Original Ideas Statement

I am going to be making a country music magazine. I am also going to try and incorporate country fashion, dancing and food. The intended audience are people who like listening to country and the older generation.  I have chosen this particular type of magazine because there is a gap in the market for this magazine in the UK and I feel that by choosing a different type of magazine that I will gain more marks for showing ideas and initiative and that I have also taken a risk, a risk that will hopefully pay off.

Information of Magazine Publishers

One of the first magazine publishers I researched was Immediate Media Company Limited (known as Immediate Media Co). They were formed on 1^st November 2011 and are owned by Exponent Private Equity. It publishes various magazines such as Origin Publishing, Magicalia and BBC Magazine. They publish over 50 magazine titles and over 30 websites. Their main offices are in Hammersmith, London and in Bristol. One of the magazines they publish is Radio Times which generates 60% of Immediate’s profit.

Their audience ranges from people who are middle aged and want to travel the world, to music fans of all ages, middle aged mum’s, grandparents who would read Good Food and to children who want to read CBeebies Weekly. The BBC has lots of multi-platform products such as TV channels, radio stations and shops.

IPC Media (International Publishing Corporation) was founded in 1968 in the UK. Their main headquarters is in London and they sell over 350 million copies each year. Their magazines consist of InStyle, NME, Horse & Hound, What’s on TV, Tv Times, TV & Satellite and many more. They have over 60 magazines published on the market. Their audience is everyone from the mass market of woman and men. IPC Media don’t have multi-platform products as they only produce and publish magazines.

Bauer is a large European based media company that were founded in 1875 and their headquarters are in Hamburg, Germany. They have more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations around the world. Bauer employee approximately 11,000 people in 17 different countries all over the world. They hold the majority of the market of media with brands and company’s such as 4Music, Closer, Empire, FHM, Kiss, Magic 105.4, Mojo, Q and many more. They have some many company’s and brands they also have hundreds of multi-platform products.

Altogether I have chosen to research these magazine publishers as they are the most largest publishers in the world and hold the majority of the media market.

Magazine Case Study

Country music magazine is relevant to my main task as I am also doing a country music magazine. American Media Inc. publishes Country Weekly. They also publish Mens Fitness, Muscle Fitness, Star, National Enquirer, Natural Health, Radar (online), Shape, Flex, Fit pregnancy and OK! American Media Inc. was founded in 1936. The headquarters is in New York City and the CEO of the company is David J. Pecker. However Country Weekly was established in 1994 and the first issue was published on 12 April 1994. The magazine to begin with was issued fortnightly however in February 2009 Country Weekly started publishing weekly. The audience of the magazine when printed is 505,000 and the median age to read Country Weekly is 45 and the median house hold income is $43,921. This was published in 2013 and was an estimate. Country Weekly gets 251,000 unique visitors online. The monthly page view is 479,000 and the median age to look on CountryWeekly.com is 56.9. The median house hold income is $40,705 and on social media the magazine has 720,000 followers. This was published in 2014. Articles that feature in the magazine;

Cover stories these are stories that are the main features to entice you buy the magazine.

Regular features in the magazine are features such as horoscopes and weekly problems.

Other features in the magazine are articles; these only appear in one particular issue. The brand identity is recognised by consumers and customers and is associated with the magazine itself. So the brand identity is achieved the masthead is mostly always in the same font which is recognisable and appeals to the target audience. The magazine industry is changing the way it is presented rather than used printed as paper copies, the magazine industry is also becoming available online via email and buy paying for the magazine app and the issue becoming available weekly/monthly on a monthly subscription.

