This is a music magazine advert promoting the band “808 state” new album. The name of the band, “808 state” is at the top of the advert. This suggests that this is the most important piece of information as it is at the top, so will be most likely to be read first. When I come to create my magazine advert I think that it would be a good idea to put my chosen artist’s name, “The Next Forever” at the top. Also the text is in caps lock which helps to make it stand out and gives a bold appearance, perhaps representing that this is a bold album musically.

The font is quite basic and looks like Times New Roman, with a “serif” finish. Although a not particularly interesting choice of font, it is very easy to read, which is important in a magazine advert as if readers are just skim reading, a simple, bold font will stand out and may grab their attention and make the read the advert.

The colour choice for the text of white stands out against the black background. Black and white act as binary opposites and it this situation could represent that the music is different to their previous material. The colour white connotes thoughts of innocence, purity and life. The connotation of life could represent the alien theme of the advert and perhaps new lift in the form of aliens.

The alien figure is shown in red. Red connotes thoughts of danger, anger and romance. This could represent the style of music of the album. For example if the red connoted anger it could perhaps represent the genre of Heavy Metal music. Or if the red colour represented romance the music could be Pop music or perhaps acoustic, with lyrics revolving around the theme of love.

The alien seems to be wearing a set of headphones. This is quite a thought provoking concept and could leave the audience mystified as to why an alien looking creature is wearing headphones. This might make them want to look further into the subject by searching the meaning of the visuals online, creating an interest in the band, or perhaps by purchasing the album to see if it relates to the music. Both of these outcomes would be beneficial for the band.

The magazine advert consists of a number of quotations from well known music magazines, such as NME, Jockey Slut and Uncut. Using quotes from existing magazines may give an indication to the audience of what genre of music the album is if the are unaware of the band and their previous material. For example NME is a music magazine that focuses mainly on Popular music, which could suggest to the audience that this is the style of music of the album. Another example of this is with the music magazine Jockey Slut which is a music magazine that features dance music and club culture. If the audience recognised this music magazine and related it to dance music they may think that this albums genre is dance music. I think that by including good quotes from established magazines in my advert would be a good idea. I think this because if a reader read a good review of the album from a magazine that they knew had a good reputation then they will think that the album must be good and convince them to purchase the album.

The magazine advert has also included text stating “Featuring vocals by: Elbow, Simiane And Alabama3”. This acts kind of like a “For fans of…” section as if readers recognised any of these other artists it may think that this music is similar and may convince them to purchase the album. Alternatively if they recognise any of the other artists that feature in the album and are fans of them, it may persuade them to purchase the album, again a powerful selling point. I think that when I come to construct my magazine advert I will use this feature to make it look professional and also to increase the sales of my chosen artists single.

This music magazine has also included a 5 star rating system. Researching into existing music magazines such as Kerrang! NME, and Mojo, I have discovered that many magazine adverts promoting a new album or single release uses quotes and a 5 star rating system from other existing music magazines. As this is quite a common feature I have decided to use this is my magazine advert to make it look professional. “Uncut” has rated the album 4/5 stars. This makes the album seem really good as 4/5 is a very good review to receive. If a reader who recognised the magazine Uncut and rated that highly may think that as they rated the album highly it must be a good album, which may convince them to buy it. This is a good advertising technique that will ultimately help increase sales of the album.