Kerrang magazine, full magazine analysis
Kerrang magazine started off in 1981 as a supplement in The Sounds news-paper and then went on to become a successful British rock music magazine. Kerrang’s name comes from the onomatopoeic word that comes from the sound of smashing a guitar. When Kerrang first started it dedicated itself to the new wave of British heavy metal and the rising of hard
rock acts, i.e. AC/DC. Since it began Kerrang magazines high demand has resulted in the magazine being printed every fortnight to eventually being printed every week. The magazine is published by Bauer Consumer Media and has now become one of the most successful weekly selling rock magazines in the world. The magazine seems to also change the bands it puts into the magazine in time with which bands are most popular, for example in the 1980’s and 90’s began placing a number of thrash and glam metal bands on the cover and in the feature articles including Motley Crue, Slayer and Bon Jovi. However as Grunge music gained popularity these bands were quickly discarded as Kerrang moved its interest towards Grunge bands such as Nirvana. This process has been heavily criticised by the readers as it is repeated so often, as well as the rise of nu-metal in 2003.
The audience that Kerrang appeals to is a niche audience because of the topics being relevant to people who listen to rock music and take interest in the background of the musical style. Kerrang itself has described its readers as “individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty”, and said about their own identity as “where Jackass meets PlayStation and skate culture meets iPod”. In in the time frame of the 1st of July 2008 up until 31st of December 2008 Kerrang’s sale in the UK and Republic of Ireland were at an all-time high of 50, 128 which ensured that it remained the market leading weekly music magazine. Looking at these figures It shows that although Kerrang magazines audience is only one demographic entity it is still a very successful ma
gazine. The audience for Kerrang are 60% male and 40% female and their social class falling into the category C-D. The most dominant ethnicity of the readers is white British and the main age spanning between 16-24. The psychographic profile of this audience is defined as “people who aspire to be respected among other people and people who wish to have a high paid job”. When looking at this information it is clear that the magazine is targeted at a young audience, also when looking at the magazine itself we can again see it is clear that the magazine is aimed at youths because of the fonts, graphics layouts and overall presentation. Kerrang also accommodates to the young by including advertisements relating to their age group. The advertisements themselves include large scale companies such as HMV, Play.com and Virgin while also promoting other retailers such as PlayStation and Xbox. They also include alternative clothing advertisements including jewellery and accessories and also concert ticket phone lines. Kerrang mainly appeals to a male audience and they do this by including heavy metal and hard rock icons on the front cover who are pulling angry or violent expressions and poses, whereas female readers are targeted by a special male pull out poster who the inclusion of a female singer on the front cover. The underground and individualistic style of the magazine helps the overall appeal of rock music fans which is a very important element for any successful magazine.
There are several features in Kerrang magazine that le the reader interact personally with the magazine, this includes readers’ letters on a separate page, drawings, photos, polls gig reviews, recommended entertainment, competitions and the Kerrang diary of upcoming gigs, all of these give the reader a chance to interact with the magazine and help share their views and opinions, also these letters give the reader a good incentive to write in as if they are chosen as “letter of the week” then they receive a £50 music voucher. With all of these elements mixed together the readers feel that they are more involved and important and not just simple sales figure. Kerrang also draw in more readers by having their own TV and Radio stations which also have advertisements for the magazine shown or broadcast throughout, both of these are examples of cross media ownership (promoting products in several broadcast mediums). Kerrang also uses particular elements to help attract these new audiences, for example strong imagery and key words on the front cover of the magazine. They also use a particular colour scheme throughout the magazine w
ith the main colours being white, black, yellow, red and green which shows the magazine as eye catching and helps some front cover lettering to stand out more than others. All of these colours are continued throughout the magazine which gives it’s a dark and moody effect which keeps in tone with the style Kerrang produces and the type of style that will attract their audience. The main image feature don’t he front cover is always a close up shot which, because of eye contact, attracts the reader to buying the magazine. The bands nearly always seem to be wearing dark casual type clothing which shows that Kerrang may be a relaxed magazine. Also the fact that the price is a low cost of £2.20 means that it is easily affordable by a large amount of people.
Looking into the profits of Kerrang magazine it can be found that half of Kerrang’s profit comes from the magazines advertisements and circulation revenues. The other half of its profits are from the broadcast interests with online and also mobile contributions. The mobile aspect works in a way called “fly text” where Kerrang texts their subscribers to tell them were their favourite bands are playing live. Also looking at surveys taken by the readers 83% of readers said that they bought an album as a result of one of Kerrang’s articles in the magazine, this shows just how much of an effect advertising has on the demographic of Kerrang magazine.