Contents Textual Analysis

This contents page is from Vogue magazine published in December 2010.The colours on this magazine are white, black, red and grey. The lighting in the photo is un-natural and had been very heavily processed in post-production. You can see this by the way the light is projected onto the model in the photo. The models facial expression is a very natural expression and her eye gaze is looking straight at the camera. The model is wearing what looks like a shiny gold swimming costume. She is also wearing a shiny silver coat with fur on the collar and sparkly silver heeled boots. The model appears to be wearing very a lot of make-up, however she is wearing make-up to give her an overall natural and desirable look. The prop she is holding is a shiny gold gym bag on her left shoulder. The model has also got two other props, shiny sun glasses that have a gold tint, which are attached to her swimming top. She is also wearing a shiny gold cowboy hat. The shot of the photo is a full body and the camera angle is a medium height angle.  

The contents page is split into four different contents sections. Section 1 is in the second left third of the page, they are the cover stories that are featured on the front cover and they are what entice you to buy and read the magazine. Then the other sections are on the right hand side of the page; the top section is about fashion and general articles. These are regular features and always appear in the magazine and the third section which is below is the special features section this is where they have articles that don’t appear regular, only once or so and they are features such as interviews this magazine interview is with Emma Watson. The last section at the bottom of the right hand side of text is a separate section not often used in magazines ‘subscribe to vogue’ these sections are small but they are a typical convention in most magazines. However if consumers decide that they like reading the magazine, they can subscribe to it. Another advertising point on the contents is the photo like most magazines vogue use the photo to show on of the features in this magazine. It is in the right hand bottom corner of the picture ‘Star girls 200’ is advertising the star girls article on page 200.

There are a few different types of font used on the contents page for example; the magazine masthead ‘vogue’ is repeated again on the contents page as well as on the font cover this is because they want to repeat the masthead so they have the brand identity running through the magazine and also use the colour theme they used on the front of the magazine on the contents page as well. The section titles ‘Cover Stories’ and ‘Subscribe to Vogue’ both use different shades of red but are the same style of font. The other section titles ‘Fashion’ and ‘Special Features’ are the same colour text and are also the same bold basic block font. The  ‘Contents December 2010’ is the same type of font as the ‘Fashion’ and ‘Special Features’ section however the ‘Contents’ half is the colour black whereas the ‘December 2010’ is the same red as the ‘Fashion’ and ‘Special Features’ section. All the other text for example; the article name is the same italic font and all the text below the article title, which talks about what the article is about is a normal basic font. Altogether the magazine contents page is intended to appeal to the target audience which averages at 34 years old. With features and cover stories to make the consumer want to buy the magazine. The masthead is carried onto the contents page in the same style font, this is because it maintains the brand identity through-out the magazine.

Double Page Spread Analysis

This is a double page spread from a 2011 magazine of Nicki Minaj. The colours used for the double are orange, black, white, grey and pink. The main colours are orange and black. The colour orange is used for some text in the left hand corner of the magazine and is the colour of Nicki’s hair. The colour black is used for all of the text on the right hand side of the double page spread and is also the colour of Nicki’s leather playsuit she is wearing. The lighting in the photo of Nicki is aimed directly at her face to enlighten her facial features. Nicki’s eye gaze is looking straight at the camera and she has a natural expression on her face. As the photo of her is a close up we are unable to see everything she is wearing. But from what we can see of her clothing she appears to be wearing a black leather top. Nickis make-up is fairly natural for her, with pink lipstick, pink eye shadow and pink blusher. She is also wearing foundation, black liquid eye liner and black false eye lashes. The only prop we can see from the photo is the knuckle duster in Nickis right hand, which she is holding it towards her face. This portrays a threatening gesture towards other rivals per say or anyone trying to get in her way getting to the top. The centre of the frame is Nicki with all the other text around her. The camera angle of the photo is a medium angle with Nicki at the same level as us. She also appears to be in focus and the plain grey background appears to be out of focus. The font on the double page spread is in three different fonts such as ‘Ones to watch 2011’ is in one type of font. This font it a bold fierce font and ties in with the overall theme of making Nicki gothic and more grown up but in her own way, hence the bright orange hair.

