Kerrang Magazine Full Analysis

Kerrang! magazine was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in The Sounds newspaper. The name Kerrang comes from the onomatopoeic word that derives from the noise when smashing an electric guitar. To start off with Kerrang was devoted to British Heavy Metal and the rising popularity of hard rock acts such as AC/DC who appeared on the first cover of Kerrang. Kerrang was originally launched as a monthly magazine but its high demand meant it could be printed fortnightly which eventually lead to the magazine being printed weekly. In the United Kingdom it is published by Bauer Consumer Media and has become the world’s biggest selling rock magazine.
Kerrang appeals to a specific audience as it highlights topics and themes that are relevant to people who listen to rock music and are interested in its background. Kerrang has identified its audience as “individually minded, independent of thought and musically experienced, an audience defined by attitude, passion and loyalty”. During the period of July 2008 to 31 December 2008 Kerrang’s circulation sales in the UK and Ireland went up to a high of 50,128 insuring that it would keep its lead in the market. These figures show Kerrang’s success despite its audience being from one demographic entity.
Kerrang’s audience is made up of 60% males and 40% females with its demographic profile falling into the social class D-C. The majority ethnicity of the readers is white British and its target population being aged 16-24. The psychographic profile is defined as people who wish to aspire to be respected among other people and wish to have a high paid job. The magazine costs £2.20 making it affordable to its target audience.
Kerrang aims itself at a young audience through the use of graphics, fonts, layouts and presentation. Kerrang is aimed at youths and their lifestyle; this is shown by Kerrang’s contemporary and up to date look by making the use of moder day fonts and graphics. Kerrang even goes as far as advertising certain products to attract their readers further. Kerrang even includes full page advertisements for music companies such as play.com and even HMV. The music magazine also promotes other companies that may appeal to their readers such as; PlayStation, Xbox, alternate clothing and gig ticket lines.
The majority of Kerrang’s readers are males so it will focus more heavily on attracting this gender. Kerrang attract its male audience by using content such a heavy metal and hard rock bands on the front cover of the magazine. These bands are often portrayed to be pulling angry or violent expression further attracting the male audience. The female readers are targeted by the use of male bands on free pull out posters and interviews.
Rock music is normally associated with an edgy, underground and individualist style which is made apparent in Kerrang through the use of dark colours shown in the bands clothing. Kerrang uses a significant colour pallet on every front cover; the main colours they use are white, black, yellow, red and green. These colours allow the front colour to be eye catching which is an important factor as bright colours will draw the readers in and want to read more. These colours are often continued throughout the magazine which helps create Kerrang’s overall feel of having a dark and moody ambiance.
The front cover of the magazine features a different band each week which will appeal to their readers as the rock genre is diverse. The angle of the image used on the front cover is often a close up shot. This is used to attract Kerrang’s readers by causing eye contact to form through the photograph. As mentioned before the bands clothing are normally dark coloured but also casual, this therefore forms the image that the magazine is casual and relaxed. The magazine also has a personal feel to it by the use of giving their readers the chance to write in to the magazine to share their views and opinions on live shows and album reviews. Kerrang also attracts their readers to continuously buy their magazine through the use of “letter of the week” as this will receive feedback from the magazine editor and win a £50 music voucher. Other pages such as competitions, reader’s poll, drawings and photos make the readers feel more involved with the magazine and will therefore want to continue buying the publication.
Nearly half of Kerrang’s profits come from the magazine’s advertisements and circulation revenue. Kerrang feature a system called “fly text”; this is where the magazine sends a text to its subscribers telling them when and where their favourite bands are playing. One survey showed that 83% of Kerrang readers bought an album as a direct effect of seeing and article in their magazine. This shows just how much advertisement plays an influence on the demographic audience.