- Genre of audience (whether demographic or lifestyle)
- Publisher
- Title/Masthead of magazine
- Suitable headings and subheadings
- Main image
- Any additional smaller images
Classic Rock Magazine Analysis
As part of my research for my music magazine I brought the music magazine "Classic Rock" to analyse.
I will use the key concept pairs to analyse the textual content of the magazine including contents, frontpage and articles.
General Information
Launch Year
1998
Circulation [more]
66,632 (ABC Jan 08 - Jun 08)
UK Cover Price
£4.50
Readership [more]
128,058 (Readership survey 2007)
Frequency
13 issues per year
Genre
"Classic Rock" is a magazine that is dedicated to the radio format classic rock. The magazine focuses on key bands from the 1960's through to the 1990's such as Guns N' Roses, Queen, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Bon Jovi, AC/DC and Thin Lizzy.
It also contains articles and reviews of contemporary artists or upcoming artists such as Wolfmother, Muse and The Answer.
Other similar magazines to "Classic Rock" are Q.
The musical genres represented in Classic Rock are rock, metal and grunge.
The title Classic Rock tells the audience the basis of the magazine is on rock classics such as Queen and The Rolling Stones.
"Classic Rock is the definitive voice in rock journalism going behind the scenes to bring, for the very first time, the real stories behind rock legends from Led Zeppelin to Metallica to Marilyn Manson and beyond. Focusing on hard rock, heavy metal and the older generation of rockers, Classic Rock offers interviews, news overviews, tour dates, retrospective articles and a hefty reviews section. This adds up to Classic Rock being a trusted and influential information tool."
Media Language
The language used in 'Classic Rock' magazine is informal, appealing more to the targetted audience.
Representation
The bands that are represented in 'Classic Rock' are mainly bands and musicians from the 70's and 80's with some articles featuring 90's bands and some newer bands like Wolfmother for example.
Ideology
"Classic Rock is the definitive voice in rock journalism going behind the scenes to bring, for the very first time, the real stories behind rock legends from Led Zeppelin to Metallica to Marilyn Manson and beyond.Focusing on hard rock, heavy metal and the older generation of rockers, Classic Rock offers interviews, news overviews, tour dates, retrospective articles and a hefty reviews section. This adds up to Classic Rock being a trusted and influential information tool."
The ideology of the magazine is to inform and advertise the audience of the "older generation" of artists.
Audience
Audience Profile
Rock Enthusiasts
91% go and see live bands every year
Readers spend on average 3 hours 48 minutes reading each issue
96% buy CDs every month, spending on average £32
93% are asked for, or offer, advice about music
Institution
Classic Rock is published monthly by Future Publishing who also publish SFX, Total Film, PC Format, Metal Hammer, Guitarist, Fast Cars and Gamesmaster which are stereotypically, magazines that are aimed at men with some exceptions like You Can Craft and Simply Knitting.
Front Cover
On the front cover is a dominate photo of Keith Richards who is also a main feature of the magazine. There is an article about Keith Richards in the magazine. The front page is basic. It has a blank background which makes the image of Keith Richards strumming a guitar stand out. The picture is iconic as Keith Richards ia best known as the guitarist of the Rolling Stones. Above the barcode which is a magzine convention is the logo of the publisher. In some magazines the publisher website rather than the logo is featured. The front cover defies some typical magazine conventions. For example, there are no headings or subheadings featured on the actual cover, however they were featured on the plastic packaging covering the magazine.
The plug featured is that there is a free cd and calender offered. This is to advertise the magazine to a wider audience as some people may only buy the magazine as they contain freebies. The headings are bolder than the subheadings so they stand out more. They also feature less writing.
Contents Page
The contents pages of the magazine are sepreated by groups. Main articles and regularly featured articles. The red sticker on the second contents page is bold and stands out from the rest of the text. This is probably to "advertise" the article to the reader. This technique maybe used to show an exclusive article.
The magazine defys the usual conventions of a contents page as usually the contents page is only one page, however in Classic Rock magazine it contains two pages; the first page containing a large medium shot of the musician and the second containing smaller images that are in medium close-ups or medium shots.
Other conventions such as headline and subheadlines are in the magazine and the issue number is featured on both pages.
Double Page Spread
The images in the above article look as if they've been taken backstage and during a gig by the band. This can represent the article as exclusive or a behind the scenes look at the band. There is little text shown in the double page spread; a brief article, heading, subheading and taglines for the photos.
The colours used in the Jimi Hendrix article above are iconic of the artist and the time time in which his music was released. The black and white photo can also be seen to represent the past or retelling of Jimi Hendrix's life.
The Stereophonics article has a slightly different use of conventions. The image only takes up half of the double page spread. The image is also blurred, showing the artist is playing the instrument. There is also motifs used at the bottom and top of the image.
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