 Another type of font is the caption in the left hand corner of the picture and the other font is the body text. The drop-cap is in black, the same font as the title and is also the same colour as the Kicker. All of these goes with the colour theme and also looks more of a retro style. The magazine is aimed at teenagers and upwards. The magazine it’s self is states that ‘We've always brought you the very best in new music.’ Meaning that they know they have always had the best new music and got it first. They are simply introducing us to the new artists that they think will be big in the future. Since this is an article from 2011 since then Nicki Minaj has been and still continues to be a big influence on the culture of pop music.

On this double page spread there isn't a lot of white space. The only white space there is the space between Nicki herself and the edge of the photo. There isn't much white space because each artist has one double page spread to portray themselves on and why they are ‘Ones to watch’.

This double page spread overall has a gothic appearance but with a twist. This is to portray Nicki Minaj as more of a normal person unlike all the other quirky outfits and various things she has done. However she still has put her own twist on the photo of her, with her orange hair. The double page spread it showing us that she is someone who we need to watch as she is has successfully got to the top of the celebrity world. The magazine has been intended to attract female and especially male audiences this so they can broaden their target audience and hopefully continue keeping the new consumers buying their magazine, increasing profits. The editors have used colours that appeal to both genders (orange and black)  on the double page spread so that they can increase their target audience.

Double Page Analysis

This is a double page spread from a Cosmopolitan magazine published in June 2013. The double page spread uses four main colours pink, purple, grey and black. The main colours used are pink, for the background in the photo of Miley and purple. The colour purple is used in two different shades; the bold darker purple is used as the first letter of her first name, also the ‘e’ in ‘Miley’ and then is also used for all the letters of her last name. The other shade of purple is a pastel shade which is the colour is used for the questions in the body text and is also the colour of Mileys bra. The lighting in the photo of Miley is aimed at directly at Miley which is highlighting the front of her top half in the photo. Miley is a female, white American from Nashville, Tennessee. In this picture Miley is looking directly at the camera with her head tilted slightly up so she appears to be almost looking down on us. Her facial expression is of her with a more natural facial expression whereas the way she is holding her self suggests otherwise. Miley is wearing minimal clothing; a white see through cropped blouse, a purple bra and grey shorts. Her make-up up is very natural; bronze eye shadow and pale pink lipstick. Miley is also wearing a lot of heavy jewellery. A big gold necklace and gold bracelets as well as claw shaped silver earrings. On the double page spread Miley is on the left hand side. The photo of Miley is a medium shot her with the camera angle at a normal height. The text is in three different types of font ‘Miley Cyrus’ is one font, ‘Unleashed’ is in a different typography hand written style font which appeals to the target audience. The drop cap is also in the same font as the word 'Unleashed' but in a different colour, lilac. The kicker on the double page spread is located at the bottom middle of the page unlike conventions where it is normally at the top of the page either in the left upper third or the right upper third. It is in a different font from all the other text and is also in the colour white where as all the other text colours is either black or a different shade of purple. The subheading of each new paragraph is the question the interviewer asked Miley. All of them are in the same colour as the drop cap, lilac and are in the same font as the answers to the questions the interviewer asked. The questions and answers are all in two columns with each question, with its answer in a paragraph or its own.

The text from the interview is in another basic font. The magazine it’s self is aimed at female teenagers this is why the double page spread uses colours such as pinks and purples because they are feminine colours. Compared to when Miley was on tour these clothes and make-up is ‘toned down’ for her as she likes to get dressed up in all sorts of costumes. This also ties in with the audience because they are teenagers upwards and by her wearing a different style of clothes she has a classy overall look. This can appeal to a wider target audience without appearing to risqué. There is a lot of white space on the double page spread this is because the text ‘Miley’ has been condensed together closer to Miley herself. There is also a lot of white space because there is only some of the body text on this page, the rest of it is on the other page. This is to save space and make the double page spread not have too much stuff crammed onto it. The colours and the picture of Miley is quite simple so by not having a lot on the page is gives the article more of a sophisticated look. This is showing that Miley has grown up and is not that little girl who once played Hannah Montana in the TV series and films on Disney. The whole double page spread is showing that the magazine has a certain target audience specifically aimed at teenagers as the colours used are pink, purples as well as black and white. These colours would appeal to mainly females and mainly young females because of the use of colours and font used is particularly the use of swirly fonts used. Overall the double page spread continues the brand identity through-out the magazine showing it by the use of swirly and feminine colours. 

