Comparing 6 Magazines

Magazines from CheriesProjects

The Magazine Industry-Case Study

The magazine industry is an extremely competitive and complicated area, so to simplify it, I'm going to use the famous music magazine 'Mojo' to represent and reflect the industry as a whole.

Money Making

Magazines are all about getting as much money from an audience as possible. Magazines get much money from sales, however get most their income from advertisements. 
As I couldn't find the specific price to advertise in Mojo online, I decided to email them:

1: Contact
2: Email
3:Response
This shows me, that just one page, such as this one with four advertisments, makes £2,800 alone from advertisements! If you multiply that by the amount of pages, 130 they'd get £364,000 per week based solely on advertisements- A huge income.

From this I can learn that, if you're successful in the magazine industry-money making won't be a problem.

Also- referring to the attachment emailed above, the information does not apply to this as they were simply stating the dates to make payments by.

Competition

You could state that Mojo avoids competition, as it in itself is extremely unique- It's of older taste as it's quite a retro style. Also, the same company that owns Mojo also own 'Q' , another well-known music magazine. This company is called 'Bauer Media'. As they own both, they highlight their differences to avoid competition- consequently, they have two contrasting audiences allowing them to build upon them rather than loose them. Many other magazines are, however loosing in this competition as they aren't adapting their use of media, as explained  below.

Adapting with a Developing World

To adapt, many-if not all magazines, have a website, as you can see in the screenshot to the right:

Mojo also has online subscriptions and has created an app. 

So what's caused this sturdy source of media to suddenly splinter? To answer that with one word: Technology.

Technology, e.g. mobiles, has developed from just for calling, to messaging, listening to music, watching movies, playing games, internet use and much more- A central part of most first-world people's lives. With all these busy schedules, people simply prefer to keep something less bulky, time-saving and constantly updating, with them. This results in many magazine industries that chose not to adapt,going bust. To avoid situations such as these and keep the traditional form, my version of Mojo also included the following:

-It came in a package (This draws attention to it as it sits on the shelves, it makes it bigger, brighter and the consumer will feel as if they bought themselves a present)

-A CD (A unique item which is free with the magazine- adds to the present effect)

-A Poster (Refer to above^)

-Shows timeless celebrities on the front cover- the Beatles (Being timeless results in them always being relevant, even with in developing world)

-Has a unique, matt cover (Looks more high-class as its better quality)

The success rate of a magazine can be measured through the readership and circulation count. This allows them too keep track of their buyers and the estimated amount of people who read it- if these numbers falls, they may further investigate to prevent an overall fall in their brand.

Overall, Mojo are a perfect example of a magazine doing well in this chaotic industry- they remain a classic.

Music Magazine- Key Concepts

For the following project, I've been asked to research, plan and create the front page, contents page and double page spread of a new music magazine. This can be of any genre and must have a clear and specific target audience. Afterwards I will evaluate my work.- as the brief has asked.

To launch my research, I've done an overview of the theme 'Music Magazines', by looking at their key concepts:

And the Journey Begins: Introduction Video

 Press play to view