Music Magazine.

KERRANG!

One music magazine I have decided to research is Kerrang! Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music, published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar. Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000’s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.

Kerrang! is aimed at a niche audience that listen to the music and bands that are shown in the magazine, which are mainly rock/metal. This is also shown by the images and fonts used that seem more violent and aggressive, this is the kind of image that is associated with that genre of music. 

Kerrang!'s popularity rose again with the hiring of editor Paul Rees circa 2000 when the nu metal genre, featuring bands like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot were becoming more popular. Rees went on to edit Q magazine and Ashley Bird took over as editor from 2003 to 2005. However the magazine's sales went quickly into decline in 2003 and Paul Brannigan took over as editor in May 2005.

With the emergence of emo and metalcore, Kerrang! began to heavily feature this musical trend. However, the revamp was not welcomed by all readers and many complaints were received about Kerrang!'s sudden emphasis on emo and metalcore music. Brannigan took the magazine into its most commercially successful period with a record ever ABC for the title of 80,186 copies. It's circulation figure is 43,033. These figures are rising due to the popularity of Kerrang. Another reason for the current rise in circulation is due to the loyalty from readers. 

Kerrang! aims itself more at a male audience and appeals to them by using content such as hard rock and metal iconic male bands on the front cover pulling angry faces or violent expressions. Female readers are targeted by the use of male bands on free pull out posters and feature interviews. 


The edgy, underground and individualstic style appears to rock readers and draws them in, this is a crucial element of any successful magazine.


It is also essential to include key words on the front cover that will attract a greater audience; three words in particular are believed to have the greatest effect- free, win and sex. If all of these words appear on the cover of any magazine it is more likely to increase sales. Kerrang! uses at least two of these words on every issue. 

Their visual style is very black and dark, along with the occasional colour to draw the audience’s attention. Which again highlights what kind of magazine they are and what music they promote. When attracting audiences, it is vital to include lots of strong imagery and key words on the front cover of the magazine as this is what any buyer will see first. Kerrang! uses a significant colour pallet, the main colours are white, black, yellow, red and green. These enable the magazine to be eye-catching and it allows certain cover lines to stand out. These basic colours are continued throughout the 70 pages creating a dark and moody ambiance. From the information I have gathered about the media I am aware that the publishers of Kerrang make sure all of these elements are involved when designing the front cover because it allows connection to the audience. 

Kerrang! pride themselves as the UK’s premier multi-platform music destination ‘bringing the best in rock online, on the radio, on TV and in print’ and it is clear that they use many successful methods in order to attract their key demographic audiences. If they are to sustain their title as the worlds biggest selling weekly rock magazine they will  need to continue developing their publication. With technology, society and the music industry constantly changing it is vital to keep improving. 

Strategies such as the use of graphics, colours, font sizes, anchorage text, advertisements and imagery can prove successful in capturing these fresh ideas. If the magazine allows itself to become monotonous or out of touch with it’s target audience it poses the rick of losing readership and more importantly revenue. 

This is a double page spread from Kerrang! and as you can see it portrays colours such as black, white and red, which helps to highlight a gothic theme. Another reason these colours might have been used is because they are the colours assosicated with Rock and Roll. This is more likely to attract males rather than females due to the emotion and expression on the pictures, and because of the dark colours. The background of this double spread looks dull, but it is this was purposly so it blends in with the rest of the theme. The red highlights specific things that Kerrang! want the audience to notice first, whilst the white is used to make the text clear against the black background. 

The design on the magazine is mainly images of the band, as they are the main feature. The text only takes up the top half of one of the pages. The images look as though they have been taken at a live gig which intwines with the theme of the rock genre, and it makes the page a lot more exciting and interesting for the reader to see. 

The double page spread talks about a common rock band called My Chemical Romance, often known as MCR. We can see visually the easiest thing to notice is the image of Gerrard Way, because he takes up the whole left hand side of the article. There isn’t a lot of text with this article, which gives us the idea it is more of a visual piece. As we can see, Gerrard Way is the background, and because he takes up most of the page we automatically assume the article is based around him. 

The images of the band members with their eyeliner, long hair and messy clothes indicate what sort of music it is going to be about. All of these things are the kind of image people would link with a typical rock magazine. 

There are many links that exist between music magazines and other media. For example, with any magazine it is important that the style is eye-catching and the theme runs throughout. This affects what happens in a magazine because it suddenly becomes competitive as no magazine wants to be the same as another. 

Another link is the link between what goes into the magazine, and what has been said in the media. For example, with a music magazine there might be an interview with a famous singer or band, but if a similar interview with the same singer or band had already been done on TV or radio, again it becomes competitive because no form of media wants to be the same as another.