Contents Textual Analysis

This magazine contents page is from the magazine Marie Claire which is an international magazine published monthly aimed at women. Marie Claire covers health, beauty and fashion. The contents page is split up into two different parts. The features section which has articles that appears in only that magazine. The other section is regular features which appear in every issue’s such as a problem page or fashion does and don’ts. Some magazine contents are split into sections to make it easier for the reader to find what they are looking for. This magazine contents page is split into four different sections; ‘On The Cover’, ‘Beauty News’, ‘Fashion Features’ and ‘Style Files’. The colours used on the contents page are mainly white (as the background) red titles and black text. Even the picture used has a white building in the background and the model is wearing a black long shirt and a white and black jacket. The lighting in the photo is used to create shadows from the building and the woman. The person in the photo on the contents page is a woman who appears to be Italian and it also looks like by the design and style of the building that this photo was also taken in Italy. The clothes the model is wearing in the picture is a long black skirt held up with a black belt and a big silver buckle. She is also wearing a denim shirt with a white and black cardigan. All the text is on the left hand side of the contents page which is the most important side of the contents page. The image is the only image on the page and is set across the right hand side of the contents page. The shot distance of the model is a full body image. The camera angle is the same height as the model, who is looking straight at us. The light in the image appears to be natural. It looks almost like the sun has risen and it is now coming up to mid-day.

With the contents laid out with all the text on the left hand side and the picture on the right hand side this shows the normal layout of a magazine. This is because on magazine front covers the important part of the magazine is the left third and this is why on the contents page the text is all in the left third of the image. The model is posing, leaning on a post in the picture the way she is holding herself shows that she is classy and modelling is her job and she takes it very seriously. This is shown by her facial expression, it says that she is serious about this article and isn't just messing around. Her facial expression also shows us that she is flaunting herself because she knows she is good looking and that is the reason she got the job. The contents page is going to be aimed at the same audience as the front cover of the magazine, older teens to middle aged women. The magazine has an overall classy look and this is shown here in the contents page displaying the articles out in an order, any aged people can look quickly and find what they are looking for. The colours used are most probably the same colours on the front of the magazine. This is so that the colour theme of the magazine is continued through-out the whole magazine. Overall the magazine is what the editors intended for target audience, of which are aged from 20 upwards. The brand identity of the magazine is continued through-out the magazine, for example the masthead is a recognisable icon, in a font that is used on every magazine that is published but in different colours. On a shelf in a shop the magazine masthead is the most visible to consumers, because it is in the top third of the magazine where it can be seen the easiest.  

Magazine Textual Analysis

This is a front cover of Company magazine latest issue, which is for November 2014. The magazine uses three to four main colours. The colour black is the main colour used for all of the text on the front cover. However there are a few other colours used such as a dull yellow colour used as boxes around the main headings. There is also a pale baby blue colour used are around the main title ‘pretty little liars’. It looks like a teenager’s magazine with lots of different things going on the front cover such as the many images of different styles of coats. The magazine uses a variety of different types of fonts, three in total. Lucy is wearing very basic clothes the shorts are black and the top is nude both neutral colours whereas the coat she is wearing has a variety of different colours. Lucy’s makeup is also neutral with basic black eyeliner and bronze eye shadow.

