Bauer Media

• Bauer Media is Europe's largest privately owned publishing house.



• The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio.



• Bauer Media joined Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following the acquisition of Emap's consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses.



• The Group employs 6,400 people and in 2008 had a turnover of 2.08 billion euros.



• It is a UK based company with the two main divisions being magazines and radio.



• Bauer Media is a sister company of H Bauer Publishing, which is a publisher of some of the biggest TV shows, Take a Break and Bella.



• Bauer Media was founded in 1875.



• The worldwide circulation of Bauer Media's magazine titles is 38 million magazines per week.



• Some of the most well known music magazines that it publishes are Q and Kerrang.

Contents Page Analysis: Rocksound

This is a very dark contents page. This is because the band featured on it, Bring Me The Horizon, play very heavy rock music and scream rather than sing. All of the band members are smiling, which is different to their normal image of straight faces which show no emotion. But that is one of the things that rock music is all about: being different.

The frontman, Oli Sykes, is wearing a sweater that says "Drop Dead" which isn't very bright or cheerful, but ties in with the type of music that his band creates. However, this is contradicted by the smile on his face.

Bring Me The Horizon play very heavy rock music and because of this, although they do have female fans, they are considered to be more of a masculine band. However, Oli Sykes is considered very attractive and he is probably one of the reasons his band is as successful as it is.

Because the picture is very dark, the white text box stands out on the page. There is a little bit of text for each section of the magazine explaining what is featured in that section, but word it so you want to read that section. The text is just a teaser and you have to go to the particular page to find out what's in the section of the magazine.

The language is very informal. The writer is talking to you as if you were a good friend, and they use words and phrases that are used in casual conversation. For example, "there's lots of cool and crazy shit happening this month" and "Result!" and "Fun times!".

The writer would write in a way that the reader would understand and relate to. So because the writer has used informal language, slang and some swearing, it shows that this is the sort of language that their readers would use in their everyday life.

Contents Page Analysis: Kerrang

On this contents page, the top half is very dark and creepy. Marilyn Manson has always been known for his dark image, and the red sofa adds to this which could symbolise blood or gore. The bottom half of the contents page has pictures with people looking happy and smiley, which shows the idea of there being two sides to rock music: the angry, slightly scary music and the lighthearted, fun music.

The letter from the editor makes the reader feel like they are on a much more personal level with the magazine and the people who produce it. In the letter, the editor asks "how has 2010 been for you? Did it pan out how you hoped? Did you give it everything you've got?". This makes the reader feel like the editor is actually interested in their lives and genuinely wants to know more about them. She then follows this up by relating it to a band, which assures you that we are all here for the same reason: music.

The editor has signed this letter with her first name, and this makes you feel like this letter was personally addressed and written to you.

In the bottom corner, there is a promotion for a subscription to Kerrang. This shows that if you buy this magazine once, you will buy it again. The magazine always features bands within the rock genre, and if you like rock music, you will love Kerrang magazine because it is so varied with the sub genres of rock, but there is always something you will want to read. Having people subscribe to Kerrang guarantees them circulation, and because Kerrang comes out quite regularly(weekly) sometimes readers can forget that another issue has come out, so they don't buy it. They also promote the fact that subscribing can save you money in the long term, which obviously appeals to the reader, because no one wants to spend more when they can get the same thing for less!

The contents page shows everything featured in the magazine, which is mainly live reviews, album reviews, news and a competition. This magazine focuses on music, mainly well known bands, and this shows that the readers don't care about fashion or gossip, they just care about the music and when they can see their favourite bands live.

Front Cover Analysis: Kerrang

This front cover is from issue 1338, November 13th 2010.

Kerrang feautures rock bands, but as there is so many sub genres of rock, the magazine has to correctly represent the bands according to the kind of rock music they make. For example, Paramore are considered alternative rock/pop punk, and the frontwoman, Hayley Williams, is featured on the front cover of this particular issue with a cheeky grin and a bright colour scheme. However, if Bring Me The Horizon were on the front cover, the colour scheme would be darker as they play a heavier form of rock music, and they would probably be considered a more masculine band, however, the frontman, Olly Sykes, is considered attractive to females, so Kerrang have to try and make the front cover appeal to both sexes.

