Audience Profiles

30 Seconds to Mars - Live Gig Photos!

Recently I saw the band 30 Seconds to Mars live at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. This will be helpful to my magazine, as I can use some of the photos for a possible fan section, or as a poster on the contents page.
(Press the speaker icon on the top left for an example of 30 Seconds to Mars' music!)

Magazine Deconstructions

Example of Alternative Rock music

I decided to film myself playing a song by one of my favourite bands to give an idea of the genre of Alternative Rock. The song is 'Supermassive Black Hole' by the bombastic, crazy Alternative rock band, Muse. 

Photoshoot and Risk Assessment

Photoshoot on PhotoPeach

Examples of Alternative Rock music

Alternative Rock examples from helenbargmann on 8tracks Radio.

Music Magazine publishers

The two most popular music magazines I found as part of my research were:

IPC Media - publishes magazines such as NME (New Musical Express) and Uncut. 

Bauer Media - Kerrang!, Mojo, Planet Rock, Q

I think I will use Bauer Media as my publisher, because they publish very established rock music magazines such as Q and Kerrang!, which would relate more to my magazine of Alternative rock. IPC Media does do NME, but that is more of an indie style magazine rather than alternative rock. 

Magazine Flat Plans

Front cover:

Using the information I gathered from music magazines and their codes and conventions, I have come up with a front cover. From the feedback of my survey, I will include the colours red, white, black and blue. I might also include grey as this was highly suggested in the 'please specify' option of my survey. I may also use a brighter colour for buzz words and puffs. 

The main photo will have the band standing next to each other, presenting equality and representing the codes and conventions of Alternative rock bands, as seen on my moodboard.

I decided I would put a quote on top of the picture, because this is what many big-name magazines do such as Q to bring across a powerful topic, or to give an introduction as to what the interviews will be about.  

Contents page

My contents page will have 'contents' written in the same font I will use for the masthead on the front cover, and use the same house style to show the reader that this is what the magazine will look like, and so it'll be easier to recognize. 

I will present different topics within my magazine, those being News, Live and Reviews. There will be a picture of a live action shot, as well as a picture for the cover story to entice the reader. The colour palette will stay the same continuously, of red, black and white, with dashes of blue and yellow.

Double page spread

My double page spread will consist of information about the band's upcoming new album and tour, as well as background information on the band's lives and what kind of things they've experienced. From reading various magazines, this is what a lot of them do including Q, NME and Kerrang!. 

It will also have a picture of the band on the left striking some sort of pose, as well as a quote from one of the band members which is witty or outrageous to intrigue the reader in what the article is about. The colour palette and house style will stay the same. 

Album cover mise-en-scene

In this album cover for Muse's iconic album 'Absolution', it connotes the name of the album within the artwork, made by Storm Thorgerson (who has made other notable album covers, such as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, Muse's Origin of Symmetry, The Resistance, Black Holes and Revelations, Biffy Clyro's Puzzle's and Opposite). The idea of absolution (formal release from guilt, obligation or punishment) is represented with the man standing on the ground, looking out at the sky (towards God), and asking why he is not being freed from his guilt. It is quite a striking album cover, as it doesn't have one possible conclusion. Whilst the other souls are being rescued, he is left behind, and is left with the question of 'why?' as we can see from his facial expression.
The gas mask in his hand could connote himself being freed from the repression of politics, how he thinks he is free, but is never free, even when released of intoxication.

The grey and white colour palette could also represent the colours associated with Alternative rock, as seen by my audience research and survey. Many people suggested that grey was a colour they associated with Alternative rock magazines.
This album cover works well with Muse, who are a well known Alternative rock band who mostly write about politics and religion. 

A letter from the editor

Moodboard

My moodboard was based on Alternative rock. 

I made the paper ripped on the sides to portray the grittiness of rock n' roll, the element of rock that is still captured within Alternative rock. It connotes the distortion of guitars, the 'outcast' kind of feeling towards rock music. This is especially relevant as rock lyrics are related to being outcasts, being put down by people or the government. In this way it represents rebellion.

I put pictures of various Alternative rock bands, those including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paramore, Muse, Kings of Leon and the Killers. This is to give the audience an idea as to what kind of bands have this alternative rock style.
You can also see in the pictures a sense of equality. Most of the bands have them lined up next to each other, whereas within indie rock they may have the singer in the foreground. For example, Arctic Monkeys at the bottom right of the picture are both Indie and Alternative rock, and the frontman Alex Turner is in the foreground. 

I also put some lyrics around the moodboard to capture the idea of Alternative rock. They are generally very deep, insightful lyrics, those being 'And I've had recurring nightmares, that I was loved for who I am...', 'I would dig a thousand holes to lie next to you...', 'Drill holes in themselves, and  live for their secrets...' and 'Spirits in the night, motion in the deep, waters running high, calling out to me'. This shows that alternative rock music is not just a sub-genre of classic rock n' roll, but it also has its own idea of its genre. That it's deep and really touches the listener. 

I have decided to name my magazine Amplify. Although I didn't include this on my audience research, I think that Asylum (the top voted choice) was to subverted a genre from metal to Alternative rock. Amplify seems like a reasonable name as it relates to Alternative rock and the guitars and amps that are used in them. 

I have done some research on fonts, not that I will definitely use them. 

Results from my survey

The results from my survey show that most people would like 'Asylum' as a name for my Alternative Rock magazine. However, I'm not sure it is an appropriate name for my genre, it would probably fit more into Metal. 'Revolution' is taken by someone else, so I will decide between Asylum, Age of Alt and Avant-Garde. 

As for my audience research, I asked questions on various social networking sites via my survey. It showed that most people who listen to Alternative rock music are between the ages of 16-17, followed by 18-19 year olds. 

Out of the 26 people who answered my survey, 2 of them said that they didn't listen to Alternative rock. This was useful to me, as I asked on the websites Twitter and Facebook through different people. This helped me to get a more accurate view on what people who listen to different genres think of in terms of Alternative rock music magazines. 

Out of the 26 people, the majority thought that black, red and blue were the most common colours reflected by Alternative rock. I found blue quite surprising, but this shows that most people see Alternative rock as something more upbeat and less heavy than general rock or metal. 

However, I made another box called 'Other [please specify]', and received some interesting results. Grey was common, with some others such as purple and orange being lesser associated with alternative rock. I was surprised by orange.

For my magazine, I will base it on my survey's results. For example, I will make sure it consists of a black, red, blue and white colour palette, with yellow puffs and buzz words. 

I will also market it more towards the teenage audience of 16-17 year olds and above. 

My Survey

I have made a survey for my magazine, which asks questions about my audience as well as which name I should have for my magazine.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Alternative Rock Magazine names

These are some of the names I have come up with for my music magazine. I looked in dictionaries and thesauruses to find names that are innovative, or ones that have double meanings, without being too difficult to understand. My current favourites are 'Avant-Garde', 'Asylum', 'Age of Alt', and 'ESCAPE'. 

Pop Music deconstruction