Research on the Genre of Magazine I chose

I found that pop magazines such as ‘We Love Pop’, made the most of sources such as the internet. This could be because of the preferences of their target audience. As the majority of their target audience is likely to be teenagers, they may have used the internet as teens use it all the time. Social networking sites such as twitter and Facebook have been used, as well as having their own online website. I could perhaps add a non-existent website for my magazine, and although it isn’t real it would stick to the conventions of pop magazines nowadays.

The Genre of My Magazine

I myself come into the teenage category. I do not have a specific genre of music that I listen to however one particular genre of music that interests me is pop. Although I don’t really buy music magazines, the ones I look at when in a store is Pop Magazines. I feel it is important for me to have knowledge of the genre I would like to base my magazine on. Here, I have created a collage made of pictures of the artists my target audience would be interested in.

Comparing Pop Magazines to Hip-hop Magazines

I couldn’t help but notice that the layout of music magazines was different depending on the genre it was based on. I typed in ‘Pop music Magazines’, and ‘Rap music Magazines’. I analysed them and compared the two to see what is different about the two. I picked up on a few points;

- The Pop magazines were a lot more packed (e.g. Idol Magazine). It had less space and contained a lot more information. On the other hand, the Rap magazines (e.g. Respect magazine, XXL Magazine) were a lot plainer. A lot of them had empty gaps. The writing was straight to the point and a lot simpler.

- The colours used were different. The pop magazines used brighter and more eye catching colours like pink and red compared to the rap magazines, which used darker colours such as black and grey.

- The target audience seem to be different. The pop magazines seemed to be aimed generally at young teenage girls because of the colours used and the artists featured (like Justin Bieber).

- Pop magazines used a lot more mid-shot images of artists for their front cover whereas  the hip- hop magazines generally used close up shots. The featured artists on the pop magazine front covers had a more friendly appearance compared to the more aggressive looking artists featured on the hip-hop magazines.

Rock Music Magazine Analysis

In order to create a good magazine of my own, it is important for me to explore various types of music magazines e.g. magazines aimed at different aged target audiences, different genre magazine etc. Here, I have analysed a magazine front cover, contents page and double page spread fully and looked at the different ideas they have used to create the product. 

                                           Front Cover ;

                                           Contents Page ;

                                          Double Page Spread ;