Rock Sound magazine analysis

1. Individual Analaysis of Magazine
Rock Sound, October 2013 Paramore
edition

2. Audience
• The audience for Rock sound are people between the age of 15 and
24, they aim to attract all young audiences and interact with them
and to do this they interview bands which people of that age group
listen to, they report on musical events that these people will
attend and they discuss issues with the stars that people who are
young want to know about: things like bullying and low self
confidence are 2 things they talk about because they are heavy on
their audiences mind. Rock Sound knows that people of that age
aren’t going to have a lot of money to spend of CD’s and music so
they give away free CD’s and posters of the artists to give them an
opportunity to have something that they might not have had access
to before. Rock Sound is incredibly popular because it aims at
people who aren’t necessarily interesting in the most popular of
music, perhaps those who are into darker music and theme’s and
because of this they have become amazingly popular with people
who are young.

3. Elements that connect the 3 parts of
the magazine
• All of the pages use the same colours:
red, white, yellow and black. They are all quite
simple colours by they all stand out in contrast
to each other so that all pieces of text can be
read.
• All important pieces of information are
written in capitol letters.
• All of the pages contain large images of artists.

4. History of Rock Sound
• The first edition of Rock Sound was published in 1999
by a French publisher, Editions Freeway with its main
headquarters being in London. The magazine has
become well known for giving away a free CD with
each article, particularly of bands who are wanting to
gain more exposure and know that by offering free
CD’s to be sold with Rock Sound they will gain fans
from their target audience. The majority of Rock
Sound’s sales come from newspaper stores though
some of their income does come from subscriptions
and they still manage to run despite the slight drop in
sales as the years have gone by.

5. Front Cover
The masthead has been placed at the top of the
magazine, starting on the left, so that it is in the
main C of the magazine, which shows it to be
very important. It uses a fading red colour
outlined by white which suggests, just like the
NME cover, that it is an informative magazine
because red is used on newspaper covers. The
words are bold however the R is split and seems
to be almost rockish, which fits in with the genre
of the magazine.
Masthead
Main Image
The main image takes up the majority of the page
and it has the three members of Paramore, with
the lead singer at the front. This draws the most
attention to her which suggests she will be
featured most predominantly in the magazine,
however the 2 male members are just as visible.
The main image is a mid/ long shot which allows
for us to see all of the bands clothing. They are all
wearing dark colours, mainly black, and you can
see their tattoos in the image which fits in with
the rock genre of the magazine cover and
highlights it. The woman’s makeup is dark and her
hair a bright red, just like a lot of people in the
rock genre they have their own style that can
appear to be slightly strange, however it is very
definitive of being a part of the rock genre.
The left third of this image contains a long list of
articles in the magazine in large font, which
suggests that they have a lot to write about and
a lot of information, and this will draw in those
interested in the rock genre. They use the word
‘revealed’ which suggests that secrets have been
told specifically for this magazine and that they
have links to the rock world which other
magazines might not.
Left Third
The header for this magazine includes a bold
yellow which highlights that the magazine is
giving away a free cd and poster with it, which
tells us that they give their readers more than
they pay for just to spread the word of music.
On the right of the header they have pictures
of rock artists that they will be featuring in the
next instalments of the magazine which tells us
that they have many links in the rock genre.
The main cover line is the name ‘Paramore’ in
big, bold, capitol writing. Behind it there is a
tinted red box to make sure that all of the
writing can easily be read . The effect of putting
the main cover line in capitol letters makes it
stand out on the page and shows that it is of
vast importance. It will capture the attention of
Paramore’s fans and because this magazine
features them it will convince their fans to buy
this magazine just to read about the one artist.
Header
Main Cover Line
Pull Quote
Date/ Barcode
The barcode for this magazine is relatively small
compared to other things, but still is large. They
want to place emphasis on the cheap price
especially because they are giving away free things.
The pull quote on this magazine is “I
used to feel guilty about who I was...”
and it seems to have been a quote taken
from the lead singer of the band. The
word ‘used’ clear shows that now she
doesn’t feel guilty about who she is and
because of her pose she seems to be
showing off who she is. The use of the
‘...’ will grab peoples attention because
they will know that more information is
to come in the article- and for those
people who feel the same way about
themselves they will want to read on to
find out how she overcame those
feelings.