The colour scheme appeals to a target audience that are older teens. The colours used portray a classy overall look meaning that the magazine is aimed at more of an older generation more so older high school students and college students. This particular article is interviewing Lucy who is an actress in a TV series based in America called Pretty Little Liars. This TV show is also aimed at older high school students and college students as well. All the different colours are all neutral and basic colours as well that all goes together and have a warm appeal to them. The typography is a hand written style which again appeals to the target audience. The masthead “COMPANY” is the brand identity and appears in the same font but in different colours every addition. The font of the masthead is the same font every time because customers recognise the font and associate it with the magazine. By recognising the masthead the customers recognise the brand identity. The main image is a medium shot of Lucy where you can see from the bottom of her thighs upwards. The shot of her is subjective which means that the Lucy is making eye contact with the reader. Lucy is wearing very plain, basic but neutral clothes that go with the basic colour scheme of the magazine. The main headline appears to be “the aw13 coat edit” this is most likely to be the main article in the magazine. Putting photos on the front of the magazine of new season coats with entice the customer to buy the magazine and read about the new fashion for the fall. Normally the magazine will have the person on the front cover, with their name in big bold letters to catch the reader’s attention. However on this front cover Lucy’s name and the TV series she plays a part in, is rather small and also on the right hand side, where as it would normally be on the left hand side. It could make the feature article less important than the left side feature articles. Compared to the other cover lines. However the picture itself of her is enough to draw in the reader because they know that there will be an article about Lucy in the magazine. Overall the magazine is very feminine colours all round, such as the hot pink masthead and the pale pink background as well as the pastel coloured puffs. Everything is targeted towards older teen girls.

Magazine Textual Analysis

Instyle magazine is a woman’s fashion magazine which is published monthly in the United States. This magazine front cover uses the colours pink for its main colour, black for the majority of the writing on the front, white and burgundy for the rest of the text on the front. Green is also used as the background colour in the puff; this is then also tied in with the green jewelled bracelet. The magazine uses the same two fonts on the front cover. Unlike the other magazine this magazine vastly uses the colour white as a main colour. The magazine masthead stays the same font and colour on almost every issue of the magazine. However the background boxes of the masthead changes colour every issue to set off a colour theme.  The magazine is classy and formal as well. The colour pink is a feminine colour and is used a lot on products because the colour appeals to girls. Although it uses the colour pink a lot, the magazine is aimed at older teens and perhaps people in their early 20s. The image on the front cover is of Gwen Stefani which is also the only image on the front cover. Gwen Stefani is an American pop singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. What I can see of her, she is wearing a pink strapless dress, which also matches the colour of her lipstick and six different colour bangles. One of which matches her dress and another one matches the puff just below the masthead. The dress she is wearing also shows off her class and that she has grown up from being a young and single girl, to becoming a wife and mum to three children. This appeals to the target audience because her fans and consumers of this magazine in general can relate to her as they have also grown up listing to her music and have now grown up themselves.

The magazine also features other articles shown on the cover in bigger text then Gwen Stefani’s name. This is because with just a big picture of her on the front cover the picture alone will draw in consumers to read the magazine. The cover line about Gwen Stefani says ‘on fame, family & fashion’ this is one of the most recent interviews she has done, where she is now producing her own clothing line and looking after he family. By her talking about her clothing line she is promoting her business, as well as showing that it is possible for mums to work and look after their family at the same time. This can help relate to the target audience because some readers of this magazine maybe mums or people who are trying to balance jobs, relationships and life and by Gwen Stefani opening up and showing how she balances it all it could make readers want to aspire to be like her. The masthead ‘Instyle’ appears on every cover, in the same font and the majority of the time in the colour white. This represents the magazine and the company it is owned by which it Time Inc. this is its brand identity. Consumers will see the masthead and associate it with the brand identity. The main image is of Gwen Stefani lying down and only the top half of her visible this is called a top half image.  This is an image of her from chest upwards. The main cover line is ‘Best online shopping’ they have chosen to do an article about this because shopping online is becoming more popular and by them doing an article about a few websites you will like it interests the consumer and makes them want to read the article. Overall the editors have designed the magazine so that it appeals to the target audience aged from teenagers upwards. This magazine is designed with a band identity that the masthead is always the same font but just in a different colour for each magazine it is continued through-out the magazine to develop and maintain the brand identity. 

