Music Magazine Research

The main publishers in the magazine industry include: Bauer, IPC Media, Dennis, Natmags and Conde Nast. The UK music magazines are all published by those publishers, for example, ‘NME’ and ‘uncut’ are published by IPC Media and ‘Kerrang’, ‘MOJO’ and ‘Q Magazine’ are published by Bauer. All of the music magazines on sale in the UK (NME, Uncut, Kerrang, MOJO and Q Magazine) are published by only two publishers, IPC Media or Bauer. Uncut incorporates a variety of genres of music into their magazine, ranging from motown to rock; whereas NME focuses on similar genres of music but also includes punk rock, Britpop and indie. Therefore, these music magazines, in particular target an alternative, less mainstream audience that enjoy heavier music. Kerrang is a magazine that includes mainly rock, metal, emo and punk music. These genres of music are the more fashionable, alternative types that will appeal to a gothic/emo audience. Mojo magazine has a different edge as it includes classic rock and indie music that is much more main-stream, therefore it would appeal to an audience that follows trends which is far less alternative.  The Q magazine is even more so main-stream as it includes popular artists like ‘Lady gaga’. It mainly focuses on music festivals and radio, which would suggest their audience, could be indie/main-streamers. All of the magazines appear to be aimed at a younger generation as the majority of the music and artists included in their content are currently in the charts.