Music project research

• What are the most important and popular music magazines?

• How has it changed over the years?

• What are they key conventions of this genre?

• Who are the target audience?

• Which of the Uses and Gratifications Theory/Utopian Solution/Maslow’s Needs does the genre appeal to?

• How do music genres come together and hybridise in this form?

• How does online content play a role in this genre?

What are the most important and popular music magazines?

How has it changed over the years?

On the right is a Q magazine from 1986, and on the right is one from 2014. The main colour scheme of

the magazine has changed from blue with other colours, to red with back

and white for the text and the subject of the magazine. In the 2014 edition, there is one subject/person of the magazine that fills the page

and has text around him; in the 1986 edition the layout is completely

different – there are many subjects, each one with their own section/box

and text. The slogan has also changed whilst the logo has been

kept the same.

What are they key conventions of this genre?

• Bold and simple masthead/logo

• Simple colours that stand out against each other and contrast well (black, white and red)

• Main subject being a professional ‘modelling’ photograph, taking up the whole of the page and being the only thing there.

• A serif font for the logo and main feature article, and then a simple, sans serif block font for the rest of the articles and text on the page.

Target audience

• The target audience are teenagers/young adults of both genders, however it could be seen as more appealing to boys because of the colour scheme, that enjoy different types of popular, modern, chart music.

• I know this because of the modern, industrial layout of the magazine; it is all sectioned very precisely and has the same layout for every edition.

• Also the black, white and red colour scheme is something that would appeal to young people as it is stylish and an simple but effective combination and would catch the reader’s eye in a shop. It has a slight male skew however, because the colours are blunt and harsh and not seen as stereotypical female colours.

Online content

The Q website keeps up with the bold and simple layout, however there is more than one image and less text. The colour scheme is the same (white, black and red) but is mostly white and only features some red text, but not a lot. It gives the audience a chance to interact with tabs such as ‘win’ and look at videos and playlists that are probably updated along with the most recent edition of the magazine. The visitors on the website also get a preview of the magazine in “the latest issue” for free without having to buy the magazine. It does also encourage them to subscribe or buy the magazine online, as to not lose money.