Band Profile

Name: The Simple Things
Music Style: Alternative Rock, Symphonic Rock, New Progressive, Punk Rock
Influences: The Cure, Muse, Dream Theater
Members: male lead singer & guitarist, female back up vocals & drummer, male bass guitarist

Cover
(only female drummer on the front so as not to clutter the page and create a 'simple' but controversial look ((although photos of the band as a whole will be featured on the contents page and the double page spread)), bright background, either little or an excessive amount of text)
Style: female - dark, striking make-up; messy, short hair; bright/black clothing; edgy (*)
male - jeans; t-shirt; leather/denim jacket or hoodie; rough, scruffy looking; bandanas/hats*

Audience Profile

My magazine is aimed at both the male and female gender, and as my chosen genre is different kinds of rock music, particularly punk and alternative, although sometimes crossing over into heavy metal. I have chosen to focus on a slightly varied age-range of about 15-30, as my magazine will attract a young, coming-of-age audience, but also slightly older audience who are still trying to cling onto their reckless, teenage years.
Here are a few examples of the types of people I will be aiming my magazine at:

Amy
Amy is 17 years old and is studying English Literature, Drama and Media Studies at A Level. There is not a day goes by when Green Day's 'Minority' doesn't blast through her eardrums, infecting her brain with ambitious thoughts, to say the least, as she desperately awaits the day she finally gets to meet the main man himself, Billie Joe Armstrong. Despite her need to be the 'minority', Amy is typical of most teenagers, and does not know who she wants to be, nor does she criticise anybody else's views, and is forever experimenting with her sense of style, mixing all kinds of fashions until she is confident in herself. Although, she is recently edging her way towards the punk rock scene, and has made it her goal to attend as many gigs this year as she possibly can (providing they involve bands who express themselves with hardcore guitars only). Kerrang! is her bible, and she hopes to someday work her way towards the position of chief editor. She spends more time at her friends' houses than she does at home, because her parents would kill her if they found out she'd been spending all of her allowance on cheap booze and cigarettes. You will currently see her wearing: a pair of bright, skinny jeans and a band top, finished off with a pair of converse, brighter hair than Hayley Williams and a hell of a lot of eyeliner.

Jack
Jack is 26 years old, a keen photographer, and almost exclusively wears only black. He hates being stereotyped as 'emo', as he believes that these kinds of people 'don't appreciate true metal at all and give the rest of our generation a bad name'. Despite his reluctance to being classed as listening to any music with elements of pop, his guilty pleasures include Fall Out Boy and blink-182, though generally he sticks to classic metal bands such as Metallica and Pantera. Desperately trying to get his photos published in Metal Hammer or Q magazine, he attends gigs on a weekly basis, sometimes even two in one night, to take the best possible shots of a wide variety of bands. Until his rise to fame escalates, however, he is content with posting his work on his well-credited photography website, as well as occasionally writing articles about the bands he sees, whilst working part time at the local book store and offering his services at lame high school discos, meet & greets and book signings. He plays guitar in his spare time, but doesn't feel obliged to start a band until he can 'match up to Jimi Hendrix'.

Analysis of Institutions

ICP Media 

IPC Media (formerly International Publishing Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.

ICP are known for their award winning music magazine NME which reaches a population of 1.1 million people each week and is the longest published and most respected music magazine worldwide.

They branch over many different platforms such as online magazines, which gross over 25 million views each month, as well as traditional paper magazines.

They are the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher as they sell magazines to over 26 million adults.

Divisions of the company:

• IPC Newspapers — including The People and The Sun (soon sold), as well as the Daily Mirror and Sunday Pictorial
• IPC Magazines — consumer magazines and comics
• IPC Trade and Technical — specialist magazines (later known as IPC Business Press Ltd.)
• IPC Books — all book publishing (headed by Paul Hamlyn, whose own company had been acquired by IPC).
• IPC Printing — all non-newspaper printing operations (headed by Arnold Quick, whose own company had also been acquired by IPC).
• IPC New Products — launching pad for products which used new technology (headed by Alistair McIntosh).