This particular issue features a review of Paramore's year, and Paramore is thought of to be one of the most recently successful rock bands, and they are an American band, so their fan base is huge. Kerrang are promoting the fact that this is exclusive because they know just how popular Paramore are and it pushes you to buy the magazine.

This issue has free posters in it of some of the most popular rock bands at the moment. This shows that the readers of Kerrang are the sort of people who like to cover their bedroom walls with posters of their favourite bands, and this shows that to these people, music means alot.

The competition featured in this issue is a chance to win a trip to Barbados and record an album. This shows that the readers may be in a band themselves, or have friends that are trying to make it big with their band. It shows that the readers of Kerrang are one hundred percent committed to music and see it as a way of life rather than a hobby.

At the top, there is a snippet from an article about The Damned Things. The idea of 'invading' shows that these bands are all about power. It shows that these bands are here to stay, and they're not going anywhere. It promotes this idea of creating an army with your fanbase against the world, with obviously the band being the leaders. Alot of rock bands use this idea, for example, 30 seconds to Mars with the Echelon.

Front Cover Analysis: Rocksound

This front cover doesn't seem to have a particular colour scheme, it seems very random. But Rock Sound front covers have always been known to look quite random, cluttered and a bit all over the place.

The font of the masthead is the same as always, but the strapline is not shown on this front cover. The masthead is very simple and one block colour.

The colours used tend to be thought of as quite bright, happy, fun colours. However, this is contradicted by the man in the picture with the growling, menacing expression on his face. The men behind him look less threatening, and their pictures are alot smaller than his. This shows the idea that to get anywhere in life, you need to be tough and ruthless and a little agressive.

The picture used doesn't seem to link with any text on the front cover apart from the bands featured.

This issue also came with a free CD which was stuck to the space in the bottom left hand corner of the front cover. This shows that CDs are what interests the reader, and the CD consists of tracks from new and up and coming bands, and this shows that the reader is always wanting to hear new music and new bands and see what they think of them.

Each of the people featured on the front cover are a frontman of a band. Because they are all male, this gives the impression that rock is a particularly masculine genre of music, when this is not the case. Most of the successful bands are all male, but they do have a large female fanbase.

At the top, it advertises the fact that with this issue comes with "free CD + massive paramore + biffy posters!" This shows that the reader is the type of person who likes to surround themselves with music by listening to it, and then covering their bedroom walls with posters of their favourite bands. This statement is at the top of the magazine, so if the magazine was on a shelf behind others, this statement would stand out and the person buying it would have a look because this is exactly the sort of thing they want from a magazine.

Pre-Lim Task

We came up with the idea of 'Academia', which was a magazine for St Andrews students that enjoy their studying and are very much for the academic side of school rather than the social aspect.

They will not be considered the most popular people at school, and they may be bullied alot. The readers spend most of their time studying rather than going out, so even though they may be doing extremely well in school, they won't have a lot of friends.

Academia would be a guide to school for them. For example, telling how to stop themselves from being bullied and how to get that gorgeous girl that they've fancied for ages. It would be aimed at mainly boys, aged 11 - 16.

Quick Analysis: Rocksound

Publisher: Editions Freeway


Strapline: New Music First


Price: £3.50


Frequency: Monthly


Approximate Circulation: 22, 527



Approximate Readership: 74,000


Launched: March 1999


House Style: Rocksound magazine's front covers are known to look cluttered and a bit 'all over the place'. For this issue, the colour scheme is very much grey and white. The 'broken' writing shows the destructive and slightly scary side of the bands that are featured in this issue.



The menacing and slightly threatening looks on the men's faces show what kind of music they create and their expressions allow their personality to come through.



I would consider Rocksound a serious competitor of my magazine because it is very similar to the magazine I want to create. It focuses very much on promoting new bands as well as covering stories about famous bands.