Research and Planning
Before I start to excitingly draft ideas for my music magazine I will investigate two music magazines currently on sale in Britain; Top of the Pops, and Q. These magazines are notoriously well known and popular in Britain. There magazine names are both edgy and catchy.
Top of the pops

Top of the pops was once a British music chart television programme made by the BBC. In 1990 the programme was sold to several foreign broadcasters and at one point it was nearly shown in 100 countries. Editions of the programme from the 1970s are repeated on BBC4. Top of the Pops had evolved into a successful 21st century music magazine which looks similar to a pop/fashion magazine symbolising it wasn't just chart music the magazine had in its contents. It is a monthly publication published by BBC magazines. The magazine was launched in 1995 and was known for giving the Spice Girls their nicknames! The national readership survey (http://www.nrs.co.uk/) states that this magazine is currently read by 35,974. The current target audience for this magazine would be tweens around 11-15. 0.2% Of these readers are classed in the socio economic group ABC1. 70% of readers are aged between 15-34.

The house style of the magazine is very suited towards its typical target audience e.g. young girls. The colour scheme is mainly pastel colours and bubble type font which makes it very young and funky. The magazines typography is in sans serif font always therefore sticking to a house style.

The BBC are a huge media institution. They distribute and produce the magazine independently.

The magazine represents social groups in a very good way. The media are known for making pop stars sexualised but this magazine presents pure innocence and the good of celebrities.


Interestingly the magazine seems to highlight areas in contrast to others, what they think is important will be highlighted especially in the contents section.