The New Musical Express, popularly known by initialism NME, created by Theodore Smythson, is a music journalism publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. During the period 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism (self-involved reporting), then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons.An online version of NME, NME.com, was launched in 1996. It is now the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month. From the issue of 21 March 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colour covers.In the early 2000s, the NME attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin, Popstars winners Hear'say and R&B groups like Destiny's Child, but as in the 1980s these proved unpopular with much of the paper's readership, and were soon dropped. In 2001 the NME reasserted its position as an influence in new music and helped to introduce bands including The Strokes, The Vines, and The White Stripes.In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed editor. With a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley, Andrew Kendall, James Looker and Pieter Van Hattem, and a high turnover of young writers. It focused on new British bands such as The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs who emerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Later, Arctic Monkeys became the standard-bearers of the post-Libertines crop of indie bands, being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespread commercial and critical 

In May 2008 the magazine received a redesign, aimed at an older readership with a less poppy, more authoritative tone. The first issue of the redesign featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single. Circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. In the second half of 2011, the magazine's circulation was 23,924, 66% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442.

Bauer Media Group

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week. Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following the acquisition of EMAP plc's consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses.Collectively, the Group employs some 6,400 people. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions - magazines and radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Their business is built on infliuential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Their strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through their broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Their wide portfoli of influential brands gives them advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors. Among publications are the magazines Kerrang!, Q and Mojo.

Kerrang! is a brand that specialises in Rock Music. 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. It originally began as a magazine and in 2004 Kerrang! Radio was launced. A Kerrang! TV channel also exists and as of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist.  With regards to the magazine, it was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper.  Launched as a monthly magazine, Kerrang! began to appear on a fortnightly basis later, and in 1987 it went weekly. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991. During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover (like Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison, and Venom) but later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nirvana rose to fame. Readers often criticise the magazine for repeating this process every time a new musical trend becomes popular. 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! begain 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 over ABC for the title of 80,186 copies. In 2008, EMAP sold its consumer magazine to current owner Bauer Media Group. Brannigan left Kerrang! in 2009 and Nichola Browne was appointed editor. She later stepped down in April 2011. Former NME features editor and GamesMaster deputy editor James McMahon was appointed as editor on 6 June 2011.

Q, the UK’s biggest selling music monthly magazine, sits at the heart of a cross-platform brand that celebrates the biggest stars in rock and roll and brings you the most exciting new artists. The Q brand has developed a worldwide reputation as a trusted and premium quality voice of musical authority amongst fans, musicians and the music industry alike - one that is founded upon Q's unrivalled access, world-beating exclusives and outstanding production values. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt the music press of the time ignored a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modeled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing, with an emphasis on style. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specializes in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicized music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behaviour of the celebrities who attend the event.

My Magazine

Both ICP Media and Bauer Media Group would be suitable for the genre and style of magazine that I am trying to create, however, Bauer Media spans over 80 influential brand names covering a diverse range of interests and is known for magazines such as Kerrang! - which specialise in all kinds of rock music, but focus solely on this genre, and Q - 'the UK's biggest selling music monthly magazine', which also focuses on 'rock and roll' (although it has become much more diverse nowadays) and so would possibly be more suitable for my chosen market and would gain my piece a lot more recognition than ICP, as ICP's most famous magazine, NME, although the 'longest published and most respected magazine worldwide', has fallen continuously since 2003, and therefore may not put my magazine 'on the map', so to speak.

Band Images

Here are some images of the bands I have previously mentioned which will influence the creation of my own magazine (some images have already featured in other posts):

Audience Research

Research found on the UK Tribes website in order to get a better idea of the types of things my chosen target audience are interested in, which I will apply in the creation of my music magazine.

Alternative

Possessing an alternative taste in music and fashion no longer automatically denotes outsider status. Instead, this segment makes up a significant slice of the youth market, with the internet helping to smash the barriers to the Alternative lifestyle. An enthusiasm for indie fashion and band culture is now almost obligatory in the development of middle class teens. 
Members of the Alternative tribes are vaguely rebellious but don’t yet have a specific focus to rally against (their parents may well have helped shape their Alternative views, in fact). However, they are likely to conform with peers. While open-minded about music and fashion they are wary of the Mainstream tribes and determined to be different – together.
Alternative Tribes are predominantly made up of white working and middle class kids. It seems a huge proportion of teens in the UK have a hankering for something a bit different, and Alternative brands that have achieved massive traction include Converse and Vans. Kufiyas also feature heavily. 
All Tribes within the Alternative segment are passionate about music, and their friendship groups, tastes and activities are largely defined online. Peer influence is a huge part of the Alternative scene, though new trends usually emerge outside the segment. The best way to reach these kids is through niche magazines and social media. 

