1. Music Magazine Evaluation
Rebecca Hallissey

2. 1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Header
Masthead
Coverlines
Barcode and
date of issue
Footer

3. 1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• On my front cover I have used several conventions of music
magazines.
• I have used a header to advertise features in the magazine,
(interviews, contests etc.) and I have used a footer to advertise
bands featured in the magazine. Both these features are commonly
seen in magazines such as Kerrang! and NME. This sort of feature
enables the audience to quickly see what is featured in the
magazine.
• I have used one main image on the cover. Using one large main
picture on the front page of a magazine is a convention of most
magazines.
• I have obeyed the rule of thirds and placed the barcode with the
price and date of issue as well as some main coverlines on the right
side of the cover so they can easily be seen when the magazines
are stacked.

4. 1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
“Contents”
Title
Message from
the Editor
Images relevant to
articles
Page number of articles
advertised by image
Contents listing
sorted by category
Contents listing
Advertisement
for magazine
subscription

5. 1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• On my contents page I have followed many conventions of music
magazines. I have included a note from the editor which is usually
featured in Kerrang! And Smash Hits. Teenagers are naturally curious
about how things work and so would be interested about how the
magazine is made.
• I have used several images related to the featured articles and the page
number for the respective feature is displayed on the picture so the
audience can easily find the feature. This is because I have found out
that modern day young people prefer to look at images than read large
blocks of text.
• I used a flash to advertise subscription to the magazine. Subscriptions
to the magazine are appealing to the reader and displaying it as a flash
helps it to stand out. This would definitely appeal to the target audience
because most of them do not have much income and are attracted by
the idea of free things.
• Subheadings for contents listing have been used to easily find where an
article or feature is, categorized by genre of feature. This is because
modern day young people do not like to spend a long time searching for
something and prefer to be able to find it immediately.

6. 1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Quote from
interview
Main
image
Title of
article
Main body of
text (interview)
Columns
Introduction
to article

7. 1.) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• For my double page spread I used one main image behind the text
of the interview. I then made sure the colour of the text made it
readable over the image. This makes the page look more “busy”
and reduces the amount of plain white space which is unappealing
to the target audience.
• I used columns in my interview to make it easier to read. This is
because teenagers are put off by the idea of large blocks of text and
the columns make the text look more accessible to read.
• I used main quotes from the article as drop quotes to increase the
reader’s interest in reading the article. These will attract attention
because they are controversial or humorous points and will engage
the readers interest.
• I included a short introduction to the interview explaining who the
person was and what the interview is about. This helps the reader
decide immediately whether they wish to continue reading the article
or not.

8. 2.) How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
• I think my magazine represents young people in a fairly
positive light.
• It describes young people as ordinary people who enjoy
having fun but nonetheless are hard working and
dedicated individuals.
• I have chosen rock music as my genre, a genre that is
commonly looked down on as it associated with
rebellion, but portrayed it in a more positive way than it
usually is throughout the media.

9. 2.) How does your media product represent particular social
groups?
• In my surveys I asked people
in my target audience what Genres P op
genre of music they like
Rock
R &B
R ap /h ip -h o p
listening to the most. The most C lassic al
Ele c tro n ic
common answer was rock
M e tal
O th e r
music, so rock music is
popular among young people.
Magazines
• When asked what music Kerrang!
magazines people in my target Q
audience read, most said Mojo
Kerrang! or similar magazines.
Top Of The Pops

10. 3.) What kind of media institution might distribute your media
product and why?
• I think that IPC would be a good choice because although they
distribute NME magazine, which is a similar genre to my magazine,
NME is generally aimed specifically at men, and has a slightly older
target age than my magazine. Because they publish NME, they
have experience in the genre of magazine and would be able to
effectively promote my magazine.
• Although Bauer Media would also be suitable for my magazine,
Bauer Media already distributes Kerrang! Magazine which has a
similar target audience to my magazine.

11. 3.) What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
• IPC distributes a wide variety of magazines such as Beautiful
Kitchens, Cycling Weekly, Golf Monthly and What’s On TV but they
only distribute two magazines covering music (NME and Uncut) and
only one magazine covering music specifically (NME).
• Because of this I feel they could benefit from distributing my
magazine because the target audience of my magazine is different
to the one of NME (NME targets men aged 17-30 and my magazine
targets both genders aged 15-26).
• My magazine also covers a different genre than NME, with NME
focusing on mainstream rock and Britpop and my magazine
focusing on alternative rock, metal and indie.

12. 3.) What kind of media institution might distribute your
media product and why?
• Bauer Media currently distributes several music magazines including Q,
Kerrang! and Mojo. Because of this I feel they would not have much interest
in distributing my magazine.
• Bauer Media’s magazine Kerrang! is very similar to my magazine in terms of
both genre and target audience so I think it would be unwise for Bauer
Media to distribute two magazines so similar to each other.