To start preparing for my music magazine advertisement, I have been looking at different music magazines to determine their features, target audience and analyse the front covers. This will help me when coming to make my own as I will have an idea of what features are for certain genres of music and age ranges. The magazine I looked at more closely is the R2 Rock'n'Reel. I looked at the front cover, the publisher, the contents of the magazine, the layout, colour scheme, language and images to analyse the target audience for the magazine. Below is a powerpoint presentation of various music magazines and an analysis.
I have started to think about which type of music magazine my chosen song and artist would fall under for when I make my advertisement. I will consider the psychographics and demographics I have already looked at to help me with this. Simple Plan are an alternative rock band, with a target audience of teen and young adult fans. Some music magazines which would fit this category are;
- Big Cheese Magazine. (A punk, metal and rock magazine, based on reviews of songs and artists). This magazine would fit my song and artist in the category of their magazine, however is mainly based on reviews rather than advertisements.
- Spin. (A magazine with broad music coverage, focusing on college-orientated rock music). Simple Plan would fit into the Spin magazine, however I think it would be better to find a magazine focusing only on alternative rock.
After having looked at these three magazines, I have decided that my advertisement would be most suited in Alternative Press. This magazine features bands similar to Simple Plan, such as Blink 182 and You me at Six. The magazine fits the genre of my chosen artist also. It is a glossy magazine, but also has a website which readers can view as an alternate method. The fact it can be viewed on the internet also emphasises the younger target audience. It was founded in 1985 by Mike Shea and is a monthly music magazine. It's circulation increased with the growth on alternative rock in the 1990's. The magazine today contains an average of 200 pages per issue, containing features on bands, upcoming events, which of their music has reached the charts, reviews, and photos/images of the artists. The fact that the magazine is American fits in well with the fact that Simple Plan are American, and therefore makes an advertisement for them in that magazine seem more likely.
On the front covers of Alternative Press, bright colours and bold fonts are used. This suits the target audience and style of music being advertised. The title of each magazine is abreviated to AP. This also connotes the target audience as it is in abreviation, which is similar to the language teenagers and young adults may use in texts and instant messaging. Underneath AP, Alternative Press is written in smaller font, but overlapped by the main image. This shows that the magazine is a recognised magazine by the readers, as they know what it says without having to see all of it.
I think that my music video advertisement would be very well suited to the magazine, Alternative Press. The genre of Simple Plan is alternative rock, which is what the magazine focuses on. The magazine often features similar bands also. Below are some images of the front cover of Alternative Press featuring similar bands. I would hope to use similar bright colours and styles in my own advertisement which represent the gender of the music.
The website for this magazine iswww.altpress.com
The website shows the latest issue front covers and gives the opportunity for fans to order online. This also emphasises the target audience being a younger generation. Also, the website shows the headings of the content of the magazine. The website does give the latest news stories which may be contained in the magazine, however it does not have an online copy of the magazine for people to read; as they wish them to purchase it instead.
These three images on the left are examples of the magazines front cover for three bands. It is clear just by looking at them that the target audience is aimed at young adults and teenagers, due to the type of bands advertised and the bold fonts and colour schemes used. All three bands are quite mainstream and popular as rock and alternative bands, so I would believe that this magazine is al very popular for fans of this style of music, which is good considering that my band fits into that category.
I would have liked to get hold of three advertisements which have been in Alternative Press in past editions, however I cannot do this as the magazine is American. I do not wish to change my magazine choice, as I believe it is very suitable for an advertisement for Simple Plan, and also is beneficial being American as the band are American themselves. The only way I would be able to get a copy of the magazine would be to purchase one online and have it sent from America, but this is impractical. Therefore, instead of collecting advertisements from Alternative Press, I will collect three from a British magazine of a similar style. This will still help me in making my own advertisement, as from already looking at Alternative Press as a whole, I have a good understanding of its target audience, history, style and genre. Therefore I should be able to find a similar style magazine which is British. Although I could simply use a British magazine of a similar style to put my advertisement in, I do not wish to do this as I believe Alternative Press is the best magazine for me to use, and I see the fact that it being American is a benefit.