Emo:

The last couple of years have seen this group go from marginal to proto-mainstream – they have, at the very least, gained much wider cultural currency. Bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance have also provided a chart presence and publications like the NME have given emo music a massive boost. But first, the basics: emo is short for ‘emotional’. On a less positive note, they have been linked with self-harming and suicide by the more right-wing media of late, but this attention only heightens their popularity among youths who want to belong to a ‘sub’ culture. You’ll see Emos everywhere: they’re the kids with dyed black hair and a long fringe which serves as a barrier between them and the cruel outside world, often wearing super-tight black jeans teamed with kiddiecentric cartoons, checkerboard patterns and skulls. This sub-group, which branches off from Young Alts and Metalheads is wilfully unflamboyant (depite the cartoons and the checkerboards). While a Tribe in its own right, ‘emo’ is used less discriminatingly as a term of ridicule by others. Emo kids are on the receiving end of abuse not only from Townies but also from the Metalheads and Young Alts. Along with Chavs, Emos attract the most bile from their fellow youths. But much like Chavs, that’s become part of the appeal... 
Black clothes are teamed with kitsch, brighter, cutesy items. Labels that few Emos will be seen without are Claire's Accessories (think neon wristbands and hair clips), Punkyfish, Vans and Atticus Clothing (Blink 182's own clothing line), with eyeliner being worn by both boys and girls. Hitherto, bands were mostly American and musically accomplished but a British strain has appeared over the last couple of years and is in strong ascent, with more bands undoubtedly to follow. The Emo sound is part hardcore punk, part melodic indie. Key bands include Panic At The Disco, Nightmare Of You, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Funeral For A Friend. Facebook remains massive for Emos. 

Emo - a genre of music that originated from hardcore punk and later adopted pop punk influences, when it became mainstream in America, before moving across Europe. It has seen many re-inventions of itself, and is thought to have originated in the early 1980s. The first wave of Emo was a sub-genre to describe hardcore punk, and in later years emocore, short for "emotional hardcore", which was also used to describe the emotional performances of bands. 
As the original punk/hardcore Emo took on a more indie-friendly format and hit the mainstream, newer bands began to emulate the mainstream style.
Recently we have seen Emo evolve once again, into a more melodic and less chaotic direction, with Emo abundant in the charts, and a huge adolescence following. The often dark, lyrical content, which deals with many major personal issues in life remains popular with pre and post teens a-like.

Scene Kids:

Scene Kids are a recent arrival from the States that found their feet in the north of England and are gradually moving south. They are basically a cooler, slightly more accessible and better-dressed version of Emo – though strangely some think there’s a bit of Chav to them; probably because they’re more feisty than Emos. Very much based around social networking sites, the Scene Kids love Facebook though there is a steady movement to also using Twitter. Image is all with the Scene Kids – either self-shots on a mobile phone that are uploaded to web pages or being noticed out and about by others. In short, Scene Kids like to be noticed. Updates on Facebook are a great way of informing others on how ‘Scene’ you are and are also often used to publicise friends’ gigs and homemade clothing lines. From here the move is generally to Indie Scenester or Hipster as these Tribes have extremely close links.
Musically, Scene Kids love a mix of electronics and hardcore punk guitars, with top bands being Late of the Pier, Gallows and Bring Me The Horizon (though lesser known local bands also get a lot of support). This is a young tribe with a very specific look. Rib T-shirts, zebra prints, skinny jeans, Converse, hair hugely styled with bangs (that’s a fringe to you and I) for boys and girls, and of course the obligatory 1000+ friends on Facebook on the laptop. Girls go for bright make-up and eyeliner with boys only going for the eyeliner. Both sexes like their hair parted to the side. 
Scene kids are most likely to be found assembled into small 'gang' type groups, lurking around a friend's house, with lights off, drinking cheap booze and smoking badly rolled cigarettes. Exchanging stories of heroic fighting days, and glory wounds they got from a near fight to the death experience at a local show. It is true; the Scene Kid take themselves very seriously, believing the ‘scene’ is a lifestyle not a music genre. 
They apply similar personas to one another, and claim to be 'brothers', united until death in the strife's and afflictions of commercial and mainstream, in which they must fight daily. Dark circled eyes, a sleep depraved scenester, leaves it's badly lit room, after a 12 hour Facebook posting marathon complaining of how the world lacks loyalties; unlike it's gang. The Scene Kid then quickly heads on its way to spend its dole money at H&M. Hey, the Scenesters never claimed not to be a hypocrite!

