Music Magazine Advertisement

What are music magazines?

Magazines derive from an arabic word that translates into 'place to store things together'.

They are separated by genre and then further divided into sub-genra's which target a variety of different demographics. Music magazines store information such as new album releases, reviews, new up-coming artists, interviews and tour dates. These will changed depending on the magazine title  such as Kerrang! and R2. Music magazines are one of the more under appreciated magazine with only two titles appearing in the top 100 magazines sold, those being Top of the Pops and We Love Pop. Top of the Pops sold for around £2.50 with 50,000 purchases, appealing to music enthusiast.

The covers of music magazines have to vary to cater to the demographic they are being sold to. Some including Q, Kerrang and Top of the Pops.

From just observing the covers of these vastly different publications it is obvious what type of demographic they apply too. Q is a publication that's main purpose is to advertise established good music. This includes the old classics as well as new folk. This would mean bands or singers such as Demi Lovato or 5 Seconds of Summer would not appear in this publication. The publication is aimed at a more mature audience between 35 and 40 years of age being its biggest source of income. The actual typography used also displays what type of person would purchase this magazine as it is more bold and straight unlike Top of the Pops. Their cover also conveys maturity as it is very sparse with colour use and usually monotone.

Top of the Pops (by the cover) has a very obvious demographic it aims to which is (11-13 year) girls. This is very obvious by the very explosive colour use on the front cover; such colours like pink and bright purples would typically be associated with young girls. The typography also conveys a lower maturity level as it's very 3D big, bold with patterns and a drastic change in font. This wouldn't be used on a magazine such as R2. The magazine features information such as quizzes, beauty advice, star gossip and makeup advice. This wouldn't be aimed at a older male mature audience so we can only deduce it is for young girls. 

Kerrang! is a punk rock/metal magazine aimed at an audience filled with angst which is usually young males (although can be females) at the ages 16-25. The typography used within this magazine is quite large and bold using extra detail such as cracking on the words to give off a feeling of angst. The colour use on the front cover also conveys this; although they use red like Q magazine it does not give off a mature feel as the use of black and yellow give off a violent feel. You wouldn't fine artists such as Rhianna or Ariana Grande  in this publication.

Codes and Conventions of Music Magazine Advertisements

After extensive research into music magazine advertisement I was able to see clear codes and conventions on every day music advertisement. The advertisements varied depending on the artist but overall the majority usually help up to typical codes and convention. This made it easier to pick out what demographic they are aiming their advertisements at.

The conventions I was able to pick out are:

1. name of the album appears (usually smaller but not necessarily) 
2. artists name appears (usually appearing on the upper half however this can vary depending in the artist)
3. an image is used that represents the artist and their genre ( This could be graphical or and actual photo)
4. often but not always there can be a quote from a reliable source being the magazine or an external source (entices people to buy album.
5. the date of release is usually at the bottom of the advertisement
6. can sometimes include the front cover of the album
7. the record label/logo is included
8. will sometimes include links to artists social media
9. there can be a statement (although not reliable) usually from the magazine that states something about the album
10. can include where you can purchase the album (such as apple store)
11. can include the most popular song on the album.

MMA Initial Research: Codes and Conventions of Existing Products

The artists name is played just under the image on a torn white banner which is uncommon for a MMA. She has a monotone colour theme that correlates across her MMA to her digi pack and vinly versions of her album. The name is in black and white written within a bold block of black, this is prevalent across all versions of media advertising this album. The "Russian Roulette" and "Hard" text are written in a block Russian font in bright red to draw the attention of the viewer to songs that appear on the album and also to reflect the songs themselves being one of the songs are called "Russian Roulette" The image used is the main focus of the MMA and is taken so the artist appears mysterious but sexy at the same time with one hand covering her left side of the face and using bold black lipstick and eyeliner to give a image of the unknown. The orange text at the bottom are the hit songs that reached top of the charts as so they are put in a bold colour in order to draw attention to them.

 This artist follows the same monotone colour scheme as the artist above but the text is more traditionally placed. The artists name appears above and to the left of the image itself in a bold black text so the viewer clearly knows what they are looking at. The album name is to the right of the image but in a more light grey colour to distinguish it from the artists name. It is also written in the same font. Important information about the artist such as winning a British singing competition called the X Factor it placed at the bottom right so that people know the artist has achieved something good in his career in order for them to consider listening to his music. The image used matches the colours of the text and is placed central. The image is of the artist himself in a pose that educes the feeling of sympathy in the viewer as he is placed in a position of such that it looks like he has emotional troubles. Commonly the title of the album is also the number one hit song of this artist acting as a double meaning like most artists do.

MMA Practice: Using Photoshop

In order to start planning our own MMA we had to understand what tools to use when approaching the task which is why I spent some time understanding how to use Photoshop and what the process of creating a MMA was like.

(insert Photo)

I actually found Photoshop quite difficult at first. I miss-clicked a lot and didn't understand all of the tools to getting my head around all the functions and extra options was quite a challenge for me. I have taken a selection of screenshot's to show the construction process of my practise MMA including finished product below. 

