Daniel Gripton

Macro Analysis

Q magazine is owned by Bauer Media Group, and is advertised as a music magazine and covers such acts as Elbow, The Vaccines and Adele. Articles on the cover range from countdown lists (50 ultimate British songs) to Reviews (The Vaccines, R.E.M. &125 more new albums revealed). Guy Garvey from Elbow is the sole image on the cover, and it’s clear that the magazine is for an older audience, due to the use of Garvey on the cover.

Target AudienceI believe that the magazine is generally targeted at an older audience of about 30. This is because of the nature of artists (Paul Weller), however it does include younger bands (The Vaccines), but the colours and the way Garvey is dressed insists a more mature audience.No emphasis is put on the price, thus making it known that the magazine is more for the middle and higher classes, rather than a working class man. The magazine is priced at £SOMETHING, which is partly to do with it being a monthly magazine but also because of its audience. Also because it’s only released once a month means that they expect their audience to have less time to read it, hence them being around 30 and having full time jobs. The articles are based around established acts like Amy Winehouse, The Strokes and R.E.M, meaning that the audience is older because they have grown up with the artists.The target audience isn’t gender specific as there aren’t any conventions which draw attention to either sex. The magazine is for music fans to catch up with music news and to introduce exclusive articles to their readers. Q is a magazine of interest and is sold in retailers all over the country, as well as newsagents so it has a good circulation.

The adverts within the magazine are for a more mature audience. This is proved by the Jack Daniels advert, as it’s a whisky which is commonly associated with the older generations. Also the ‘Blackberry Playbook’ advertisement shows that the readership has some wealth, as it is Blackberry’s competitor for the iPad which is aimed at business people. The other two adverts are generic music magazine adverts that advertise bands that are playing live and upcoming releases from bands. These type of adverts are expected from most music magazine as they are subject specific.

Rock Sound is owned by a French publisher called I X O Publishing. Rock sound is a rock magazine that champions the underground scene and bands like ‘We are the Ocean’. The magazine uses bright colours like blue and such to attract it’s target audience of teenagers who are the most involved with the ‘emo’ music scene. Dave Grohl is the star of the cover, thus stating the target audience and the type of music to be featured within the magazine.

Target AudienceThe audience is primarily teenagers but isn’t class specific. The monthly price (£3.99) doesn’t spell out the class audience either as GQ, a higher class gentlemans magazine, is priced around the same range but the content is completely different. We can however justify from the price that the magazine is aimed at a younger audience as the price isn’t highlighted or remotely taken notice of meaning that the parents buy it, unlike a gossip magazine that makes a big deal out of price because it is aimed at working class women.Advertisements within the magazine aren’t gender specific either as they normally promote a new artists album or are clothing advertisements. The clothing advertisements are for band t shirts and are gender specific for the fit of the t shirt but a range of bands are included within the advertisements e.g. Paramore, Saves The Day, Tom Morello and Mastodon who all appeal to a much younger audience.The star of the cover is Dave Grohl, a rock icon who has played Wembley and headlined festivals. Grohl is from a musical background who has performed in over 30 bands and can also play the guitar, drums, bass and sings vocals. He has also been openly critical of the use of drugs contributing to an anti drugs video on the BBC. This clearly shows that the magazine has put thought into having a good role model as the cover star. Thus, making it more obvious that it is aimed at a younger audience.

The advertisements in Rock Sound were only music oriented ones. This is because expensive brands don’t wish to advertise in a magazine that is aimed at teenagers,

as teenagers aren’t the main buyers of their products. Unsurprisingly the two adverts were advertising bands that are touring within the UK, and albums that are going to be released in the near future. These adverts apply to teenagers as they

consume more new music than an older audience who already have there favourites, who are established acts.

NME is owned by the media conglomerate Time Warner Inc., but it’s publisher within the UK is the magazine house IPC Media - a subsidiary of Time Inc. (A subsidiary of Time Warner Inc.). The magazine covers music from Portishead (electronica) to the Misfits (Punk) to Lady Gaga (Pop). The cover features The Horrors as the main image, clearly showing that the magazine is aimed at a younger audience as the Horrors are an up and coming band.

Target AudienceThe audience is primarily made up of a younger audience ranging from around 16-30. Although it is primarily aimed at a younger audience it does feature older acts like R.E.M, and U2.The magazine only costs £2.40, which shows that it is aimed at a working class audience. However not much is played on price so it isn’t likely to be aimed at minimum wage families. It is likely to priced so low as people starting a career have less disposable income, thus not being able to spend so much on a music magazine.The magazine isn’t gender specific either as the articles and advertisements aren’t sexually biased, so they are able to entice a wide readership. The magazine also features lesser known bands to fit in with its younger readership as they are keen on finding new bands and expanding their musical taste, which is backed up by sections like ‘Radar’. Radar recommends new acts to its readership, for example in one issue ‘Death Grips’ an underground hip hop collective are mentioned.The colours on the front cover are mainly neutral but has some yellow injected into it to spruce it up.

The advertisements are aimed at a younger audience which is proved by the Carphone Warehouse advert as it clearly says on it ‘Back to College’ which is an obvious reference to 16-18 year olds who are still in education. The touring advert is a music magazine specific advert, which is likely to crop up in other music magazines that are aimed at an eclectic fan base as can be seen by the range of bands (Kele – Dance, Smashing Pumpkins – Grunge, Flogging Molly – Punk, Tom Vek - Indie).