I have chosen to do a Rock Music magazine because it focuses towards my style of music. I am focusing my L.I.A.R.R Analysis on 3 Rock music magazines that focus on different types of Rock Music.
Language: The title stays with the conventions of a normal magazine by keeping it at the top of the page. The font of the stories is in italics and in a serif font which fights against the stereotype. The use of the red circle with 'The Lost Issue 09' in it draws attention to what is special with this particular issue. By advertising the free CD on the front of the magazine, it makes people buy it more because it will be seen easier at it will be one of the aspects that will the audience will first see when they pick up the magazine. The picture of Axel Rose in his infamous red headband with sunglasses on top of it and his leather sleeveless jacket will show that Guns n' Roses are the main focus of that issue of the magazine because he is the 'frontman'.
Institution: Classic Rock Magazine is published by Future publishing. It was founded in 1985 and started with one magazine in London, but now it has 180 magazines in the UK, US and Australia. It sells 3.2 million magazines each month and host 27 live events.
Ideology: I would say that the ideology of Classic Rock would be rebellious because it the colour is dark and full of shadows. Also, the stereotypical Hells Angels biker gang would find this appealing because the look of Axel Rose is that he belongs within a biker gang.
Audience: The audience of Classic Rock magazine is a loyal following of 35+ men that are starting a life stage where they are "regaining their wallets, freedom and teenage spirit".
91% of readers of Classic Rock are male, at an average age of 39. This is because they were around when the bands that are in Classic Rock were taking the music scene by storm. The average household income of the readers is around £43,811. After they purchase the magazine, the readers spend an average of 4 hours reading it and 70% of readers keep it to read in the future.
Representation: I find that this magazine doesn't represent all the people that listen to this type of music or read this magazine because it just represents people that listen to the bands that are inside the magazine, these bands can be seen as a small minority of the bands that are within the genre of Classic Rock.
Language: The language used on the front cover of Metal Hammer is very dark and Gothic. It shows the type of rock music that it advertises which is Heavy Metal. This is shown by the dark colours and the flames at the bottom of the page because heavy metal bands generally talk about the devil and Hell, which is usually shown by flames.
The font which is used for the artists that are on the free CD is one that is conventionally used within the heavy metal bands because it comes across as intimidating with all the straight edges. Also, the fact that it is seen as Elizabethan writing it can be seen as keeping away from the conventions of the normal music magazine which uses a serif font, whereas, Metal Hammer like to use a more intimidating and confronting text.
By advertising the free CD in the skyline of the magazine makes it easier for it to be seen because it will be one of the first things that are seen when the magazine is stacked with the rest of the other magazines and makes it stand out with the Iron Maiden mascot skeleton hanging out the skyline.
By having the Masthead behind the band gives the impression that the title isn't important it's just the music that is the important aspect of the magazine. Also, the use of the chains over the 'Metal Hammer' and 'Disturbed' goes with the main headline that the band has just got 'out the asylum' and the use of the chains gives the impression that they have broken free from being a prisoner, maybe a prisoner of following the conventions of a normal music magazine and following the norm of a music band.
Institution: The publisher of this magazine is also Future Publishing. This particular establishment have offices in the UK, US and Australia. Just within the UK, Future has a portfolio of 70 monthly magazines, 60 websites, a growing number of live events and an expanding number of customer publishing businesses. In the UK, the headquarters is in Bath but they have large offices in London.
Ideology: The ideology of the magazine Metal Hammer, I think, is to express the upcoming tour dates and the news for the bands that fit in the heavy metal genre and that their audience seem to follow.
Audience: 85% of readers of Metal Hammer are young males, that are influenced by the music business, with an average age of 22. Out of all the readers of Metal Hammer, 41% of them are in employment and 51% of them are studying in some sort of education establishment.
Readers tend to spend an average of 3 hours reading each issue and 85% of them keep the issues for future reference. Half of the readers see live music at least once a month and 79% will be attending a music festival at any time within the next 12 months.
Representation: I feel that the representation of the people that listen to this type of music has been accurately shown because the colour scheme is grey, black and red which are dark colours. These colours can be associated with this type of music because people that listen to rock music are stereotyped to wear dark colours; such as black and red.
Language: The colour scheme of red, pink, yellow and black shows that is an equal distribution of things for both genders like there is an equal distribution of colours that are stereotypically for both sexes. On the covers of other magazines, we aren't used to seeing the person swearing like the model is on the cover of this edition of Rock Sound. This could represent how the magazine does all it can to fight the stereotype of a typical music magazine. Moreover, the ring on his hand of the cross on a side could represent that their music isn't how everyone wants it to be.
