What are the differences and similarities between rock music magazines e.g. Advertisements, reviews, marketing ploys/tactics?

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Kevin Garrod

English Media Coursework

Question: What are the differences and similarities between rock music magazines e.g. Advertisements, reviews, marketing ploys/tactics?

In the world of music media there are many different magazines for all types and genres of music.  In this piece of coursework I shall be exploring the different elements that make up these magazines.  In particular I shall be exploring (in basic language) rock music magazines.  I have also chosen to compare ‘Kerrang’, which is a commercial magazine, to ‘Terrorizer’ which is not as well known but is still a popular magazine.

Firstly we can see a difference in the two magazines without even opening a page.  ‘Kerrang’, the more commercial magazine, is a4 paper size where as ‘Terrorizer’, the less well known magazine, is ever so slightly larger, approximately by one centimetre length and width ways.  This gives off the impression that if compared to newspapers, ‘Kerrang’ would be ‘The Sun’ of the rock music world, being a tabloid always taking a very strong opinion on situations and always looking at the stories which appeal to a ‘mainstream’ fan.  I think that ‘Terrorizer’ would be the ‘Independent’ of the rock music world as it is a much more ‘upper class’ magazine and the ‘Independent’ is a slightly bigger paper compared to ‘The Sun’.

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Next if we look at the front page of each magazine we can see many similarities. Both have a masthead and a slogan.  The slogans for both have a theme of music. ‘Kerrang’s’ being ‘Life is Loud’ and ‘Terrorizer’s’ being ‘Extreme Music-No Boundaries’.  Both are short and have an ‘in your face’ atmosphere surrounding them.  Both have Headlines and sub headlines which tackle some of the same bands but ‘Terrorizer’ choose to use and feature bands which play more extreme forms and genres of music hence the slogan.  Both have the whole page covered with one single photo of ...

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