With so many different outlets and advertising mechanics Kerrang is a very powerful brand. It has even launched its own live music tour, named “The Kerrang Tour”, with a recent Kerrang 16 date tour selling out it shows that the trademark still has a firm hold on their target audience.
rock acts, i.e. AC/DC. Since it began Kerrang magazines high demand has resulted in the magazine being printed every fortnight to eventually being printed every week. The magazine is published by Bauer Consumer Media and has now become one of the most successful weekly selling rock magazines in the world. The magazine seems to also change the bands it puts into the magazine in time with which bands are most popular, for example in the 1980’s and 90’s began placing a number of thrash and glam metal bands on the cover and in the feature articles including Motley Crue, Slayer and Bon Jovi. However as Grunge music gained popularity these bands were quickly discarded as Kerrang moved its interest towards Grunge bands such as Nirvana. This process has been heavily criticised by the readers as it is repeated so often, as well as the rise of nu-metal in 2003.The audience that Kerrang appeals to is a niche audience because of the topics being relevant to people who listen to rock music and take interest in the background of the musical style. Kerrang itself has described its readers as “individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty”, and said about their own identity as “where Jackass meets PlayStation and skate culture meets iPod”. In in the time frame of the 1st of July 2008 up until 31st of December 2008 Kerrang’s sale in the UK and Republic of Ireland were at an all-time high of 50, 128 which ensured that it remained the market leading weekly music magazine. Looking at these figures It shows that although Kerrang magazines audience is only one demographic entity it is still a very successful ma
gazine. The audience for Kerrang are 60% male and 40% female and their social class falling into the category C-D. The most dominant ethnicity of the readers is white British and the main age spanning between 16-24. The psychographic profile of this audience is defined as “people who aspire to be respected among other people and people who wish to have a high paid job”. When looking at this information it is clear that the magazine is targeted at a young audience, also when looking at the magazine itself we can again see it is clear that the magazine is aimed at youths because of the fonts, graphics layouts and overall presentation. Kerrang also accommodates to the young by including advertisements relating to their age group. The advertisements themselves include large scale companies such as HMV, Play.com and Virgin while also promoting other retailers such as PlayStation and Xbox. They also include alternative clothing advertisements including jewellery and accessories and also concert ticket phone lines. Kerrang mainly appeals to a male audience and they do this by including heavy metal and hard rock icons on the front cover who are pulling angry or violent expressions and poses, whereas female readers are targeted by a special male pull out poster who the inclusion of a female singer on the front cover. The underground and individualistic style of the magazine helps the overall appeal of rock music fans which is a very important element for any successful magazine.There are several features in Kerrang magazine that le the reader interact personally with the magazine, this includes readers’ letters on a separate page, drawings, photos, polls gig reviews, recommended entertainment, competitions and the Kerrang diary of upcoming gigs, all of these give the reader a chance to interact with the magazine and help share their views and opinions, also these letters give the reader a good incentive to write in as if they are chosen as “letter of the week” then they receive a £50 music voucher. With all of these elements mixed together the readers feel that they are more involved and important and not just simple sales figure. Kerrang also draw in more readers by having their own TV and Radio stations which also have advertisements for the magazine shown or broadcast throughout, both of these are examples of cross media ownership (promoting products in several broadcast mediums). Kerrang also uses particular elements to help attract these new audiences, for example strong imagery and key words on the front cover of the magazine. They also use a particular colour scheme throughout the magazine w
ith the main colours being white, black, yellow, red and green which shows the magazine as eye catching and helps some front cover lettering to stand out more than others. All of these colours are continued throughout the magazine which gives it’s a dark and moody effect which keeps in tone with the style Kerrang produces and the type of style that will attract their audience. The main image feature don’t he front cover is always a close up shot which, because of eye contact, attracts the reader to buying the magazine. The bands nearly always seem to be wearing dark casual type clothing which shows that Kerrang may be a relaxed magazine. Also the fact that the price is a low cost of £2.20 means that it is easily affordable by a large amount of people.Looking into the profits of Kerrang magazine it can be found that half of Kerrang’s profit comes from the magazines advertisements and circulation revenues. The other half of its profits are from the broadcast interests with online and also mobile contributions. The mobile aspect works in a way called “fly text” where Kerrang texts their subscribers to tell them were their favourite bands are playing live. Also looking at surveys taken by the readers 83% of readers said that they bought an album as a result of one of Kerrang’s articles in the magazine, this shows just how much of an effect advertising has on the demographic of Kerrang magazine.
With so many different outlets and advertising mechanics Kerrang is a very powerful brand. It has even launched its own live music tour, named “The Kerrang Tour”, with a recent Kerrang 16 date tour selling out it shows that the trademark still has a firm hold on their target audience.
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