Metalheads:

The Metalheads tribe generally sees more people coming and going than other tribes – appeal wanes for many quite quickly. Metalheads feel no need to justify themselves to others, and are generally a friendly badge-wearing bunch but they do have a tendency to hate Chavs and Townies, as well as generally frowning upon the musical tastes of the Emos and Indie Scenesters.This tribe is keen on mixing up newer and older varieties of metal, punk and rock – so older classic metal bands like Pantera, Metallica and Killswitch Engage have currency as well as more recent, and more experimental, bands such as Cobalt and Converge. 
The internet plays an important part in the scene. Local or obscure bands are big among Metalheads, so an online community plays a vital role for talking and sharing music. As such, forums like ‘UK Metal Underground’ and the ‘Metal Hammer’ forum are popular destinations. As is file-sharing software like Limewire or Vuze.
You’ll mainly see them wearing black, though not exclusively. A black band t-shirt and blue pair of jeans would be the typical look of a Metalhead. 

Young Alts:

Young Alts are after something different, but beyond that, they’re not exactly decided. They’ll read about or listen to a huge variety of bands and try Skater, Emo and even Urban fashions. They also love a lot of mainstream fashion and music. The Young Alts make for a largely safe and non-judgemental Tribe in which to experiment with all of these styles. 

As they advance into later years, Young Alts specialise and move into different Tribes, but while they are still deciding they are some of the most voracious consumers out there: music, magazines, clothes makeup and haircuts are all sampled and discarded with abandon. 
Young Alts are wide eyed to the world and can be influenced by TV, radio and mainstream media. Some of them are still listening to their parents! Of course, the biggest influence is the playground and their friendship groups, and they constantly scour specialist magazines and the internet for news and clues about their favourite scenes. 
Young Alts generally adopt their passions from Emos, Scene Kids, Indie Scenesters and Hipsters and rarely create a trend for themselves. Their huge buying power combined with this predictable nature makes them a hugely exciting market. Careful analysis of social media can put marketers ahead of the curve, as can access to Young Alt tastemakers like Zane Lowe.
Tribe icons include Kurt Cobain, Hadouken!, Green Day, Bring The Horizon and You Me At Six.

Step By Step Magazine Cover

I decided to quickly produce a mock magazine cover in a few simple steps, so as to get an idea of what I could do within a certain amount of time. I think that this cover looks quite good due to its minimal layout and fits in with the genre of music that I am focusing on, although given more time, there are certainly things I would do differently. I like the masthead font and colour, although I think it should possibly be a little bigger, as this will attract the reader's attention more. The date and issue number are placed and sized accordingly, in my opinion, and the font works well. The header, however, is positioned at a strange angle, and the sub header is barely visible due to choice of colour, although it  was an attempt at incorporating a black, white and purple palette. I think the barcode and the price have been constructed okay, and the image itself is striking and eye-catching.

Chosen Style Magazine Covers

After contemplating what kind of look and genre of music I wanted to focus on, I have decided to go for an edgy, punk rock, alternative style. Despite the use of the word 'punk', I am not limiting my magazine to just this, but all kinds of rock in general, e.g. post-hardcore bands like The Blackout, alternative rock/pop punk bands such as You Me At Six and Paramore, ska punk/reggae fusion bands like No Doubt, metalcore/deathcore bands such as Bring Me The Horizon and Architects, as well as punk rock/pop punk bands like Green Day.

                        

      

 

         

 

      

  

I like these covers because they are quirky and incorporate bright and contrasting colours, some of which seem almost psychedelic, fitting in with the 'punk' theme, and use striking images or backgrounds which attract the reader's attention. A range of different fonts have been used which I think fit in with my chosen genre, and the amount of text on the pages differ, which will allow me to play around when creating my own magazine, as I can base my cover on any of these designs. I particularly like the David Bowie cover of Raygun magazine and will possibly choose a font along these lines and maybe a plain yet striking background of a similar style. I like the unique layout and placement of text used on both of the other Raygun covers, and the familiar black, white and red colour scheme used on Metal Hammer's cover, as well as the almost drawn on text, whilst also incorporating a striking yellow colour, popular amongst rock magazines, which is also found on the NME cover, which contrasts nicely with the purple/pink background and white text. The background image of the Q cover is very artistic and colourful and gives the magazine a 'fun' look about it, as well as its bubbly choice of fonts. The Select magazine cover is similar to the Ray Gun issues because of the date it was published, but I think that these colour choices could still work nowadays when targeted at punk rock lovers; and the Jimi Hendrix Classic Rock cover stood out for me because of its limited yet bold colour scheme but dominant image and the use of a 'hippy' style font.