are from the research done between years 2006 and 2008, so they are mostly up to date.)
Representation - The way in which different social groups are represented within the magazine is very much essential, when it comes to reach the audience. Representation is mainly showed through the photographs. In NME usually the front cover photos are done in a studio and they appear being really professional. While on the other hand, the photos inside the magazine look very natural; as they have been shot on the spot (even when it is a professional photo shooting, they try to keep this natural appearance); there are loads of pictures from live events and gigs, as it is something what would draw the reader's attention. The photos features artists from the genres of music, which NME is related to: indie, rock and pop. Even though NME does not feature articles about politics, it tries to show its rebelliousness by featuring artists whose lifestyles counter social norms: e.g. Pete Dougherty or Amy Winehouse.
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'Q' MAGAZINE 
Language - As I have written before, 'Q' follows the convention of placing the masthead in the right-upper corner. Comparing its visual appearance with NME, the covers are minimalistic, what makes them much more classy and sophisticated than NME's covers are. The front covers feature the great quality photos (always done in a studio), which are iconic for 'Q' - [Modelled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. - taken from Wikipedia] Furthermore, there is not much writing, as the main focus is upon the photos. The writing is mostly in a san-serif font type, as it adds the modern look. For example in the posted front cover, which features Lily Allen; the san-serif font is used within the main headlines, and the serif font is used within sub-headlines. The limited colour scheme also contributes to this higher quality feeling, which we get from 'Q'. The professional appearance of 'Q' is likely to attract people of higher economic model.
Institution – ‘Q’ is published by ‘Bauer Media’, which is a division of the Bauer Publishing Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Bauer Publishing Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 230 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/About-Bauer-Media/
Ideology - “Since launch in 1986, Q has been the UK’s best selling music monthly magazine. With its unrivalled access it has delivered the world’s biggest music stars every month. Seeing life through the lens of music, it draws references from the world of sport, comedy, film and even politics.” – taken from the Bauer Media website.
The foundations of ‘Q’ – “Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits.” – taken from Wikipedia
The ideology of ‘Q’ is similar to NME’s, as they inform its audience about recent happenings within the new music world, and at the same time they try to entertain its readers. The things which make it different to NME are: the larger coverage (even despite the fact it is a monthly magazine and NME is a weekly one, ‘Q’ features articles about politics, music industry as itself, sport, film and many more things which are related to media mass culture) and the fact that it does not promote new bands or artists, as ‘NME’ does.
Audience – “ Open minded experience seekers, the Q audience don’t define themselves by the music they listen to. Music is an important passion, but their love of music will never be to the detriment of their other passions, such as film, sport and comedy.” – readers profile taken from the Bauer Media website .
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands/Q/
‘Q’ coverage is more extended than NME’s one and it includes different topics, so it may reach wider audience. As we can read from the readers profile - open minded experience seekers – it appears that ‘Q’ older audience, even that have got already established music tastes, is not afraid of trying new things. Also the fact that 'Q' coverage includes more ‘classic’ and well established bands, may draw this particulars audience.
Representation – On its front covers, ‘Q’ features artists and bands which are well established within the music industry. What makes the magazine unique are the great quality photos and the magazine’s high quality appearance, which is essential, when reaching the audience of higher economic model.
NME - New Musical Express
