The document discusses creating a new music magazine called "Blues" that will cover all aspects of blues music from its roots to present day, including interviews, history pieces, and reviews of albums and events, aimed at an affluent male audience aged 35-60. An example spread shows an interview with John Lee Hooker supported by sidebars providing background on his career and discography. The magazine style emphasizes breathing space and text over many pictures.

1. Creating a Music
Magazine

3. Music Magazines
 How many do you know of? Make a list

4. Popular Music Magazines
Focus on the front covers!

5. Clash Magazine
 Popular music and
fashion magazine
 Alternates between
modern bands e.g.
Coldplay, Oasis; and
hip-hop artists e.g. Jay-Z
 Clash incorporates
fashion and film articles
alongside music
 (google images)

6. Classic FM Magazine
 Classical magazine,
focused on popular
performers in the
classical music industry –
e.g. Myleen Klass,
Lesley Garrett,
Pavarotti, etc; as well as
different composers of
classical music, past and
present.
 Owned by the radio
station Classic FM

7. BBC Music Magazine
 Similar to classic FM, but a
little more upmarket.
Subsidy of BBC and feeds off
BBC Radio 3.
 Focuses less on popular
composers and has articles
on lots of different styles of
classical music
 Includes comprehensive
reviews of new CDs in the
genre

8. Rock Sound
 Focused on alternative
rock. Includes popular
bands (e.g. Muse), but
champions lesser known
bands. This has helped
it achieve an
“underground” status,
being rather less
commercial than its
rivals.

9. Kerrang
 Long-standing rock
magazine. Their focus
has recently shifted a
little from Nu Metal
bands like Linkin’ Park,
Lostprophets, etc; to
emo and punk rock,
e.g. My Chemical
Romance.

10. Mixmag
 Mixmag is a dance music
magazine, reviewing dance
music with club nights.
 The magazine also includes
some fashion. The editor said
that “Mixmag is now a
magazine for the entire world
of dance music, whether you
like hard boshing music that's
quite druggy, or chill out music,
or you're someone like me
who likes to keep in touch with
the music but has grown out of
clubbing. This idea that dance
music is a kind of minority
interest, a bit like ska, is
wrong.”

11. Mojo
 Main focus is on “Classic
rock”, often featuring
articles on bands like
The Beatles and Bob
Dylan. Was the first
magazine in the UK to
showcase bands like The
White Stripes.

12. Q
 One of the biggest selling
music magazines in the UK
 Fairly broad generic focus of
popular music
 Originally intended to be
called “cue” (as in, cueing a
record ready to play), it was
changed to Q to avoid
being mistaken for a snooker
magazine (!)
 Seen as being relatively high-
class in terms of the quality
of photography and articles

13. The Word
 Published by the owners
of mixmag
 Focus mainly on classic
rock, featuring artists
like Bruce Springsteen,
David Bowie, Iggy Pop,
Kate Bush, etc
 Voted ‘Music Magazine
of the Year’ in 2007 and
2008

14. Classic Rock
 Firmly focuses on key
bands from the 1960s –
early 1990s, although
does feature some
contemporary artists
who fit into the genre

15. NME (New Musical Express)
 Weekly music magazine (all
others are monthly)
 Has been around since the
1950s
 Mostly focuses on indie
music, although has been
criticised in recent years for
not being specialised
enough, giving too much
attention to popular bands.
 Has been redesigned many
times
 Has become less popular in
the last 7 or 8 years, losing
nearly 50% of its readership

16. Terms
Some terms you could use to describe the photography in your magazine
to help you explain what you are trying to achieve:
Candid/Naturalistic: Photographs that are not obviously posed
Posed: Photographs that have been posed for
Live: Photographs that involve the band/artist performing
Studio: Photographs taken in a photography studio
High key: Photographs which are very bright overall
Low key: Photographs which are dark overall
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17. Terms
Colourful: Photographs which contain a lot of colour
Monochromatic: Photographs which contain only one colour or are black
and white
Busy: Photographs that are busy contain lots of visual information
Passive: Photographs which contain limited visual information
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18. Mise en scene
Look closely at the mise en scene to help you plan your own photographs.
Make notes on the location, costume, model and composition
Think about how you plan to use the photograph in your final piece. Does
it need to be portrait or landscape format?
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19. Image breakdown
AS Media Studies 2009 19

20. Image breakdown
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21. Image Breakdown
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22. Image Breakdown
Text
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23. Image Breakdown – Over to you
Breakdown the
elements of the
photo as I have
done previously
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24. Image Breakdown
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25. Contact Sheet
A contact sheets contains small versions of all the photographs you have taken
for your project.
From these images you pick the ones that you are going to use. You can use this
as a way to explain why you have or have not used a particular image.
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26. What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
What is a media institution?
Media Institution: any of the organisations responsible for the production,
marketing, distribution or regulation of media texts.
Institutions are business structures that produce media texts and regulate
and structure media activities. They are collectives within which
individuals are encouraged to work towards a common goal and to
develop working practices based on assumptions about their aims and
ethos of the institutions. Institutions assume the shared values of all
employees and have a status and power relationship with other
institutions and the wider public.
Identify and list some of the Institutions you are aware of. Decide whether
they are a producer, distributor or regulator of media texts.

27. Example Media Institution
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
[production, marketing, distribution and (self) regulator]
British Sky Broadcasting (BSB)
[production, marketing, distribution and (self) regulator]
Cable News Network (CNN)
[production and (self) regulator]
British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)
[regulator]

28. NME
The Word, Mixmag
Classic Rock Kerrang!
Metal Hammer Mojo

29. MAGAZINE INDUSTRY
In the UK, the magazine industry
operates as an OLIGOPOLY. An
oligopoly is where several companies
have grown larger and larger whilst
competing, to the point where they
all have equal power and they all
dominate the market. In the UK the
companies that dominate the
magazine market are:
HEARST
IPC MEDIA
BAUER (incorporating EMAP)
CONDE NAST

30. Pitch
Pitch
Blues is a new magazine aimed at the mostly male 35 – 60 market. Readers are likely to
be affluent white males with a settled family life.
It will cover all aspects of blues music from its roots right up to the present day. It will mix
interviews of musicians and famous fans alongside pieces on the history of blues. It will
also review new and re-release albums and cover other blues events and news.
It will be simple in style with pictures and text given breathing space and a greater
emphasis on text backed up with limited but excellent photography.
The example double page spread will be an interview with John Lee Hooker, discussing his
new album and tour. The interview will be supported with side bars giving a brief history
and discography to fill new readers in on his past.
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