Research: Music Magazines
The NME was first published in 1949. Largely associated with Rock, Alternative and Indie music. The first British paper to include a singles chart. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980's and 1990's, changing from newsprint in 1998. The online version was introduced in 1996, and became the biggest stand alone music website with over 7 million users per month.
Was founded in 1986. In the early years it was subtitled "The modern guide to music and more." The original name was "Cue" but was changed so as not to be mistaken for a snooker magazine. 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.
It was launched in 1997 as a "monthly magazine aimed at 25-45 year old men that focuses on music and movies". Special issues have covered U2, Radiohead, David Bowie, Motown Records, George Harrison, The Kinks and more.
It's a bi-monthly rock and heavy metal magazine. It's slogan is: "The Worlds Loudest Rock Magazine!". A feature of the magazine is its coverage of underground and up-and-coming bands from all over the world. Rather than focus solely on mainstream acts, Revolver introduces many acts that are not played on the radio or on MTV.
It is a UK- based magazine devoted to rock music. It was founded in 1981 and focused on the new wave of British Heavy Metal and on the rise hard rock acts. It was originally launched on a monthly basis, which turned to fortnightly and in 1987, it turned weekly. The term "thrash metal" was introduced to the music press in 1984, when Kerrang journalist Malcolm Dome referenced the Anthrax song "Metal Thrashing Mad".
It was launched in 1982. The magazine covers dance events, and reviews music and club nights.
When house music began in the 1980s, the magazine was turned from a newsletter for DJs to a magazine covering all dance and club culture.
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine, It features both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music. Metal Hammer was the first western youth publication in the Soviet Union.
It is the leading independent magazine and website dedicated to country, folk, bluegrass & roots music.
Which music magazine do you think your artist's album would be most likely to be advertised in and why?
I am more inclined to think that Ryan Horne would be featured in Maverick or Q. However, I have also found that The Living Tradition.
Which is a magazine for folk, traditional and Celtic music in the UK and Ireland. Whilst Ryan Horne is an American artist, he may have a feature in it advertising his new albums.
However, I have unfortunately not found many magazines that focus on the folk genre, which has meant that I have limited choice as to what magazine I would use to have the advertisement in.
After looking at different music advertisements, I decided to look at them individually. The Mumford & Sons and Jake Bugg magazine covers are similar in the presentation of colour and the featuring tracks. The Coldplay and Cage the Elephant advertisements are a dynamic shift in how different artists choose to present their image and not necessarily the genre in which they are categorised in.
The Jake Bugg advertisement draws similarities from the conventional CD covers for the folk rock genre, so this style may be what I consider for my advertisement. It's simplicity also appeals more to me for my own music advertisement as its more eye-catching and it makes it stand out. The filter used on the photograph also appeals to me as it highlights the style and genre of the artist, thus meaning that its easier for a consumer to decipher what type of music the artist makes. The bold black writing also emphasises the artist's name and makes him stand out. This is similar to the bold white writing on the darker side of the background, thus making the writing stand out and draw attention to consumers.
I have only been able to find one example of an existing music magazine advertisement for my chosen artist Ryan Horne.
The simplicity is something that is similar to other folk rock music advertisements, and the album title seems to be a base for the design of not only the album, but the advertisement.
The artist's style is also conveyed through the simplicity of the advertisement.
It also conveys what the album might be about and what the artist may sing about, through the use of the hand reaching to the light. It highlights how there's always a light at the end of a tunnel and the light represents a hope which he always has.
Experimenting With My Own Music Advertisements
Example 1
I thought I would experiment with layers and gradients. I used a woman as I thought the positioning and the style made her almost majestic, which links with the title of the album.
Example 2
As well as using layers and gradients, I used the sharpen and burn tools to add different effects to the image. I thought that the different effects added a different aspect to the album title, giving it a new perspective with an alternate interpretation. The different use of colour for the writing adds a dynamic to the advertisement.
When developing my final piece, I thought that I would use something other than gradients and chose to reduce the noise in the picture and make the duplicate an overlay. I decided this, as when I was designing my CD Digipack, I had used the same technique and I liked the format it came out in.
I chose to centre the font, so as to make it more noticeable in the magazine, especially the white writing on a darker background.I chose to mention the song that I used for the music video as it is not only Ryan Horne's most recognised soundtrack, but it was featured on the television programme Sons of Anarchy, which would make it appealing for fans of the show to buy his album.
I decided to mention his website and his twitter name, so as to inform the readers of ways to engage with the artist and to be informed of any news and possible tour dates involving Ryan Horne.
I thought it would be best to make the music magazine advertisement simplistic as his previous advertisement for a different album had the bare minimum. However, I decided to have more in my advertisement.
