Task 5research into a similar music magazine on which I am going to base my magazine on.

Kerrang! is a UK based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best selling British music magazine.

About Kerrang! magazine

Target audience

The magazine appeals to a specific kind of audience because it concerns topics and themes that are relevant to people who listen to and are interested by rock music and its background. Kerrang! identifies its audience as ‘individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty’. Kerrang distinguish their identity as a world ‘where Jackass meets PlayStation and Skate culture meets iPod’ In the period 01-Jul-2008 to 31-Dec-2008 Kerrang!‘s circulation sales in the UK and the Republic of Ireland were at a high of 50,128 insuring it remained the market-leading music weekly. These figures display that Kerrang! is a successful magazine despite its audience being one demographic entity. This devoted audience of rock fans is made up of 60% males and 40% females with Kerrang!’s demographic fall into social class D-C. The predominate ethnicity of the readership is white British with a target population of 16-24 year olds. The magazine’s psychographic is defined as ‘people who aspire to be respected among other people and people who wish to have a high paid job.’ It is evident that the magazine is aimed at a young audience, through the use of graphics, fonts, layouts and presentation. Kerrang! is aimed at the youth and their lifestyles. It has a contemporary and up-to-date look, making use of modern typefaces and a down-to-earth feel. The magazine even accommodates the young readership by using advertisements that relate to their interests. Kerrang! includes full page advertisements for music companies such as HMV and Play.com as well as promoting other retailers such as Virgin, PlayStation, Xbox, alternative clothing and jewellery manufacturing and concert ticket lines. Kerrang! aims itself more at a male audience and appeals to them by using content such as hard rock and metal iconic male bands on the front cover pulling angry faces or violent expressions. Female readers are targeted by the use of male bands on free pull out posters and feature interviews. The edgy, underground and individualistic style appeals to rock readers and draws them in, this is a crucial element of any successful magazine.

History of Kerrang!

Kerrang! commenced publication on 6 June 1981 and was edited by Geoff Barton, initially as a one-time supplement in the Sounds newspaper, which focused on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal phenomenon and on the rise of other hard rock acts. Angus Young of AC/DC appeared on Kerning's first cover. Launched as a monthly magazine, Kerrang! began to appear on a fortnightly basis later, and in 1987 it went weekly. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991.During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover (like Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison, and Venom) but later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nirvana rose to fame. Readers often criticise the magazine for repeating this process every time a new musical trend becomes popular. Kerrang!'s popularity rose again with the hiring of editor Paul Rees circa 2000 when the nu metal genre, featuring bands like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot were becoming more popular. Rees went on to edit Q magazine and Ashley Bird took over as editor from 2003 to 2005. However the magazine's sales went quickly into decline in 2003 and Paul Brannigan took over as editor in May 2005. With the emergence of emo and metalcore, Kerrang! began to heavily feature this musical trend. However, the revamp was not welcomed by all readers and many complaints were received about Kerrang!'s sudden emphasis on emo and metalcore music. Brannigan took the magazine into its most commercially successful period with a record ever ABC for the title of 80,186 copies.In 2008, EMAP sold its consumer magazine to current owner Bauer Media Group. Brannigan left Kerrang! in 2009 and Nichola Browne was appointed editor. She later stepped down in April 2011. Former NME features editor and GamesMaster deputy editor James McMahon was appointed as editor on 6 June 2011.

Website

Kerrang!'s website is dedicated to finding out more information to do with the magazine and also the latest information on the current bands and upcoming events. The website hosts Kerrang!'s online shop, podcasts, message board, TV and radio segments ensuring even more opportunities to sell associated merchandise and products. In 2001, Kerrang! launched its own online forum with the "rants and raves" section taking up most of the traffic. Though initially extremely popular, the number of users began to peter out around 2005 with the number of people online dropping to as low as 10 when previously it had been closer to the 100 figure.

Kerrang! awards

Since 1993, the magazine have been holding an annual awards ceremony to mark the most successful bands in the interests of their readers. The awards became one of Britain's most recognised award events by the now defunct Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, often listing some of the winners in their annual round-up of the previous year. The event is always presented by major music celebrities, with many others outside the industry who attend the event.

Kerrang! TV

In 2001 EMAP launched Kerrang! TV. As with the radio station, the television channel covers the more mainstream side of the rock music as well as classic rock bands like Aerosmith and AC/DC, and classic heavy metal bands such as Guns N' Roses and Metallica. Kerrang TV is now a joint venture between Bauer Media Group and Channel 4.

Institutions

Kerrang is a very well known music magazine focusing on mainly rock music such as from Papa Roach, Lost prophets and Linkin Park who all are also very well known bands that are the same genre of music to that of in my magazine. This magazine is published by Bauer media group (Bauer Verlagsgruppe) which is a large publishing company located in Hamburg, German. This company has been privately owned by the Bauer family since 1875. This company publishes on average 38 million magazines a week. The other brand that Bauer Media Group own is Q. This is also a music magazine but consists of more indie music rather than rock. This company also publishes many more magazines with completely different magazines such as; closer and heat who are very popular women’s magazines. They also publish other music magazines to Kerrang and Q such as Mojo and Empire. They also make a variety of magazines such as MATCH! Football magazine, Golf world, Angling times fishing magazine, classic cars and many more. The similarities that these two music magazines are that they are both the same genre of music as my magazine which is between rock and indie genres. This is why I am basing my magazine with this publisher and kerrang magazine.