The Magazine Industry

Every year roughly 8,000 magazines titles are published in Britain. They can be categorised into seven different sectors. They are; Consumer, Business/Trade, Customer Magazines, Staff Magazines, Newspaper Supplements, Part Works and Academic Journals. 1.4 billion magazines are sold each year. This has decreased as in 1970 2.1 billion magazines were sold. There are 3,212 consumer magazines in the UK and they reach 87% of the total adult population. It is predicted that UK consumers will spend £2.5 billion on magazines this year. In 2008 advertising company’s spent £745 million on advertising in magazines.

The picture on the left is the top ten selling magazines in the UK. The top two magazines are TV Choice and What’s on TV and they are both in the category of TV Listings. As well as number four which is the Radio Times that also is a TV listing. However number three and from number six downwards all the magazines are either Woman’s weeklies or Women’s monthlies. This goes to show that the majority of the top selling magazines are Woman’s magazines. The only magazine that is different from the rest is Slimming World Magazine at number five which is in the category of Health & parenting.

A lot of magazines in the magazine industry are moving to using apps and allowing consumers to download the issue instead of buying it as a paper version. This is why there is a decline of paper sales and an increase in paper sales. This just goes to show that the magazine industry are moving into different areas of the market and are keeping up with the development of technology

Magazine Textual Analysis

This is a magazine cover taken from a country magazine that comes out weekly. The magazine cover uses the colours gold’s and yellows as well as bright green. This colours are mostly all associated with autumn the seasons moving from autumn to winter. The green is used for a box around Luke Bryan's name to tie in with the grass. The magazine uses a variety of different types of fonts. One for the magazine masthead which doesn't change and is the same for every issue. Another font for Luke’s name in bold and two other different types of fonts for the cover line and other cover headings. The magazine it’s self is a very formal adult’s magazine and based on people who listen and like country music. The main image is of Luke Bryan a famous country singer in a park with his two sons. Luke and his eldest son are both wearing blue checked shirts and blue denim jeans. This is the more typical clothes people who sing country music wear. There is also another picture on the front cover of another country singer holding an award. This is labelled with the heading ‘Behind the scenes at the CMA Awards.’

The colour theme appeals to a lot of a variety of people who listen to country music. With the colours being tied in with the new season, (autumn) they are colours most people would expect around at this time. The magazine is aimed at people who listen to country music and have an interest in country music. This article mainly features an interview from Luke Bryan who is a well-known American country singer who is now also bringing out a clothing range in America with the clothing company Cabela’s Inc. Luke is producing a clothing line that will appeal to his fans and possibly others who like to wear his clothing or clothes similar and therefore may start listening to his music because if this. The masthead ‘Country Weekly’ appears in the same font but sometimes different colours because it is a brand identity. When potential buyers see the masthead they can associate it with the brand identity. The main image is of Luke Bryan and his two sons which is a full body image. The shot of them is subjective as both Luke and his eldest son are both looking at the camera. Luke and his sons are wearing very simple clothes which go with the autumn colour theme. The cover line on the front reads ‘The rising star opens up about meeting his wife, what it means to be a good dad and the biggest year of his life’ just from this cover line we know the interview with him is mainly going to be about him and his family life and only a bit about his successful year with his music. It will be more of a chatty friend informal interview then a serious formal one, about his career and only his career. With the other picture on the cover with a cover line about the Country Music Awards readers know that there will be other articles in the issue talking about music. So for the more serious people into music there are articles about music and the awards people have got for their work. Overall the magazine has a friendly appealing look to it which the audience can relate too. This magazine was designed with the meaning behind it that readers would be able find out more about Luke's and his personal life and what he does when he isn't singing and performing. This magazine is aimed at the people who listen and like country music as well as Luke's fans.