analysis of magazines

Top of the pops magazine: 

. Give a brief history of the magazine?

Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly publication published by BBC Magazines. It features chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters. It is a supplementary magazine for the TV show Top of the Pops until the latter was cancelled in 2006.

The magazine was launched in February 1995 and is famous for giving girl group The Spice Girls their nicknames. Alongside a revamp of the TV show, it was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME, but its format was gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls. It is still in publication despite the cancellation of the TV show.

The title has had several editors over the years, including Peter Lorraine, Corinna Schaffer and Rosalie Snaith, and contributing editors including Adam Tanswell. Its current editor is Peter Hart.

. What is the typical content?

The magazine is mainly focused on pop music. Published after the TV show. The main content of this magazine includes "celebrity" gossip, cringes, fashion and beauty advice, articles on pop and movie stars, quizzes, horoscopes, posters and song lyrics. The brand identity of this magazine is a happy, cheery, pop music, commercialized, innocent pre-teen magazine. It conforms to dominant ideology and is aimed at a younger market interested in celebrities and &quote; teen stars" It is published every month It was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash Hits and NME , but its format was gradually changed, with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls.

. Who is the typical reader?

You girls from age 11-15

. What is your chosen magazine house style?

The house style is blue, pink and black- which together connote winter and create an icy feel to the cover. This relates the winter edition of the magazine as it’s a November to December issue. By using a lot of pink on the cover, immediately suggest the target audience is young, girls. The fonts used throughout the page are bubbly and has a lot of flicks in them, suggesting the target audience is for a females. Main image- The main image is of a pop boy band, One Direction which suggests the magazine is aimed at a pop music genre. Also the frequent use of images suggests it’s for young girls, as they’d rather look at images instead of reading.

. Who produces and distributes your magazine?

BBC produces and distributes the magazine

. How are your social groups represented in your magazine?

There has recently been controversy around top of the pops magazine along other big publications sexualising young girls; however I personally don’t see much of this in the magazine. I think that the magazine is a sort of ‘shine’ to celebrities as the young girls who read it look up to these types of people, so if often represents celebrities in a good light.

 

Indie magazine analysis, e.g. ‘nme’

 

A magazine based on independent music differs massively from a mainstream, commercial pop magazine. Here are a few comparisons of what the bands will look like on the covers.

Indie music magazine	Commercial pop magazine
-casual, black, tight clothing. -scruffy hair -going against the norm, e.g. smoking, drinking or swearing on the cover -black and dull coloured clothes -natural and reprehensive of a teenage life	.artist will usually be wearing, expensive, designer clothing .immaculate hair .smiley, happy poses .bright clothing

 

 

The New Musical Express, popularly known by NME, created by Theodore Smythson, is a music journalism publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952 and is based on alternative rock and indie music. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 199. Mike Williams was named as NME editor on 31 May 2012, taking over from Krissi Murison on 25 June 2012.

“NME” Music Magazine has a target audience for NME is mainly teenagers, both male and female, we know this because there are always male and female musicians on the front cover. The main readers of this magazine will be the teenagers because it largely focuses on today’s music and their lifestyle, as photos such as them drinking and smoking is usually visable on the front cove. However, NME won’t appeal to all teenagers, only the ones that like music, which is underground and independent, so it therefore doesn’t have the largest audience as this genre doesn’t appeal to everyone, hence it being individual.. NME has a simple colour scheme. It uses colours such as red, blacks and white, which are colours related to both genders.