There are many different media institutions that music magazines belong to, one being Bauer Media, who area European based company that manages a range of magazines, digital products, radio and TV stations all over the continent. Bauer Media was founded in 1875 and their headquarters are situated in Hamburg, Germany and have over 11,000 employees. Additionally, the Bauer Media Group manage many different music publications such as Q music magazine, Kerrang! music magazine and also MOJO music magazine. Bauer Media was previously known by the name Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, more commonly abbreviated to HBV or shortened to H. Bauer.
Another well-known magazine institution is Emap International Limited (Emap) which has more recently become known as Top Right Group. Emap is a British media company who specialise in magazine, events and conferences. They were founded in 1947 and based in London, United Kingdom. MOJO music magazine once belonged to Emap before they moved to become part of the Bauer Media Group. Emap do work alongside well-known magazines such as; Nursing Times, Health Service Journal and Retail Week.
Furthermore, IPC Media (now known by the name Time Inc. UK) are again a well-known consumer magazine and digital published based in London, United Kingdom, selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC Media were founded in 1968 although was known as the International Publishing Corporation beforehand since 1963. In 1965 IPC set up a management development department and this led to reorganising the group in 1968 into six different categories containing, IPC Newspapers, IPC Magazines, IPC Trade and Technical, IPC Books, IPC Printing and IPC News Products, this is when the name changed to IPC Media. Music magazine NME (New Musical Express) are also part of the IPC Magazine category of the company.
Institutional Research
Rock Music Magazine Mood Board
Rock Music Mood Board
When creating my mood board I took into consideration all of the typical connotations of rock music. Firstly, the different music magazine institutions who produce rock music magazines e.g. MOJO. Additionally, different bands/artists who fall within the genre and who are easily recognisable by rock music fans e.g. Paramore or Florence & The Machine. Furthermore, I included items such as drink e.g. Jack Daniels and also clothing e.g. Converse & Leather Jackets. Moreover, there are instruments, live photographs, colours associated with the genre of music and also record labels e.g. Rough Trade Records. I will be thinking about the different items that are typical connotations of the rock genre when creating my final production because this helps attract the correct type of audience to the magazine.
Overall Key Findings of Existing Audiences
After completing the institutional research into each of the three different magazine target audiences, I have gained some ideas and have been influenced further with the ideas for my own magazine production. ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘NME’ attract the same target audience age group that I wish to attract with my own magazine which is somewhere between the ages of 15-30 years-old. NME attracts a lot more male audience members whereas ‘Kerrang!’attracts a much better balance between male and female audience which is what is the same as what I wish to attract with my magazine production.
Whereas ‘MOJO’ attract an older target audience of around 45-54 years of age and therefore this is not what I am wanting to achieve with my own magazine at all. I want to be able to attract a young audience like other already existing magazines do and I know it works well and is successful.
‘Kerrang!’ attract 51% ABC1 target audience and ‘NME’ attract 71% ABC1 which are both fairly balanced between different social classes. With my own magazine I want to aim to be like ‘Kerrang!’ and be almost equally balanced with my audience’s social classes so that I keep my target audience open and varied and this is likely to enable me to sell more issues and increase my readership figures a lot. By looking at ‘Kerrang!’ who’s readership is 293,000 and ‘NME’ who’s is 411,000 this technique of keeping the social class open and varied does allow readership figures to increase rapidly.
Institutional Research: MOJO Target Audience
Magazine Target Audience
After researching two different magazine institutions I chose to research a final institution. This time I chose ‘MOJO’ who similar to ‘Kerrang!’ are more recently part of the ‘Bauer Media Group’, previously belonged to ‘Emap’. ‘MOJO’ was first published in 1993 featuring well-known ‘rock stars’ to attract a wide audience from the start. Again the institution are based within London, UK and unlike many other magazines it’s released monthly.
I discovered that the average age of the ‘MOJO’ reader is 45-54 years of age. When doing my front cover and contents page analysis’, I did suggest that this could be the case due to the older more well-known bands that are featured and also the choice of models used are primarily older. Additionally, the gender balance for ‘MOJO’ readers is extremely unbalanced with male dominating it with 73.1% and females being 26.9%, this is not unusual within the rock music genre because of the ‘rock’ industry being primarily associated with males, which one may argue is sexist towards females, but after all the research I have completed, I have noticed that females are definitely a minority.