6. Contents Page
Contents Headings/ Subheadings
The page numbers for the contents is in
black and this differs to the rest of the
magazine as black is not used regularly
for text, and it makes it stand out to the
yellow of the content headings. The
content headings are all in bold to make
them seem important and stand out, and
underneath each there is a sentence or
two in smaller, white writing which briefly
goes over what is in the article.
The band index on the right hand side of
the page draws us to it by the bright
circle at the top and the yellow writing.
‘Need to hear!’ is quite informal and will
draw in their audiences as it suggests
the bands are really amazing. All of the
writing is in capitols and alternates
between white and yellow text to make
sure that people can differentiate
between the different bands that people
should look at.
The main image of the contents page is of
the band Paramore. In this shot all three are
standing together which shows them as
being one unit and a close band. The lead
singers pose, hand covering mouth, seems
to suggest that something has been/ is
going to be revealed in the articles in the
magazine along with the slightly cheeky
smile on her face. Again they are all wearing
dark clothing, however the man on the right
has a massive smiley face which suggests
these people are also happy.
The Editorial for this magazine is extremely
informal. It starts with a question that
would usually be used in conversation and
it even goes on to use swear words
throughout it- this is to connect with their
audience who probably speak in the same
way and it even ends with the Editor saying
he is going to sleep until the next article,
which is probably something that the
majority of their audience does as well.
Band index
Main Image
Copy/Editorial
Layout
For Rock Sound the contents page is over
a double page spread which suggests that
they have so much to write about that
they could not fit it on only 1 page. The
majority of the information about the
rest of the magazine is on the right hand
side and the left hand side and the
bottom contains large pictures. This is
because they have a young audience who
probably aren’t looking to read masses of
text and so the use of many pictures will
definitely attract their target audience.
This magazine uses large images added all
over the pages with either a white or yellow
outline. Each has a caption and a page
number which links to an article- it is basically
a picture version of the Contents and this
allows for fans of these artists to work out
quickly, and without reading, who has been
written about in each magazine edition so
that they can purchase the magazines with
articles that they will actually be interested in.
All of the artists are wearing quite dark
clothing which fits in with the rock genre.
Extras

7. Double Page Spread
Main Image
There are 2 main images on this
double page spread, both of the
band. In both you can see all of
the artists outfits and, apart from
Hayley Williams outfit on the left,
they are all wearing relatively
normal clothing- but they are still
all dark which again links to Rock
Sound being a rock magazine.
The image on the left shows
them as being quite relaxed,
especially the posture of the men
with their hands in their pockets
is very casual. The image on the
right seems to be an image
where they are all having fun-
Hayley pulling a face a Yaylor
laughing and Jeremy is smiling
with his arms resting casually on
his knees. This suggests that the
band itself is quite fun and shares
a lot of laughs when they are
together, almost like siblings.
However in each you see their
tattoos which again reinforces
the rock genre of the magazine
and tells us about the type of
music that they produce.
Header
The Header for this double page
spread is the same as the pull
quote on the front cover, only this
is in black and white writing and is
the only quote on the page from
the artist. It shows that this is the
beginning of the article on
Paramore and it also shows the
audience that in this part of the
article you will learn the context of
the quote.
Structure
The structure of this magazine article is slightly different to what is usual as it contains 4 different
paragraphs- the first in orange is an introduction to the band and their success, and being in orange makes it
stand out and shows readers that it is supposed to be read first. Next to that, in slightly smaller writing, is an
introduction to the article and what it will cover. And underneath that contains the main article with a key
line in capitol, orange writing to make it stand out as being where people start to read, almost like a drop
cap. This is only the start of the article on Paramore as it continues onto 4 more pages, each having an
image of Paramore and a quote from Hayley Wlliams as she is perhaps seen as the most important member
of Paramore and that the majority of the fan base wants to learn about her.