I have decided to take three advertisements from the British magazine of Kerrang! This is because it focuses on the genre of rock music, which is a similar genre to my artist, Simple Plan, who's style is rock and alternative rock. Kerrang! is published in the United Kingdom, the name being onomatopoeic; the word Kerrang representing the sound produced by a power chord on an electric guitar. Below is an example front cover of Kerrang! from a recent issue. I can see by the front cover that this magazine would most likely contain similar advertisements to that of Alternative Press. The band featured on the front cover is also a similar style band to Simple Plan.
The first advertisement I have chosen out of Kerrang! magazine to analyse is a quarter-page advert for an album for a new single by Biffy Clyro. The advertisement is mostly taken up by a main image which is the background for the advertisement, and also the background of the disc and album cover. Calm colours such as blues greens and whites are used in the advertisement. The image used is quite an iconic image, which the target audience of the song/artist could link directly back to this song and remember it as this image. The band name is at the top of the advertisement, followed by other details in order of the information which would appeal most to the target audience. The writing becomes smaller as the writing goes down the advertisement, and starts to blend more with the background, as the information is less important and the name of the song and the artist stands out more against this. The logo's and website are at the very bottom of the advertisement, which is not very noticeable compared to the other important information. This is because it is necessary to have them on the advertisement, but they are not very important to the target audience when looking at the advert. The advert is quite simple and is not busy and full of images at all. This would most likely suit the target audience of the song/band more, and it also makes the advert much clearer, especially as the background of the album is on the advertisement, and the font stands out in large font for the important parts of the text. 
The advertisement's main image is the image of the album cover for the single which is being advertised. However the main focus of the advert is to promote the bands tour. The name of the band and the location of the tour are the main focus points of the advertisement, which would be the most important information for the target audience. The font is kept quite simple and plain, so that it is clear to the target audience just by quickly looking at the advert. The colour scheme is suitable for a variety of ages and both genders, and is not too bright or busy. The colours of green, black and pink are used in this advertisement. The image of the album cover being used is useful for the target audience because they would be able to recognise it if they were to want to buy it themselves from a shop, or iTunes etc. The advertisement is only a quarter-page ad, however in the image above, it is clear that the advert by this band is more noticeable and bright than the two on either side of it, as they have more dull dark colours involved.
The third advertisement I have chosen to look at is an advertisement for a band 'Furthest Drive Home', advertising all of their tour dates in a list. The main focus point of this advertisement is the image of the four members of the band, and underneath is the band name. This is important because this is the first thing that the target audience will see, and if they realise that this is the band being advertised, they will be more likely to read the rest of the advert. The main colour scheme is black, blue and brown, and the image of the band is also in black and white. This advertisement is kept quite simple, as there is quite a lot of text involved. If there were more images and bright fonts, then the information would not be as noticeable; and the tour dates are the important information on the advert.
The fourth advertisement I have looked at from Kerrang! magazine is an advert for Lost Prophets single, 'Where We Belong', and the album, 'The Betrayed'. The advertisement is simply black and white, which may appeal to the target audience. The main focus point is the band name, so that the target audience would instantly know who the advertisement was about and if they want to read it or not. The advert does not contain much information, simply enough information to give the date and details in which the single and the album come out, and what they are called. This is beneficial for the target audience as they do not have to read lots of information to find the important parts which they would like to know. Although there is no colour in this advertisement, it is quite effective through the use of fonts and effects used on the 'Lost Prophets' title. There is no clear image on this advertisement, it only contains text, however there are some faint images which look like wings blended into the black background and on the title.
After having looked at these advertisements, it has given me a good idea on the type of advertisement I should make for my Digipak. Most of the advertisements contained an image either of the band, or of the album being advertised. Also the dates in which they were out or any tour information relevant. A variety of colour schemes were used throughout the advertisements, ranging from bright colours, calm colours and also just black and white. The advertisements did not contain to much writing, mainly relevant text and images to attract the target audience and get across the information without having too much. This is something which I will also try to achieve in my own advertisement.
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