My Institution & Audience

There are many publishers of rock magazines, KERRANG, MOJO, and Q are all published by Bauer Media. SPIN is a widely known rock magazine in the US, although its publishing rights have been thrown around in the last decade. Its original publisher sold the magazine to Miller Publishing in 1997. In 2006, Miller Publishing sold the magazine for less than $5 million to a company called the McEvoy Group LLC, which then formed Spin Media LLC as a holding company.

Here is an example of a rock magazine "Kerrang". Without knowing this was a rock magazine, you could spot the ideology on the cover. Firstly, the lead singer of "Green Day" is the main image. It also includes in big bold lettering "GREEN DAY". This is to attract an audience that might like "Green Day" so they will buy the magazine. It's also writen in the same font as "Kerrang" is written, this implys that they are both the similar, they are both rock genre for example. You know it's a music magazine as the lead singer is holding a guitar. Guitars are usually assoicated with rock genre. Some of the text above the "GREEN DAY" has been writen in green.

The main reason I feel that Bauer media would distribute my magazine is that even though they already distribute a rock music magazine “Kerrang!”, the magazine is a generalized rock music magazine that only touches lightly on each rock genre. But this is not a bad thing, in my research I have found the magazine's sales went quickly into decline in 2003, and to solve this they turned to the large emergence of emo and metalcore, Kerrang began to heavily feature this musical trend. However, the revamp was not welcomed by all readers and many complaints were received about Kerrang's sudden emphasis on emo and metalcore music. It is speculated that this is because magazines are becoming less popular with the introduction of internet based exhibition methods and music channels but also because the content of Kerrang magazine can be read in almost any other music magazine. Kerrang has become a very general rock magazine over recent years and only touches lightly on each rock genre because it has had to include more rock variants and therefore decrease the amount of content for each rock variant.

I feel that my magazine “Cherub Rock” is a fresh breathe to the industry, as it reports on more detailed, up-to-date and targeted news within only a select few rock variants (Alternative, Garage) and also including what is considered ‘Straight-up Rock’. Even though my magazine targets a more niche market, it offers readers news that can’t be found in most music magazines, giving it a unique selling point (USP) and marketing edge. 

As mentioned above, my audience would be those who are interested in garage or alternative rock, their age would be sixteen and above. My magazine would not be targeted heavily towards a male or female audience, but would remain neutral between the two as colour schemes and articles would be designed to target garage/alternate rock instead of male or female audiences.