Task One; Evaluation of music magazines

1. Introduction to
media studies
Bethany Ellison

2. Bauer media group are known for having
a portfolio of more than 600 magazines,
over 400 digital products and over 50 tv
and radio shows. Some of the things
included in the portfolio are print shops,
postal, distribution and marketing
services. The company, which has its
headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, has
over 11,000 employees in 17 different
countries.

3. History
Bauer was founded in 1875. The
company’s revenue is approximately 2.4
billion euros as of 2013. The company has
launched many well known magazines and
radio stations, for example, in 1999, ‘heat’
was released as a British celebrity weekly.
Then, in 2002, they released ‘closer’
magazine, which specialises in celebrity
news and gossip.

4. Publications
The Bauer company own well known
magazines, such as heat and closer, but they
also own a wide range of others, for example,
parker’s car guide, yours and motor cycle news.
As well as having a growing production in the
release of magazines, Bauer also have a
growing economy in radio stations. They own
some of the most well known stations such as
4music, kiss and magic!.

5. Kerrang!
Kerrang! Magazine is a magazine released under
the name of bauer’s company. This issue of the
magazine features a range of artists, such as My
Chemical Romance, Green Day, Twin Atlantic,
Against Me!, Enter Shikari, Architects, Taking Back
Sunday, Set It Off, 5 Seconds Of Summer, A Day To
Remember, blink-182, Biffy Clyro, All Time Low,
Fall Out Boy and Every Time I Die. This means I
can confirm that this is a music magazine.
Judging by the artists that are featured both on the front and inside
of the magazine, I believe that this magazine’s target audience is for
teenagers and upwards. However, for someone unfamiliar with the
Nirvana album cover for ‘nevermind’, they may be unclear on the
genre of this specific magazine.

6. The British Broadcasting Cooperation have a long history of
publishing magazines including the Radio Times which dates
back to 1923. However, it wasn’t until 2007 that the
company released that hey were planning to release an
international news-based magazine under the title
‘newsbrief’. This magazine has very close links to the
company’s flagship current affairs programme ‘newsnight’. In
late 2011 the BBC's magazine-publishing business was sold
to Exponent Private Equity following the clearance by the
Office of Fair Trading of the purchase. It is now part of the
Immediate Media Company and BBC Magazines titles are
published by Immediate under licence from BBC Worldwide.
History and publications

7. RadioTimesRadioTimes magazine is owned by the BBC.
There is clear evidence of this by the photo on
the front cover of this issue. Mel and Sue are a
well known duo, known for hosting the popular
show ‘the Great British Bake Off’. There are also
other well known shows, aired on the BBC
channels, for example ‘The Voice’ surrounding
the main photo. I believe that this magazine
could appeal to both adults and children, as the
BBC create programmes that are and aren’t both
suitable for adults and children. Also, the
simplified colours of this front cover of the
magazine are a representation of the shortened
‘British Broadcasting Cooperation’ to ‘BBC’.