Research into magazine adverts

2. Q Magazine
As part of my research into music
adverts within magazines I in turn
looked with the Q magazine.
The founders of Q magazine, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt that their were no music
magazines that suited an older generation of music lovers. So instead of aiming at
teenagers and young people, the target audience for Q is music buyers over 25 years old,
of both genders, however this is not to say that the content of the magazine would not be
enjoyable for a younger reader. Q features many genres of music so it is suited to all
music lovers. The magazine has a mass audience as it is so popular, but could also be
referred to as having a niche audience, as it is specifically aimed at specifically music
fans.

3. Q Magazine Adverts
Artist: Paloma
Faith
Genre: Pop
Artist: Bombay
Bicycle Club
Genre: Indie Rock
Artist: Lily Allen
Genre: Pop

4. Paloma Faith
Promotion of social media
pages as well as the artists
official website.
Use of the colour pink adds
a feminine touch to the
poster, mabye applying to a
more female audience.
The main text is the
name of the artist (the
most
essential/important
piece of text) which
takes up a generous
amount of space on
the poster. It is in a
pink colour and styled
in a very feminine style
text used to promote
the female pop genre
of the artist.
Unlike the main title the
performance dates are
in a bold, white font as
they portray key
information, which can
be easily read by
potential fans etc.
The artist’s trademark
red hair can be seen
to stand out against
the subtle blue
backdrop.
The artist, stereotypical
of the pop genre takes
up majority of the poster,
dressed elegantly in a
diamond studded dress
with full makeup,
including red lipstick
which could be seen to
appeal to her traditional
female audience to see
her as a role model, and
to a male audience in a
sexual sense.
The white dog, along
with the pale blue
backdrop may infer a
peaceful and relaxed
nature of the music of
the artist.

5. Bombay Bicycle Club
The name of the
artist is in bold at the
top of the poster. It is
in a much larger size
to that of the
supporting artists.
There is no picture of
the band on the poster,
a slightly unusual and
quirky animation of
different hand shapes
are used. The visuals of
the poster can be seen
to juxtapose that of the
pop genre which nearly
always use a picture of
the artist on all
promotional
advertisements.
Black backdrop is
very understated
and typical of the
rock genre,
furthermore it
allows the key
yellow text stand
out.
The key performance
dates are in a simple,
bold and clear font so
they are easily
readable.
Key social media sites and official
website used for further promotion
of the tour.

6. Lily Allen
The bold title is used
to display the name of
the artist the colour is
pink providing a
feminine element to
the style of the poster.
The name of the main
artist is noticeably
larger than that of the
supporting act.
Following on from
the bold nature of
the artists name, the
performance dates
are once again in a
bold, clear font as it
portrays information
which should be
easy to read.
Reference to the artists official website
and social media sites to further
promote the tour/artist.
Typical of the pop genre, the poster shows a picture of
the artist, which takes up a large section of the poster
space. Furthermore being a solo artist it is common to
use a photo, as the individual artist is sold and
promoted as an overall brand and not for just the music.
Dark backdrop colour of
the poster allows the bold
title, information and large
photo of the artist stand
out.
In the photo the artist ‘Lily
Allen’ is styled with her
traditional fringe and high
ponytail, appealing to
long term and particularly
female fans who may see
her as a role model in
terms of not only music
but fashion and style.

7. Kerrang Magazine
To further my knowledge into music
adverts within magazines of varying
genres I looked at Kerrang magazine.
Kerrang! Is a UK-based magazine that has made itself a name by devoting itself to rock music
published by Bauer Media Group. Its first publishing was on 6th June 1981, starting off as a one-off in
the ‘Sounds’ newspaper. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. The
first artist to be published in the magazine was Angus Young from AC/DC, this first magazine was
edited by Geoff Barton, he saw the magazine go from being produced fortnightly to moving up to it
becoming a weekly magazine in 1987.