Furthermore, the social class for this magazine is 59.5% ABC1 profile with the rest being of a lower social class (perhaps C2DE). This may be due to the language being very complex and also due to the layout being very compact and sophisticated, It is very precise and this may not attract lower class readers. Moreover, the readership for ‘MOJO’ is 210,000 this shows that the magazine attracts a huge amount of readers every month. Also, the circulation is 70,667 which shows that the institution is very well established due to it being around for a very long time.
‘MOJO’ Mission Statement
“At MOJO we cover the good stuff. Our award-winning editorial team prides itself in delivering a magazine that is packed with insight, passion, and revelatory encounters with the greatest musicians of all-time, be they established or emerging musicians. The magazine is loved by its readers and artists alike because it engages them on the subject they love the most: music itself.
Every month MOJO brings you a definitive cover feature on an iconic act; a bespoke CD (especially compiled by the editorial team or a major musician in MOJO’s world); and our famous reviews section, the Filter, which brings you 30 pages-plus of the best of that month’s music, both classic and contemporary.
MOJO’s previous guest editors range from David Bowie to Tom Waits via Noel Gallagher and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, showcasing the magazine’s breadth and iconic status among musicians. From The Beatles to The Black Keys, from Led Zeppelin to Laura Marling, from Fleetwood Mac to Flying Lotus.
MOJO is not only Britain’s biggest selling music magazine, it is an immersive experience. At MOJO we invite you to lose yourself in music every month.”
– Phil Alexander, Editor-in-Chief & Associate Publisher
‘MOJO’ Magazine Reader
Steven is a 47-year-old office worker who has read MOJO for several years. He is incredibly into rock and metal music, as he was brought up with this genre playing all his life. Steven enjoy reading MOJO monthly due to its articles and features which keep him in touch with the growing music industry. When he is not working at his office in Birmingham, he is spending time at home with his wife and children. Steven unfortunately struggles to find the time to attend live music gigs/concerts now he has a family settled in at home, but he informs us that MOJO keeps him in sync with all his favourite music artists and bands from ‘back in the day’.
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After completing this research into ‘MOJO’ it has influenced my ideas about my own magazine. I do not want my target audience to be of the same age group as ‘MOJO’ has attracted, this is because I believe that a lot of music magazine readers are either teenagers or low/middle class workers who are generally younger. A magazine attracting an older target audience is not as well-recognised and sold as one aimed at a younger audience.
Institutional Research: NME Target Audience
Magazine Target Audience
Secondly, I did additional research into ‘NME’ (New Musical Express) – situated in London, UK – which was first published in 1952 and since then an issue has been released weekly and are part of ‘IPC Media – Inspire’. They originally published it as a music newspaper and in the 1980’s and 1990’s they moved towards a magazine format, changing fully in 1998. In 1996 they launched their music website (NME.com) and this has become the world’s biggest music site.
I have discovered that the average reader age is 25. Also, the gender balance of readers is Male 73% and Female 27% this is extremely unbalanced and displays that the target market is men of 17-30 years old. ‘NME’ magazine is issued weekly at a cost of £2.20 and has a circulation of 54,264 as well as a readership of 411,000. Additionally, this magazine institution was established in 1952 therefore they are now extremely well-known and recognised. In addition, the main social group of this magazine is ABC1 with 73%, this was evident when I was researching their magazine front covers and contents pages.
Moreover, the typical ‘NME’ reader is either working full-time (34%), working part-time (18%), or are full-time students (26%) – this demonstrates that this magazine is something people like to read in their free time outside of work and school/college. Also, 49% of the ‘NME’ readers have been buying and reading the magazine weekly for at least 3 years, this suggests that the content included is appropriate for the target audience. Lastly, adding on to that point 84% of the readers mention that the magazine gives them what they want and they spend a long time reading each article included (approx. 46 mins).
