There are soo many different music magazines on the shelves in retail stores; how will any consumer be able to differ between them, to decide which they want?! I used this moodboard to look at a variety of different magazines, and discuss differences between them to find out which would be to most relevant to the genre of music magazine I am working with, and also which would have the most popular shelf response from the reader population.
The NME magazine (top right) uses various of methods to attract readers, a large range of vibrant colours. Pictures of various artists, all staring down the eyes of the consumer to get their attention and also the '100' has two 0's which use the same colour scheme as that of a dart board or wacky mind trick - this is a selling method used by the magazine to get the reader to open up to magazine; as that is a front cover's job. Similar to the other NME magazine (centre) there is a head and shoulders shot of 'Morrissey' a well known artist in the indie, post rock genre. He is starring out of the magazine, catching eye contact with the viewer; drawing their attention to the magazine and making them want to read it, however this version of the NME magazine does not possess as many vibrant colours, and as you can see is less effective.
The 'Blender' magazine, is known for its front covers in that it usually has very revealing pictures of half naked women; this is a selling method used to attract a very wide audience in, well, men. This technique is used widely throughout the magazine market, as you can see with 'Vibe' and also 'King' magazines. All three of the magazines shown above do not have very attractive front covers, aside from the main picture. This is so the readers attention is not drawn away from the picture by anything else on the front cover which may lead them to another magazine. The soul purpose of the pictures on these magazines is to draw the attention of the target audience when the magazine is on the shelf.
The 'Spin', 'Rock Sound' and 'Q' magazines all show body shots of boy bands. This is a selling point to attract a much wider target market - anyone who likes the genre, the bands, or the boys would be attracted by these pictures - this is why this is very effective marketing technique. The pictures are the main features of the covers, however they also possess an insight as to what will be inside the magazine, this gives the reader a good idea as to what they will be getting in said magazine; the pictures draw the attention of the reader, then an insight to the magazine itself keeps them reading.
Circulation figures for 2008
Classic Rock - 70,188
Kerrang! - 52,172
Metal Hammer - 50,269
MixMag - 30,159
Mojo - 100,507
NME - 48,459
Q - 103,017
Rock Sound - 20,011
From this information i made this mapped out the reasons as to why i thought certain magazines would have got more response and popularity from readers.
(Click to Enlarge)
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