Investigating two music magazines (Kerrang)

I have chosen to base my magazine coursework on Kerrang and have therefore researched into the magazine.



Over the years Kerrang has changed it's layout many times. The first ever issue of Kerrang was released in June 1981 (top left) to a very recent copy that was released on the 12th January 2011. The name Kerrang! is a very clever choice as it is an onomatopoeia and sounds like a guitar.



Inside kerrang the praghology of kerrang is usually very cluttered and unorganised, giving a unique feel to the magazine which is what Kerrang is all about. The images used are overlapping each other also showing the magazine to be cluttered and packed full of information. There is usually a banner at the top of the page to catch the readers attention. In Kerrangs banners there are usually violent words used in this example above there is the word 'ripped' representing the stereotype of the type of music used in Kerrang.

I have used the example of Kerrang above to show the stereotypes of people likely to be featured in rock magazines. The people on the cover look aggressive, have tattoo's, have long hair, also people who are in Kerrang are likely to pose in a aggressive way.

The readership of Kerrang is 396,000 and is the worlds biggest selling music magazine weekly in the world. the average age of the typical Kerrang reader is really young with a median age of 22, this is a big advantage to selling the magazine as this is the age where the audience are more into music and pick up new interests. Kerrang readers are also the main consumers that purchase the most music, purchasing over 6 albums per month on average. The readers of Kerrang are also 5.5 times more likely to attend a rock gig after reading kerrang.

The reason why Kerrang's audience read Kerrang is because they feel that :

• It talks to me in my language.
• Is the authority in it's market.
• Has stuff i talk about with my friends.
• Makes me feel more knowledgeable.
• Like to be seen with this magazine.
• Believe what i read in this magazine.

This is quoted from the bauer media website.

Typical readers of Kerrang dress to fit the genre of music. An example of this is found on Bauer media "He is a fashion trend setter is his peer group but he is heavily influenced by musical icons and scenes. Like the bands he supports he is extremely loyal to the brands he trusts. The way he looks and the clothes he wears is integral to communicating 'his identity' to the world" this is the typical reader of Kerrang they dress the way their favourite bands dress to show their 'identity'

Older issues of Kerrang tend to have Kerrangs slogan underneath the title 'Life is loud' whereas now because Kerrang is so well known they usually just put the title of the magazine.