Key Concepts

To help me look at how the media concepts can be applied to a music magazine, I used the acronym LIIAR; language, institution, ideology, audience and representation.

Language.
The language includes things like photographs and graphics. Also plugs, mastheads and typography. All these things are classed as the language in magazines. In many of the magazines that I previously looked at such as, heat and men’s health, the articles rely heavily on the written word. However publications such as NME rely less on the written word and more on conventions such as graphics and photographs to convey their message and attract their target audience. The language also includes the colour and the layout; the colour and layout of the picture, the colour and layout of the masthead etc. All these concepts have to be considered very carefully because publishers want to sell as many copies as possible so therefore have to make sure the language of their magazine is just right. I will make sure the language I use on my music magazine will attract and be suitable for my target audience.

Institution.
There are several different companies and institutions that produce music magazines. These companies have aims to make sure that when they publish their magazines they are giving audiences what they want. I have researched the main music magazine publishers to see which one would be most suitable to publish my magazine.

Emap is a British media company and was founded in 1947. Emap specialises in selling business to business magazines. However it has published many music magazines some of which it does still publish and others which it no longer does, such as smash hits and Mixmag. Emap does still publish music magazines such as Kerrang!, Q, and Mojo.

IPC Media is one of Britain’s leading magazine publishers with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. The company publish a wide variety of different magazines; women’s weekly’s, leisure and specialist, men’s lifestyle and entertainment, women’s lifestyle and home interest. One of the magazines it does publish is the very popular music magazine NME.

Future publishing is a UK business and produces a variety of things such as, magazines and websites It also organizes events in a range of specialist sectors including games, technology, automotive, cycling, films and photography. It publishes more than 100 magazines including a few music magazines such as classic rock, rhythm and guitarist.

Ideology.
The main ideology for all magazines is consumerism. The more readers a magazine has, the better, therefore it is important to make sure the magazine includes features that will entertain the target audience. In order to do this for my music magazine I will make sure I include articles that I think will intrigue my target audience. For example; interviews with artists, upcoming music events, latest releases and current news of artists. When I have decided my music genre I can then start to think about who my target audience will be and make sure my ideology is suitable for them.

Audience.
The audience of the magazine will depend on what music genre my magazine is. Different music magazines have different audiences. For example;
NME has a circulation of 56,284 and a readership of 369,000. They have a large audience which is then split down into different categories so it is then easy to see who reads the magazine;
Male 61%
Female 39%
Average age 24
Working full time 52%
Working part time 7%
Still studying 29%
A, B, C1 65%

Mixmag has a circulation of 37, 139 and a readership of 276, 000. There audience is slightly different to that of NME but has similarities such as more male readers than female. Its audience is;
Male 72%
Female 28%
Average age 26

Representation.
Different representations are made depending again on the genre of the music. For example; Mixmag is a dance and clubbing magazine. Dance/ club music is associated with places like Ibiza and younger adults; therefore females in their early twenties in bikinis will be represented in this magazine. You wouldn’t find a middle aged man dressed in a suit in this style of magazine. In other magazines such as Hip Hop Connection, black males are represented because this is who most people would associate with rap and hip hop music. Therefore my representation will depend on what music genre I choose my magazine to be based on.