(include process and screenshots)

MMA Planning: Initial Ideas

I had four main ideas as seen below and I tried to make them extremely different to offer myself choice. I did a rough sketch of the four main ideas then I will let my audience feedback on which one they preferred and why. I tried to tailor the sketches to in indie style of the artist which is called Gallant so that it felt more authentic.

(Insert photo of drafted ideas)

Idea 1:
With this idea I would have two peoples hands reaching over one to another with geometric shapes in-between them. one hand would be in colour and a photo and the other would have been drawn out of geometric shapes in colour. The background will be a blend of blacks, dark blues, dark purples, and lilac. The Name or the artist would be at the top in a beige yellow colour and will be written in a block font with the name of the album below in a similar font but on a smaller size as not to detract from the album name.

Idea 2:

I have decided to go with a full frontal face shot with half being geometrically composed and in black and white with the other half being the photo of the actual person so that there is almost a split in the advertisement. The album name and artist name would be done in a wavy font that almost flows round the actual image of the artist in a god like weave. The social media of the artists would be at the right side of the MMA. There will be a quote from the artist song also written below the actual artists name.

Idea 3:

The face in this design will be half erased with the rest being in a geometric pattern just staring at the audience. The background will be the same as the first idea a mixture of purple, black and blue. The Name of the artist will be in a paint scrape front with the name of the album in the same font just below but smaller so the audience knows the difference between the two. Social media links will be at the bottom of the advertisement so that they don't take up too much space on the MMA. The artists Digi pack will be in the right hand bottom corner surrounded by that same yellow beige mesh as a border.

Idea 4:

In this idea I would have two hands reaching up either side of the MMA slowly turning into geometric shapes and fading off. One would be in black and white the other would be in colour to show contrast of songs in album. The name of the artist would be written in the exact middle at the top almost connecting the hands in a wavy font. The name of the album would be below but also in the middle. social media would be at the bottom of the MMA so the audience could access the sites. the Digi pack image will be in the bottom right corner adhering to conventions of an MMA.

MMA Planning: Font Choice

Now that I had some basic ideas for my MMA I had to think about what font choices would be suitable for these ideas, which ones would fit best and convey the indie style I wanted to show. I asked my audience which of the fonts I had looked at would best suit my MMA and why and it seemed very prevalent that everybody liked the idea of having a roughly painted font. Therefore I then went searching for more painted fonts and had to decide which one was clear enough for a wide audience to read but also rough a rugged enough to show the artists image. This is where audience feedback also helped as I let my audience look at a range of fonts and they all voted on a tally chart which one was best and the results were almost unanimous that Against was the best font for my MMA.

 MMA Planning: Audience Feedback on Initial Ideas

Once I had finally decided on the font I was going to use I needed to decide on a clear design for my MMA. Asking upon my audience proved useful as it would give me unbiased feedback. What I found from this is that idea 3 was the most favourite by nearly 70% of all feedback. What I found is that the idea of a paint scrape font was intriguing to audience members and that they like the idea only half of his face would be visible at any one moment.

Feedback 1:

"Loved the idea of a geometric face, sounds fascinating and would give you extra room for the artists name and album name to be place. I also like the dark purple background as it means the title and name will stand out as they are a beige colour. There is also no lingering blank space which will make it look very professional."

Feedback 2:

"The hand reaching for the other hand has already been done before however I like the fact half of the image would be in black and white and the other half in colour. It could represent life and death or something else philosophical"

Feedback 3:
"The idea with just a singular eye on the MMA isn't the best choice as it is too similar to your own digi pack. The best choice to go with would be the half edited face then you would have the same type of style running throughout your media pieces."

Photoshoot:
The photo shoot was pretty successful and I didn't have to shoot many photos for it as I myself was the model for my MMA

Constructions Process:

The first thing I had to do was find a way to turn my face very geometric so I turned to the internet and found a website that converted any image into a image made completely out of triangles.

This website measure point count along to blur so I ran my image through it a couple of times and came out with some very decent results.

After I had converted my face into a geometric pattern I had to edit it so only half of the face was visible and the rest was cropped out. The first cropping was very hap hazard so it was rough but I would improve on that later.

After this I could start assembling my MMA. I decided to go with a half page MMA because he is and alternate R&B singer which meant that he wouldn't really of had a full page as he wouldn't have reached that kind of face for people to notice him.

Firstly I added the face to the pre-prepped background I had created for both my MMA and digi pack.  I then put the edited version of my geometric face in the left side of the MMA as most MMA's have off centre images. After this I added The front panel of the dig pack as a convention for MMA's is to have the actual album art present. Also another convention is to have social media on the MMA so that the target audience can reach the artist at any point. The way I did this was by getting black templates of different social media symbols and re colouring them so that they matched the text font.

Once that was done and the social media links added in it was time to put the album name and title on the actual MMA. I did not know where to position them at first and tried having them at the top and bottom. This didn't look visually pleasing so I placed them at the top left of the image and it turned out to look quite swell. I also repositioned the social media as they were drawing too much attention to themselves and not the actual MMA. I placed them at the bottom so they would be the last thing my target audience would see.

I had almost finished when I realised there was still too much space left bare. This I had to fix so I went back and added a quote from the artist themselves that they had said about their album which would allow the audience a nugget of information to what the artist actually thinks.

Final product: