Key concepts in current music magazines

Before deciding that we would like to create a magazine similar to NME, we analysed various other music magazines in terms of their genre, dominant ideologies, the representation and their target audiences.
Below are three different examples of current music magazines.

Top of the Pops magazine
The genre of this magazine is pop music, particularly that young children would listen to. With subheadings such as "when will he kiss you" and "being Britney can't be easy" suggests that the magazine is aimed at young girls, who are interested in more than just the musical aspect of the magazine. It appears that the primary focus of the magazine is in fact celebrities; particularly those appealing to young girls or 'tweens'. Other features of the magazine that suggest it is aimed at young girls are the colours and fonts used on the front cover. Bright purple and pink are both connotations of being girly. The fonts used are casual, informal and 'bubbly'. The dominant ideologies that appear to be conveyed in Top of the Pops magazine are that 'it is cool to listen to popular, mainstream music' and that 'being young means having fun'. The representation of the target audience in this magazine is that young people are free to have fun, and are interested in rather trivial and passive things, such as celebrities and life stories.

Kerrang magazine

The genre of this magazine is rock music. The primary focus of the magazine appears to be rock bands. Nothing on the front cover of this magazine suggests otherwise. Therefore, the magazine is aimed at those interested in listening to rock music, and reading about various rock bands. The colours used on the front cover are quite sophisticated and not at all playful (like on the cover of TOTP magazine), therefore this could suggest that the magazine is aimed at an older audience. One of the dominant ideologies conveyed in Kerrang magazine is that 'Life is loud', which is the strapline of the magazine. This suggests that music should be a big part of your life, and that it is best listened to at a high level of volume. The representation of the target audience in this magazine is that readers are quite dark, rebellious and brave people, who are into dark clothes, tattoos, piercings and loud music. The type of people who read this magazine are not interested in mainstream pop culture.

NME magazine

The genre of this magazine is indie-rock music. Similarly to Kerrang, NME magazine also focuses on the music, as opposed to other topics, like Top of the Pops magazine tends to do. The colour scheme appears similar to Kerrang magazine, using dark reds and yellows, therefore also suggests that the magazine is aimed at an older audience. However, the font is quite informal and animated (particularly on the word 'Automatic'), suggesting that the target audience may be younger than that of Kerrang. Also, the faces that the cover band are pulling suggest that the magazine does not take itself too seriously. This could also make some suggestions about the ideologies conveyed. Such ideologies could be that 'good music could be fun'. The representation of the readers of this magazine is that they are quite cool, laid back and carefree people.