By Amisha

Patel

Music Magazine Analysis

Background Information…

-Kerrang! is a music magazine that consists of mainly the genre rock and heavy metal.  

-It is published by Bauer Consumer Media in the United Kingdom.

-The magazine's name is onomatopoeic and refers to the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar.

-Kerrang has a niche audience.

-Kerrang! began  its publication on the 7th June 1981 and was edited by Geoff Barton.

-Kerrang first started off as a one time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focuses on "new wave of British heavy metal" and also the rise of other hard rock acts.

-AC/DC was one of the first bands to appear on Kerrangs first issue of the magazine.

-The original owners of Kerrang were united newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991.

-In 2008, EMAP then sold its consumer magazine to current owner Bauer media group.

-Kerrang was also published in Australia in 1991 by EMAP however unlike being issued every week like in the UK, Kerrang was monthly due to stiff competition from free local music publications. As well as this, Kerrang is also published in Spanish.

Editor: Nichola BrowneCategories: Music magazine

Frequency: WeeklyPublisher: Bauer

Total circulation: 43,000First issue: 6 June 1981

Country: United KingdomLanguage: English

Website: www.kerrang.com

Content Analysis… In order to carry out the Content Analysis, it is important to understand what is meant by this term ‘Content Analysis’. It is an examination of the percentage of material in text.

Pages…

-Kerrang offers 63 pages in total, this number is the average number Kerrang offers for the price it sells its magazines at.

-52 original pages were used the Kerrang

-And 12 pages were taken from another magazine, newspapers or another agency who sell cheap copies of information

Signs…-A sign is the smallest unit of meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate, we communicate more by signs then we may do by talking to one another.-A symbolic sign is learnt hence when we see it we automatically remember and follow it.-Similarly an iconic sign is something that looks alike to what it’s meant to mean, we also learn this however these are more obvious signs therefore its is easier to understand and follow.

-All forms of media use signs, especially magazines. Kerrang use signs throughout the magazine to communicate with its audience. -Denotation is the first order of signification, this means it is the objective description of a sign.-Connotations is the next level of signification, and it refers to signs that have meaning for us as individuals and as a society . Connotation signs are hence subjected and therefore are based on our experiences and values.

-Advertisements are important to cover the cost of magazines

-They allow Kerrang to add value to the final selling price.

-They may also help the magazine to look eye catching.

-The magazine that I examined had up to 12 pages of advertisements, this included half, quarter and thirds of advertisements added together which in total equaled to 11 and a half pages of advertisements.

Advertisments…

Editorial-I found that there were 5 pages in total of

editorial, with a sum of 26 pages of editorial copy images and 18 pages of editorial images.

-26 and18 do not make a total of 5 pages this is due to the fact that the images were all counted but then were put added together which then equaled to 5 pages.

-Editorial images/copy images are from the magazine itself.

-Editorial images are very important for Kerrang as their target audience seem to like reading form images then writing, we can say this as there is little written content compared to images.

-Editorial images hook the audience which then persuade them to look further into the magazine as they have their attention.

Price…

-When a company is pricing their magazine it’s crucial for them to consider various factors such as; ‘Will the target audience I am aiming at able to afford this magazine?’

-The price at which Kerrang sell their magazine is £2.20.

-We compared this price to another popular and fast selling magazine, MOJO and found that it was more expensive due to the fact that it consisted of more content, the MOJO magazine was sold at £4.50 more then double the price Kerrang was selling at, this is due to the target audience that MOJO is aimed at, as are able to afford expensive magazines.

Photo Libraries…-These are images that do not belong to the

magazines itself and are brought off another agency, in order to make the cost cheaper and have a variety of different contents in the magazine.

-26 photo libraries were used on 16 pages.-And 129 original photos were used on 17 pages. -Images and fonts used seemed more violent and

aggressive. This is the kind of image that is associated with that genre of music.

Front Cover…-The type of photograph that is on the front cover of the Kerrang magazine, shows a portrait picture of two members from the band Linkin Park.-The photograph on the front cover is a medium shot of both members from Linkin Park.-The composition of the image is so that both the members of the band are looking directly at the audience. This is arranged so that it grabs the readers eye. 

 -The representational issues identified are that is magazine is quite stereotypical as it is mainly aimed at those with an interest in the genre rock and heavy metal. Kerrang is also a magazine mainly read by guys rather than girls. This can be shown by the way that the magazine is laid out and the use of colours which are mainly liked by guys. -Language is targeted to the audience in way that links to the genre of music. In this case rock and heavy metal. This type of music suggests that the readers are "wild" therefore the language of the magazine is "wild" to make the readers more comfortable with what they are reading.  

-The image on the front cover is important because in order for this photo to attract readers and fans who take interest in that specific band, capturing the mood of those two members with an emphasis of their facial expression is significant. -This font has been chosen because it is clear for the reader to read and also bold font which stands out attracts more attention than any other font. 

Relation to cost of Production…

-The more the content that comes from another contributor the cheaper the production is. This is due to the fact that the company will not have to waste time finding information or use resources, therefore the final selling price would be also cheaper.

Layout…-The layout is often similar for each issue and often contains the same types of features. we think it is like that because it is easily recognisable to the reader and the bold masthead and cover images attract the readers eyes to the magazine.

Quality and Reproduction…

-The magazine quality is high production as it uses glossy paper which is more costly then normal paper however it uses the same paper quality for the cover and the glossy paper felt a bit cheap for the cover.

Cover Price and Production Costs…

-The more costly the material to produce the magazine, the more costly the cover price will be. However the magazine does not seem to have a really high circulation hence Kerrang have to sell at a lower price.