Friday 4 March 2011

EG - Magazine Album Advert Research


As Gorillaz are a well known band worldwide, we wouldn't need to focus on smaller budget, or less well known music magazines.







Though as the bands creator, Murdoc Niccals is British, the bands largest fan base is most likely to be British as well.







For this reason we think that main stream British music magazines such as Q or NME would be the best to look into for our music magazine research.







As well as this both Q and NME have their own radio stations and also music channels which ties in nicely with the production of our music video for the track. This is an example of globalisation and how companies are expanding from their original sources, out into other aspects of the media and entertainment industry.

Both these magazines don't specialise into one specific genre of music either which makes them ideal as our dance remix of a Hip Hop track is harder to specify as one set genre, and therefore focus our attention on one type of magazine.

Existing Examples of Album Adverts:


We scanned some full page album adverts from a 2009 copy of Q magazine.






  • A single full page album advert for the band Lightning Seeds
  • Basic information included - Album title, band name, available formats 'CD/DOWNLOAD', release date, web address, record label.
  • Band name and Album title are equal in size
  • Photographic imagery - the same as album cover






  • A single full page album advert for the band Manic Street Preachers
  • Information included - Band name, album title, release date, Names of band members and other + their job roles, available formats 'CD / DELUXE 2CD / LP/ DOWNLOAD, wed address, record label, advertises amazon.co.uk as a way to purchase the album.
  • Band name is larger than Album title
  • Imagery is of a professional painting by an artist- the same as album cover






  • A single full page advert for the band Maximo Park
  • Information included - Band name, album title, release date, available limited edition CD including performance footage, wed address.
  • Also advertises new single release, and available formats of that
  • Album title is larger than band name
  • Font of band name is recognisable of their image/brand
  • Imagery is computer generated - the same as album cover






  • A single full page advert for the band The Enemy
  • Baic information included - Band name, album title, featuring - 'song title', available formats 'CD/Special Edition/Digital, already released, wed address
  • Band name and album title are the same size
  • Imagery is computer generated - the same as album cover






  • A single full page advert for the band Green Day
  • Basic information included - Band name, album title, available format, release date, includes - 'song title', web address.
  • Advertises what their website has to offer
  • Has an introductory sentence 'The wait is finally over...'
  • Band name is larger than album title
  • Font of band name is recognisable of their image/brand
  • Imagery is of graffiti art - the same as album cover.






  • A single full page advert for the band Depeche Mode
  • Information included - Band name, album title, already released, available formats - 'CD / CD+DVD / VINYL+CD / BOXSET / DOWNLOAD', tour dates and venues, web address.
  • This advert is also promoting the bands tour and advertises where to purchase tickets
  • Font of band name is a recognisable link to their recent comeback and 'tour of the universe' tour in 2009
  • Imagery is computer generated - the same as album cover
  • Also includes smaller images of album cover.






  • A single full page advert for the artist Bob Dylan
  • Information included - Artist name, album title, album description 'studio album', release date, available formats - 'CD / DELUXE CD / VINYL / DOWNLOAD', wed address, record label.
  • Advertises HMV as a place to purchase the album.
  • Artist name is larger than album title
  • Photographic imagery - the same as album cover



General Codes and Conventions of Magazine Album Adverts :


  • include band / Artist name
  • include album title
  • give a release date
  • inform of available formats
  • include a web address
  • advertise songs it includes
  • advertise where to buy album
  • match imagery to album cover or use photographs of album cover on advert



Some less well know bands had smaller half, or quarter page album adverts in the magazine such as:
















As these bands are less well known, they probably are unable to afford a full page spread which in Q magazine costs £9,156 [statistics from www.bauermedia.co.uk/ratecard]







However, as Gorillaz are equally as well known as some of the larger bands such as 'The Enemy' or  'Green Day' they would be able to afford a full page spread in a more popular British music magazine.



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