‘NME’ Mission Statement
“To Provide up to date and new information, reviews and listings of the best new music”
‘NME’ like to be able to keep keen music lovers up to date with all the music news every week, they even do this every day via their website and social networking sites. Their slogan is “first for music news” and they certainly do their best to stick to that within the music industry. They have many different competitors within the same genre e.g. ‘Kerrang’ and ‘MOJO’ which I also did a lot of research into and yet ‘NME’ still strives and survives every week.
‘NME’ Magazine Reader
Jack is a 22-year-old who lives in London, who reads NME weekly and never misses an issue. Jack works as a live music journalist and consequently has a strong interest in music and media related work. By reading NME magazine it allows him to gain extra knowledge about the industry in which he works. He is passionate about finding new undiscovered bands and listening to different bands within the rock genre and therefore he thoroughly enjoys the articles that feature inside each weekly issue. Jack feels that NME is helping him become more advanced within the industry.
Due to Jack’s job he attends gigs/concerts weekly whether it is a new undiscovered band playing in a small unknown music venue or whether it’s a well-known rock band playing the biggest arena in London. Jack informs that NME includes a lot of information on tours and gigs and therefore he always knows what is going on around him when working every day. By reading NME Jack is able to use the magazine as inspiration on how different journalists write and publish their articles/reviews.
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Overall, by researching further into ‘NME’ as a magazine, I have found out a lot of information about their target audience, as well as key information about the institution itself and additionally, about their type of reader. All the information I have found I will be taking into consideration when constructing and creating my final production. After researching ‘NME’ I have decided that I want to create a magazine which has a very similar target audience, this is because ‘NME’ is a well-known and good selling magazine of the genre that works and attracts lots of readers, which is what I want my magazine to do.
Institutional Research: Kerrang! Target Audience
Magazine Target Audience
I first researched ‘Kerrang!’ magazine which was first published 1981 as supplement in ‘Sounds’ newspaper, it then became increasingly popular and in the early 2000’s it became The Best Selling British Music Newspaper. ‘Kerrang!’ are part of the Bauer Media Group and based in London, UK. They have a circulation of 33,024 and a readership of 293,000, this shows that they are a well-known institution that has expanded over the years and is now known and read weekly by many different people of different social classes and genders. Additionally, adding information on the audience, I found out that the average age of the magazine reader is 15 – 24 and the reader social class/ profile is 51% ABC1. Additionally, the gender ratio for ‘Kerrang!’ is 45.3% female and 54.7% male, showing that the institution attracts more males than females but not by much.
‘Kerrang!’ Mission Statement
“Kerrang! will ensure that we are constantly appealing to our spectrum of readers. From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music – from emo to thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang! as an authority when it comes to our scene’s heritage bands. Each issue will include a balance of bands and scenes to guarantee that we’re providing for our readers’ need for variety and their passionate appetite for their favourite bands as well as their desire to be introduced to new music within our world. We will focus on the BIGGEST things that are going on in our world each week, as well as guaranteeing that we are giving our main base of younger readers everything they need to get into, on top of this the interest in older, harder bands, cementing our role as an educator.” – James McMahon – Editor
‘Kerrang!’ Magazine Reader
“Jim, 25, lives and breathes rock music: it informs his choice of friends, his hobbies, leisure time, attitudes, fashion sense and lifestyle. Above all he is fanatical about their music. He engages with music 24/7, from the minute he wakes up ‘til the minute he falls asleep: when he is not listening to music or watching music TV, he is talking to his friends about music, attending gigs or playing instruments and dreaming about rock stardom. He is plugged in, sharp, has a strong moral code and rejoices in his individuality. He is a fashion trend setter in his peer group but he is heavily influenced by musical icons and scenes. Like the bands he supports he is extremely loyal to the brands he trusts. The way he looks and the clothes he wears is integral to communicating ‘his identity’ to the world.”
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From this research into ‘Kerrang!’ magazine I have found out that the main target audience is male but is closely followed by females. Additionally, the circulation and readership of this institution is extremely large and widespread. I discovered that the social group was more ABC1 than C2DE. Furthermore, I was able to see how the target audience range from different ages and I was able to see which age groups read the magazine more than others. By doing this research it has influenced my ideas for my own magazine because I want my target audience to be very similar to ‘Kerrang!’ because they created something that already works successfully.
emilyyharrison 