Magazine Case Study

1.    Decide upon a magazine

I will be starting a case study today to research about magazines and how they’re run, such as how long the magazine has been in publication, how much the magazine makes per release (Circulation figures), how it fares against it’s competitor magazines and many other different aspects of the magazine industry and the way in which it operates.

The magazine that I’ll be using is Kerrang! Magazine, as Kerrang! is a music magazine, and the magazine that I’m currently producing is also a music magazine.

Kerrang! has been in publication since June 6, 1981 and was intended as a one off extra to go with a newspaper called ‘Sounds Newspaper’, Kerrang! Was initially devoted to the raise in British Heavy Metal music, and Rock music, however the popularity of the one off extra grew much more than expected and by 2000’s had become the bestselling British music newspaper, Kerrang! Has featured many famous faces on the cover over the years from artists and musicians such as; Angus Young, Slipknot, My Chemical Romance, 30 Seconds To Mars, Disturbed, and many other Metal/Rock artists.

Being such a major magazine, It’s estimated that the magazine reaches 43,033 people with each issue distributed, and the figure hasn’t really wavered in the year so far (March 1^st), Kerrang! Is also the bestselling music magazine in Britain.

2.     The magazine’s publisher

Kerrang! Is currently being published by Bauer Media Group, however it wasn’t always published by BMG, originally it was produced by ‘United Newspapers’ who sold Kerrang! To EMAP Ltd, EMAP Ltd is a major British media company who specialise in Business-to-Business magazines. BMG still produce Kerrang! Magazine, however they don’t run the Kerrang! Radio station, Kerrang! Radio is run by EMAP LTD, which are based in Birmingham, UK, started in 2000 Kerrang! Was just a playback station that re run music tracks nonstop, however in 2004 it was launched as 105.2, and this was the start of the official radio station. Kerrang! TV was launched in 2001 by EMAP, and was like it’s radio counterpart, playing mainstream rock music from artists like Guns n Roses, ACDC, & Aerosmith, however now Kerrang! TV is owned by BMG and Channel 4.

BMG has become more diverse with their cross media ownership in recent years, they now own several radio stations and music channels, as well as magazines, they operate in over 15 countries, however they’re based in Hamburg Germany.

3.    Convergence and Synergy

Both BMG and Channel 4 are owners of the Kerrang! Music channel, between these companies there must be a good form of synergy, this is because they would both need to have a good form of communication and work so that they could collectively run the music channel. Having good synergy is a interest between both businesses because it helps them to run a much more effect music channel, which could in turn profit both sides of the owners.

4.    Technological convergence and consumption

Kerrang! Is Britain’s most popular rock music radio station, so trying to stay on top of all it’s competition, Kerrang! Has to expand it’s company in as many ways as possible, so that It may reach out to a much wider audience, which would bring in more customers and listeners, keeping them on top.

One way that Kerrang! Have done this is by increasing the amount of ways that you can access their products, such as on the website, Kerrang!s website is a fully functional  updated frequently, useful source of information for people who want to be able to catch up and read on the websites as well as when they’re done with the newest magazines, the website also allows you to be able to buy a virtual version of the magazine, so that you can read it on your computer or tablet.

The website (http://www.kerrang.com) has a lot of promotion about its newest magazine on it, and not just its newest magazines, it also promotes many of its previous magazines that have been released, giving the person browsing the opportunity to have a look at all the different front covers, and also the chance to read a short couple of paragraphs giving a small amount of information on what each of the magazines have to offer inside each issue. The website also allows you to download issues of the magazine electronically, so that you can read the magazines on your computer of tablet, this helps the company to increase sales as their product has become more available across more platforms.

The magazine is available across 4 platforms, That’s Magazine, E reader, Tablet, & PC.

Some of the benefits of releasing the online publication of the magazine is that it opens a whole new audience for the company, because there’s a much higher possibility that people are going to be able to find the magazine and start to read/purchase it, compared to if they didn’t have any online aspects.

Some of the drawbacks from having an online publication is that the company could lose money from it aswell, as many people could simply download the magazine then re upload it to the internet for free, this means other people could effectively read the whole magazine online for free and they would never have to pay for it, this could cause a loss in revenue for the company because of the amount of people who would be reading it for free when it’s a paid for service.

5.    Relationship between encoder and decoder

Today it’s become much more common for the Encoder to ask decoders to give them their suggestions, what they thought of this weeks magazine, or what they think on a certain subject, Kerrang! Manages to do this with their website, if you sign up to become a member of the Kerrang! website, they then allow you to write comments and reviews on the different magazines and articles that they’ve posted onto their website. I feel that it’s important that Kerrang! Do this because it enables their decoders to feel like they can share their opinion on what they think should be able to get into the magazine, and so that they can share their thoughts on articles and stories within the magazine, this gives the decoder the chance to get more involved with a magazine that they love, and this can also help the encoder with some material, as it allows them to be able to read through ideas and suggestions that the decoders may have, and some of them could be used in the next issue of the magazine, this makes the life of the encoder easier and also gives the decoder satisfaction as they’re able to see something that they may have suggested featured in an article in the magazine that they enjoy reading.

The user generated content can be a vast help for the magazine, as it helps for them to build up content, and they don’t have to come up with the ideas for the content completely themselves, user generated content can be helpful on both the side of the encoder and the decoder, as it loosens up the amount of work needed to be done by the encoder, which gives more time for other improvements, and also gives the decoder the feeling that they’ve contributed to the magazine.

6.    Content

Magazine producers have to be able to catch the attention of their target audience so that they can increase sales of their media product, some of the ways in which they try to attract their target audience is by setting out their front cover in a way that would catch the eye and keep the interest of the target audience without having to give too much of the stories away, so that it could entice the person who’s noticed the magazine to want to buy it, the use of semiotics on the front cover can completely change/decide if the magazine is going to be successful or unsuccessful, such examples are when a magazine such as rolling stones, has an article inside featuring a famous artist, they would then place the picture of the artist on the front cover, and it would take up the vast majority of the magazine front cover, this use of semiotics is likely to instantly catch the eye of the target audience as it’s a musician that they could be very fond of, or very curios to who it is as they’re on the front cover, this could greatly increase interest within the magazine straight away.

Another way that the encoder could try to catch the attention of his target audience would be to place an offer or a giveaway on the front of the magazine, this offer or giveaway can also catch the eye of the target audience, as you would not only get the magazine if you purchased it, you would also be getting something extra, and everyone likes free products, this could also help to act as an incentive for the person to buy the product, as they would be getting more than just the product, they could be getting a free CD, or a free website subscription, or something along the lines of that.

As well as offers within the magazine, some magazines also offer extras for their website, such as more points for their websites currency system, or a free song download from the website, this helps the website get more sales and possibly more customers, and doesn’t cost them much extra at all to provide as it’s all digital, so they do not have to pay more on the distribution costs.

Kerrang! Does a lot of competition and magazine offers such as posters, (Shown in the picture below of Kerrang! Magazine)  this helps them to get new customers, and keep their regular customers happy, as they’re able to enjoy the magazine, and get free products and the chance to win rare products, this incentive is a good way to keep their current customers happy, and to attract new customers, they also allow for members of the website to go online and share their thoughts and opinions on the newest release magazines, so that they can give feedback and share with other people who buy and read the magazine what they thought of anything within the magazine.