Key Concepts Research

1. Key concepts of Q
magazine
In this I will look at a style of magazine that I plan
to base my own magazine on, and I will compare it
to other magazines as a whole.

2. Language
The music magazine that I have chosen is a Q
music magazine. When looking at the front cover
you notice how different each magazine is. Q is
different to other music magazines because they
use less colours than billboard for example.
Billboard generally use a bigger range of bright and
bold colours whereas Q seem to stick to black, red,
grey and white, (then you may have the odd other
colours that the artist may be wearing). Also their
range of font that they use is different because
theirs in quite indie and rock based so its bold and
thick, where as billboards and top of the pops is
softer and more rounded. Furthermore the focal
point of their magazine would have to be their
logo. The use of a bright red against a white really
makes the logo pop out. For an eye catching
magazine you need something on the page to stand
out, and that it exactly what Q has done.
Additionally they use a lot of pronouns within their
magazines. Doing so makes the audience connect
more with the magazine, because it is as if they
are asking you specifically to go and listen to the
certain artists. Using pronouns can make the
audience read more and therefore hopefully buy
the magazines.

3. Representation
The images that Q use can be quite serious and or
straight faced. This may be because Q will use older
people compared to Top of the pops as they use
younger people. They would use older adults because
Q magazine is mainly aimed for the older generation,
because they generally use artists and bands that
have been around for quite a lot of years, therefore
older people will know them more which is why it is
aimed at that age range. Also the styling for Q is
indie/rock, whereas top of the pops use bright
coloured clothing to make it ‘poppy’, and billboard
use bold colours for the background, but try too keep
it simple on the styling. Moreover, as Q magazine is
an indie/rock based music magazine, they base their
music o that type of style of music so they advertise
artists that are that style f music. This would be
different for top of the pops and billboard as they
use pop music. Also looking at the layout (contrast in
colour) they use very bold headings and subheadings
because they use white against black, whereas top of
the pops use colours that almost blend together. And
also looking at the layout, top of the pops uses a lot
of subheadings as it’s a very busy page on the other
hand, Q is busy but its not all over the place, (its
more organized), and lastly for billboard they are
quite simplistic with their overall layout.

4. Audience
Social media takes a huge part of the
advisement of magazines. Social
networking's such as Instagram, twitter
and Facebook are the most popular for
advertisement, and doing so can bring in a
lot more money for the company. We
respond to things on media more than
anything else, and that shows how
important it is. There is a theory which is
known as the two step flow. This is the
idea that most people will form their
opinion after hearing the opinion leaders.
In this case the magazine is the opinion
leader and the audience have their normal
own opinion. If you go by what this theory
says then the information that is said
within the magazine is what the readers
will think and or believe as well. They will
change their mind or still agree because
they think that this is a trustworthy source
or information because the readers know
that makers of Q have met the artists and
have had individual interviews.

5. Institution
Q magazine generally sells for around £3.00 to
£30.00. The price of the magazine will depend
whether it is an exclusive one of magazine or the
general monthly magazine. Moreover, releasing a
magazine monthly can better for the company
because you can bring in more money. What I mean by
this is that making people wait for the magazine at
the end of the month can increase demand for the
production of it. This means that if more people are
wanting them, then they can raise the price of the
magazine, which means they can bring in more profit.
Additionally, features that would make me want this
are the giant buttons that they advertise, and also
seeing whether they have added any competitions
and prizes that you can win. As well as this all
magazines have to try get their name out somehow,
otherwise they will not be able to bring in money. Q
got their name out like every other magazine. They
would have started with newer, and not as well know
artists and they would have made their way up and
up to eventually get where they are now. As well as Q
magazine, they also have Q radio. From what I know
Q magazine have a radio station in which they would
talk to different artists. This would bring in more
money for Q because they are advertising themselves
to new people who might want to buy their magazine.