The iconic way that the masthead of the magazine is behind the models head gives the loyal readers a sense of familiarity as it is unique to Rock Sound Magazine therefore, when the magazines are stacked together, this magazine will be easily recognised. By having some of the bands that are going to be in the magazine in the skyline and by putting them in red will make them stand out and attract attention because it is against a white background.
Having the other bands that are in the magazine in the bottom left corner and having them in small writing makes the potential readers have to pick it up to read it, which will make them more likely to buy it since it is their hand already.
Institution: Rock Sound Magazine is published by Sonic Publishing. This is an establishment that is based in London. They bring exciting and entertaining digital publications by using cutting edge technologies and helps traditional magazines bring their titles to the Internet. They also offer advanced services to some independent websites that wish to join the group by giving them advice about their ad sales, web design and development.
Ideology: The ideology for this magazine could be described as rebellious and resisting the mainstream culture that is within the UK at the moment. This is supported by the use of the colours, red meaning danger, which could give the impression that the people within this magazine are dangerous to some extent. Moreover, the use of the swearing could be a way of saying 'no' to society and their stereotypical ways.
Audience: Rock Sound have found that the ages of their readers range from 15-24 years old. They also found that most of their readers are female, with 68% of the readers being females. Most for their readers are interested in music (preferably rock music), clothes, xbox/PlayStation. Most of the readers went to music tours and festivals regularly, 54% of the readers are actually in a band of their own.
Representation: I think that the representation in this magazine has been accurately done. The magazine reflects the people that are most likely to read this magazine and are most likely to listen to the type of music that Rock Sound includes.
Language: The colour scheme of red, black and white can be described as the signature of the magazine, this is because it is used throughout all the different editions of the same magazine. Where the page name and numbers are there is a use of cold black writing for the title names which is underlined by a red stroke which separates the titles from the description of what the page is about. This is effective because it makes the title stand out from the rest of the page. There is also an effective use of the page numbers on the pictures. This is because we are made aware what article is what page without actually looking at the contents page, also if there is a time when the white page number is going to go on either a white background or multicoloured background then Q used a black box to emphasise the page numbers.
The use of the review section at the bottom of the page breaks up the page and acts like a 'word from the editor' section which is a convention of a music magazine. Also, the absence of the subscription section is a different approach towards the magazine, this is because magazines generally have a subscription section in order to entice their readers to sign up to the magazine in order to get more readers.
Institution: Q magazine is published by Bauer Media Group. These are Europe's largest privately owned publishing group. This group has a worldwide empire which has over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as on line, TV and radio stations.
Ideology: The ideology for Q could be described as a magazine for all music lovers because it focuses on all different genres of music; from Cheryl Cole to Green Day, to Britney Spears. It is a magazine that brings everyone together and has a bit in it for everyone.
Audience: Q's audience is composed of passionate, engaged and open minded music fans driven to continually discover new music - and to use this lust for discovery to influence their friends. The audience is split 75% male to 25% female.
Representation: I feel that the audience of this magazine is well represented as it includes many different singers/artists from many different genres which is who they want their magazine to appeal to; people who are open minded about the type of music that they like.
Language: The way that the picture is in sepia gives the impression that the band is still just as good as ever, no matter how old the group members get. Also the idea that there is a pop out quote from the story which is used to draw people into the article because we want to know what else he said and we want to know if he explains what has been going on with the band. The use of the change of type face on 'The Best MCR' gives a personalisation towards the band because it was used on their new album 'Danger Days' so it gives a bit of familiarity for the fans towards the bands.
The use of the pictures of the band inside the recording studio gives the sense that we are part of the band and we have some say towards what happens and also gives us a sneak preview behind the scenes to see the new album being written and the image of the lead singer singing in the new recording studio is used to excite their fans because the image shows that the band are making a new album which is what the fans want. This is also implied by using the drop down on the side of the page because the headline on that specific bit is 'New MCR tracks the lowdown' which shows that they have already written or thought about new songs which will also excite their fans and shows them to expect a new album soon
Institution: Kerrang magazine is also published by Bauer Media Group which I talked about on my contents page.
Ideology: The ideology of Kerrang Magazine is to bring their readers news and information about the most popular bands week after week, they also give publicity to upcoming bands in order to tell their readers about who to listen out for. They also make their readers aware about upcoming tours and festivals.
Audience: Audience of Kerrang according to Bauer Media is: young, individually minded and passionate consumers, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty. Radio - 15-35 male bias.
Representation: I feel that the representation of the audience has been represented accurately because it has followed the stereotype but has got its own little twist on it by making sure that the content is different every week and make sure that the colour schemes are different every time.
