Aesthetica magazine was founded in 2002 by students at York St John University. It focuses on art, culture and design and is published six times per year for an international audience. It has a circulation of 144,000 and explores contemporary visual culture through editorial content and critical debate. Vibe magazine was launched in 1993 focusing on music and entertainment with a target audience of young, urban hip-hop fans. It has a circulation of over 301,000 and attracts 19 million customers monthly. Q magazine has been published monthly in the UK since 1986 covering various music genres. It has a circulation of 52,781 and costs £4 per issue.

1. SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
MUSIC MAGAZINES

2. AESTHETICA
Aesthetica was founded in 2002. Cherie Federico and Dale
Donley founded Aesthetica, when they were students at York
St John: A College of the University of Leeds Aesthetica is at
the forefront of art, culture and design. Published six times per
year, it is distributed across the UK and internationally.
Audience: 144,000 (Print: 60,000 / Web, E-news, Blog: 59,000
/ Social Media: 25,000). It has an international distribution of
168,000.
The magazine and online content stylishly combine editorial with compelling critical debate,
pushing the boundaries while exploring the best in contemporary visual culture. Aesthetica is
widely available in the UK. It is also internationally distributed and is available in the following
countries: UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain,
Portugal, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

3. AESTHETICA
The average age range of our readers is 30 – 40. Our
readers are high-income professionals: lecturers; teachers;
gallerists; those working professionally in the arts industry.
They are roughly 55% female and 45% male. The
majorities are university educated, and many have
undertaken postgraduate study. You can buy a single issue
of aesthetica for £4.25.
On the Magazine it has a Bold Mast head that catches
your attention very well. The layout is fairly simple but
uses brightly coloured images to relate to the reality of life
and art.

4. VIBE
VIBE is music and entertainment magazine
founded by producer Quincy jones that is based in
New York city.
Quincy jones launched VIBE in 1993, in partnership
with time Inc.
VIBE shut down their doors in 2009 due to the
recession but has been taken over by inter-media
partners.
InterMedia Partners is a private equity business,
which helps and takes over businesses, which are
struggling to continue or have fallen into recession.
InterMedia is currently the institution of VIBE and
they have been since they took over their current
recession in 2009.

5. VIBE
VIBE magazines target audience is predominantly young urban
followers of hip-hop culture, passionate about music and artists.
The celebrities on the front of the magazine are usually very
famous as it is a very popular magazine and are portrayed to be
role models for those in love with the music industry. The
audience tends to me teenagers/ young adults who love the hip-hop
genre and enjoy reading all about the artists.
VIBE magazine is produced every month. As of June 30, 2012,
It has a total circulation of 301,408, of which 202,439 was paid,
and 98,504 was non paid.
VIBE magazine attracts over 19 million customers per monthly
intake. Vibe magazine costs £5.28
Vibe magazine has an R&B and Hip-Hop genre. The magazine
shows consistency throughout all their issues. Their target
audiences are males and females as the colors they use are unisex
and the models that advertise appeal to both genders.

6. Q
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the
United Kingdom. Q was first published by the EMAP
media group in October 1986. In January 2008 EMAP
sold its consumer magazine titles, including Q, to the
Bauer Media Group.
The magazine has an extensive review section, featuring:
new releases (music), reissues (music), music
compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as
radio and television reviews.
Q magazine has a monthly circulation of 52,781 with
December 2013. It is also a magazine that is produced
monthly and costs £4 per magazine.

7. Q
Q magazine is very eye catching and is a type of magazine that
immediately catches your attention from the first glance. The
colours are bright and the layout is very structured. It also has
text that is always revolved around the famous singer or band in
the middle of the front cover.
The Artists are always represented as cool and are role models
for the people that are monthly buyers of the magazine.
Q magazine cover every music genre, which is the main reason
why they are so successful because they cover more interests of
their target audience.
The magazine is targeted at both males and females however
65% of the readerships are male. Originally Q magazine aimed
for 30+ age group but is now lowered to 20+.

8. ROLLING STONES
Rolling Stone is a magazine, which is, published fortnightly that
focuses on music, popular culture and politics. It was founded in
San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the magazine's
editor-in-chief, and music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The Rolling stone magazine is published weekly and has a total
circulation of 1,464,943 since 2012. 1 magazine costs £2.40.
The covers of rolling stones magazine present us with an
ideology of gender roles. It is clear that woman musicians are
underrepresented.
The rolling stone magazine covers all the different genres of
music as every two weeks when its published there are different
images of different music artists who produce different genres of
music.

9. ROLLING STONES
As different images of different artists are put onto the
front covers, this represents a variety of groups depending
on what genre of music they are interested in. Furthermore
the rolling stones magazine also has information on
politics. This therefore indicates that a wider audience is
brought in to this magazine, as there are other aspects of
the magazine that other people are able to enjoy.
This magazine appeals to a wider mainstream audience of
mostly all ages as the genre of music is always changing.
Once again the rolling stones magazine has a picture in the
middle with the important content round the side of it.
The colors are kept consistent in the magazine and the
design is very eye catching.

10. TOP OF THE POPS
Top of the pops magazine is a monthly publication
published by BBC magazines. It features chart
information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice,
quizzes, song lyrics and posters. It has a circulation of
63,483 since June 2013.
Top of the pops magazine was created in 1995, this
monthly magazines keeps its readership (87% girls
and 13% boys). The primary audience aged between
11-15 years. The cost of the magazine is £2.30.
The institution that makes this magazine is the BBC
Media Institution. Within the magazine there are
articles, which direct readers to many children’s BBC
productions, such as Tracy Beaker.

11. TOP OF THE POPS
The magazine features the genre of Pop music i.e. chart
music with a wide appeal, especially young female and
male singers/bands. It is orientated towards young females,
and keeping them up to date with the latest in popular
music but in an effort to retain its young, largely female
readership.
Top of the pops is aimed at young consumers, primarily
female, with a keen sense of curiosity towards pop music
and its celebrities.
The style of the magazine uses bright colours and shiny
happy people- making the appearance friendly and
therefore viewed as an object of desire. Female artists are
portrayed and therefore viewed as objects of inspiration.

12. NME
NME is a weekly music journalism magazine that started
publication in March 1952. Theodore Ingham founded NME.
It is currently published by IPC media, the UK’s leading
publisher of consumer magazines and websites. Over 26
million adults read and IPC media magazine and over 350
million copies are sold each year.
NME is widely available in most shops including many smaller
corner shops for a reasonable price of only £2.40. NME
magazine has a rough circulation of 19,491 since December
2013. The magazine is issued weekly.
The content is entirely devoted to music with music/band
news and articles, album reviews, gig information and gig
guides.

13. NME
NME has a target audience of 16-24 year olds. 80%
male and 20% female.
The genre of music displayed and used for NME
although originally very heavily directed to one or two
genres; rock and punk, the range of music and
changed and broadened.
The magazine is visual, some image-heavy and some
text heavy. The magazine features a lot of uppercase
text in a distressed font. Red and black feature mostly
in the magazine.