8. Kerrang magazine adverts
Artist: Slipknot
Genre: Heavy
metal; nu metal;
alternative metal
Artist: Die
Antwoord
Genre: Rap
(gothic,emo)
Artist: Motorhead
Genre: Heavy
metal

9. Slipknot The name of the band is
in a textbook, somewhat
spooky and gothic font,
reflecting the emo/heavy
metal genre of the band.
Unlike the pop
magazine adverts the
supporting artist of
Slipknot is in a bold
font, maybe expressing
the fact that music is
important to the band
and not a self centred
image.
Reference to the bands social media pages
and official website for added exploitation
of the tour/album.
The key information
about the tour dates
is in a simple and
bold font so it is
easy read.
The words ‘prepare for hell’ depict
an image portraying the dark, and
heavy metal/emo music which the
band play. The bottom half of the
text is red, as if it has been dipped
in blood.
The name of the band is
in a text that cult fans
would associate with the
band universally. It is
bold and could be seen
to disable any language
barriers, it is the most
essential element of the
advertisement.
Marketing of the
new album.
The graphic on the
advertisement seems to
portray a zombie like
female character grasping
two rams by the horns
(maybe for slaughter), a
slightly disturbing image
once again reflecting the
dark/emo genre of the band
and their target audience.
Dark background
reflecting genre of music,
splotches of red
representing an image of
blood and violence.

10. Die Antwoord
Reference to the artists
official website, further
marketing.
The artist’s name is in a bold
and distinctive font which
would be used across all
records, albums and
marketing of the artist, an
easily recognisable element
of the band for fans.
The key information is in
a bold, easily readable
text.
Black backdrop represents
the alternative and emo
sound intertwined into the
rap style of the artist.
Much like the pop artists
adverts I have looked at, the
artist ‘Die Antwoord’ uses a
photo of themselves, this
could be due to their genre of
rap. Furthermore the
originality and uniqueness of
the artist is something that
‘Die Antwoord’ are renowned
for and so are obviously keen
to exploit for the marketing
and advertisement of their
music.
The tattoo's and strange
look of the artist are
presented on the poster
as it is a major identity of
who the artist are and
what they represent. Their
look is what makes them
stand out, and why
people like them hence
why it is used to market
the artist.
Strange hairstyle’s, tattoo’s
and nails are what make the
artist stand out from the
crowd, which may influence
their audience and fans.

11. Motorhead
Black backdrop reflects
the heavy metal genre
of the band, a traditional
colour associated with
rock music.
The title of the band is in a
large, bold font which is the
trademark of the band. Fans
of the band, would easily
recognise the name of the
band, purely from the text
style which would be used
across all their albums,
promotion and merchandise
etc.
The metal skull graphic in the
centre of the advertisement is
similar to the title in the sense
that it would be easily
recognisable to fans of the band,
the band members are not
displayed on the advertisement
typical of the heavy metal/ rock
genre, it seems the music is more
important than the individuals
performing it, unlike the pop
genre where the promotion of the
artist as a selling point is very
common.
The dates and key information are
displayed in a clear and bold font so
as easy to read.
The supporting acts are in a much smaller font to
that of the main artist, emphasising the importance
of the main artist.
The main graphic shows
a metal skull, with sharp
teeth, large tusks, chains
with skulls and crosses,
all revealing stereotypical
symbols of the heavy
metal/rock genre which
the band represent.

12. Comparison
• The magazine adverts change and vary, greatly
depending on the genre of music, target audience and
the magazines in which they are situated.
• In Q magazine I found mainly pop and light rock adverts
which usually showed the artist to promote the music (all
bar ‘Bombay Bicycle club’).
• In contrast in Kerrang magazine which is directed at
more heavy metal/rock/emo music fans the artists did
not have themselves on the advertisements, instead
using the music to promote themselves instead of
personal image (this is excluding ‘Die Antwoord’ who
feature in the rap genre and used their own unique
image to promote their music).