Analysis of Indie/Alternative Magazine Adverts

By Hannah Lenane

This is an advert taken from NME magazine,promoting the infamous band, Kings Of Leon’slatest album.

Firstly it is important to notice that an image of the band themselves is not present. This is unusual as image and how the band is perceivedis of great significance to the Indie/Alternativegenre. However, the sudden popularity of theband can justify their absence from the advert.They no longer need to directly sell their image toaudiences as their target audience, as well asothers, will already be aware of who they are andwhat their image is. In conclusion, as a result oftheir popularity, the band no longer need toadvertise themselves nor their image.

Next we focus on the colours of the image. Warm tones of red, purple, orange and brown are used.These colours give the image a washed out, faded effect that works well with the high contrastlighting used. This turns the minimalist advert into an artistic image with a vintage/rustic effect.This will appeal to audiences as vintage, rustic and retro styles are highly influential with concern toand sought after by those following the Indie or Alternative fashion and music scene. This colourscheme also links to the central focus of the advert, which is an over-exposed photograph of apalm tree. The two items work together well to create connotations of tranquillity, relaxation andpeace.

The font used is bold, plain and simplistic, placing emphasis upon the name of the band - ‘Kings ofLeon’, the name of the album - ‘Come Around Sundown’ and in a slightly smaller yet equally boldfont, where you can purchase the album from - ‘Amazon.co.uk’. These items are in bold font inorder to be the first things on the advert to catch the audience’s attention and present consumerswith the vital information needed to sell the product.

The theme of simplistic theme of bold white fonts, warm, washed-out colours and the image of the palm tree are mirrored in the album cover and theme also. This creates a recognisable gimmick and image for the band’s new album and potential ‘new image’.

This overall simplistic theme is effective as it does not allow the audience to gain too much information on what to expect from the album itself from it. This will entice audiences as their previous knowledge of the band will draw them towards the album, yet the minimalistic style also adds an air of mystery to the band. The warm colours and faded sepia style image contrast to the styling of their previous album and advert themes that were made up of haunting images and dark colours.

This implies that audiences can expect something new and more from the band,appealing to them further. This also correlates with the present transition Indie bands are making from an Independent, quirky genre to a more mainstream and pop-inspired sound.

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This is an advert for John Legend &The Roots taken from UNCUT magazinepromoting their new album.

Immediately this advert differs dramaticallyfrom the previous. Firstly, the central focusof this advert is an image of the bandthemselves, performing. This portrays toaudiences that their focus is their music andnot their image. The photograph is taken inblack and white. This gives the image anArtistic and sophisticated flair that willattract the targeted Indie/Alternativeaudiences as, from research, we canunderstand they find appeal in meaningfuland artistic artists. An image of the band isalso used as they are not as well known ormainstream as The Kings of Leon are andtherefore have yet to create and maintain arecognizable image for themselves.

• The colour scheme is of highly contrasting, bold colors. This contrasts to the washed out, vintage style of the previous advert and introduces a clean cut, sharp, modern style. The colours of the advert match those of the album cover, creating an ongoing theme and link between the two. The font on each is bold and either bright yellow, or yellow and black contrasted against each other. This emphasizes the name of the band, album name, release date and description. Information that record companies will want audiences to receive and retain. Although the image of the advert and artwork of the album cover do not correlate, leaving the link incomplete.

In the bottom right hand corner of the advert is a minimized image of the album cover.This image has been added to the advert in order for audiences to be able to recognizethe album should they want it, as the advert image is not the album cover andaudiences may therefore become confused when looking to buy the album.

This is an advert endorsing the latest album byStereophonics.

Firstly, we can see that an image of the bandis present in the advert and is the backgroundimage for the entire page, although an image ofthe band has been used in this advert fordiffering reasons to that of the previous advertanalyzed. The band’s photo is not used here toestablish their image nor introduce them toaudiences as they are already renown artists.The reasoning for including the image could befor a number of reasons: Stereophonics have beenin the public eye since 1992 and therefore it can beUnderstood that they are using the new album asan opportunity to visually prove to audiences thatthey are fashionable and up to date. This willattract younger, more fashionable Indie/Alternativeaudiences, widening the band’s fan base.

Or, more probably, they are using the advert to promote a new image for themselves as they attempt to make the move to the mainstream along with other bands from thegenre. It can be interpreted from the use of their image in the advert that the band is trying to make the move to mainstream along with other bands from the genre. Evidence supporting this lies in their previous album covers and adverts, all of which are concept photographs and images, suggesting that the band were previously more focused on their music and the message being portrayed than their image and audience perception which is their new aim and focus for their latest album.

There is also correlation between the colour scheme used in the advert and that seen on the album cover. The colours are dull and the band are wearing dark tones that cause them to stand out against the background, placing emphasis on them, drawing audience attention to them. There is also a link between the fonts used on the advert and on the album cover. This creates a continuity that audiences will recognize and associate with the band.

This final advert is taken from UNCUT musicmagazine and is announcing the debut album ofband, Frankie Rose and The Outs.

As the band is just starting out they have a small fanbase and are somewhat unknown to the public.Unusually for a band of their low status there is nophotograph of the artists to promote their image orto allow audiences to recognise and becomefamiliarised with them. It is my understanding thatthey have instead opted for a simplistic advertsporting an illustration and only the name of theband and release date of the album to create an airof mystery for the band, that will create hype and abuild up to the release, filling audiences withcuriosity and compelling them to buy or downloadthe album to find out more.

The colour scheme used connects with this idea as the bright yellow background ofthe advert, complete with quirky spotted pattern will stand out from the pages of amagazine and catch audience attention. The font is simplistic, black, large and bold,making it stand out so that audiences will receive the minimal, yet necessaryinformation instantaneously, igniting the curiosity that will later lead to their targetedpopularity. The spotted pattern and etched, abstract artwork will appeal to the youngtarget Indie/Alternative audience this band will be aimed at as spotted patterns areconsidered fashionable within the Indie style and the artwork unique, modern andtherefore appealing to young, artistic people.

There is also a link between the colours and imagery used on both the advert and album cover. This theme will allow audiences to associate the advert with the album and recognize the band without having ever seen them. It is a device used here so that the band remain anonymous, therefore mysterious, yet recognized by their audience.