This document analyzes several album advertisements from indie music magazines. It notes that the advertisements commonly use the same design as the album covers to create a consistent style and brand recognition for the artists. They keep the text brief to quickly convey key information. Reviews from respected music publications and details on popular singles are included to persuade audiences to purchase the albums. Color choices and font sizes are tailored to attract attention and ensure readability. Upcoming tour dates are also promoted to appeal to the indie music community.

1. ALBUM
ADVERT
ANALYSIS

2. This advert uses the same design as the album cover
that it is advertising. This technique is useful to create a
distinctive house style across the band's products,
making them much more recognisable to their audience.
This is a convention of form, as many album
advertisements use the same design as the album itself.
The font used on the album, however, is much larger
than the font used on the album cover. This is because
the purpose of the advertisement is to catch the
audience's attention and easily get it's message across.
The advert doesn't feature a lot of text; simply the
necessities. This is conventional for an advert because
they need to be able to easily convey their message, as
quickly as possible.
The advert also includes a short review from the well known indie music
magazine NME. This is another convention of form as they are used to
persuade the audience to purchase the album. Using a respected opinion
such as NME's, fits well with the genre and will therefore be more effective.
Foals - Holy Fire

3. Circa Waves - Young Chasers
This advert also uses the same technique as the Foals
advert; using the same design as the album cover to
create a house style that is recognisable.
The text on this advert is also very simple ­ showing
the band name and the name of the album. However,
it also features the names of some songs on the
album. The songs mentioned are singles that were
incredibly popular, and so the audience may not have
heard of the band, yet they may know these songs
and be more likely to purchase the album.
The bright colours create a striking image that will attract the audience's
attention when they are looking through the magazine. The name of the band is
the only text in white, which means it contrasts with the rest of the advert. This
makes it stand out and ensure that it is the first thing that the audience read.

4. Zulu Winter - Language
Again, this advert uses the same image that has been
used on the album cover. However, this time the image
has now been de­saturated and is black and white. This
means it will still have the same effect as the previous
adverts (creating a house style for the artist) however, it
also shows diversity. The colour choice is conventional for
the indie genre, which will help the audience to identify
which type of genre this band falls under. The use of white
writing on the dark background means that it will be clear
to read and that it stands out to the reader.
The advert also informs the
audience of an upcoming gig.
This will be appealing to
readers of an indie magazine
because they regularly attend
gigs and consider this to be an important part of the indie community. The
advert also has reviews and tells the audience about songs on the album.
These techniques are conventions of form which help to further promote the
album and the band itself.