Kerrang!

RESEARCH INTO AN EXISTING

MUSIC MAGAZINE

• First published on the 6th June 1981 by United Newspapers.

• At first, it was a one-off addition to ‘Sounds’ newspaper.

• Angus young from AC/DC was on it’s first front cover.

• At first, it was devoted to the new wave of British heavy metal, and the rise of hard rock acts.

• After the first issue, it was released on a monthly basis, but started to appear fortnightly. By 1987 it was published weekly.

• In 1991, it was sold from United Newspapers to EMAP.

• In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music magazine, featuring bands like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot.

• As emo and metalcore music becoming more popualr, karrang! Became further associated with this music type.

• In 2008, Kerrang! Was sold from EMAP to it’s current owner, Bauer Media Group. James McMahon (former editor of magazines such as NME) was appointed editor on 6th June 2011.

HISTORY

It is based in London and published in England, so the target audience is

British people.

It is priced at £3.53 so is probably aimed at people of social class C1C2 as this

is not too expensive, but not extremely cheap for a magazine either.

It would be aimed at people with a certain interest in rock and metal music.

The common age group for people who would have an interest in this

magazine would be young adults, around half their audience is aged between

15-24. the percentage for each different age group decreases the higher the

age gets from there, with only 0.01% of their audience being aged 65+

They roughly have the same amount of males and females reading their

magazine, with around 10% more males than females (45.3% female, 54.7%

male)

TARGET AUDIENCE

OWNERSHIP

When it was first published in 1981 it was owned by United Newspapers.

In 1991, it was sold to EMAP and later went on to become a very successful

magazine.

In 2008, EMAP sold it to Bauer Media Group, who still currently own the

magazine.

However, since Kerrang! Was sold to Bauer Media Group, the editor for it has

changed to James McMahon, who was appointed editor on the 6 th June

2011, exactly 30 years after Kerrang! Was first published. He has been the

editor of such magazines as NME.

CONTENT

There is a lot of content in Kerrang! Magazine, with some issues going up to 70+ pages.

Their content is usually split into separate sections. This typically includes; Feedback, News, Live Interviews, Features, K! Icons, Album Reviews, Gigs, Swag and

Famous Last Words.They would include feedback and album reviews so that if their audience isn’t sure on whether to buy something and feel they need an opinion, the magazine would provide

one.

There would be features, gigs, news and live interviews as the audience would clearly care about the music artists they are into and would want to know when they could go

see them live, hear anything important or even get to know more about them.

There would be extras such as K! icons, swag and famous last words to provide something extra for their target audience, to help stand out from their competitors and make them unique. This would mean their audience would be more likely to purchase

Kerrang! Than another magazine of a similar genre as Kerrang! Could provide something the other magazine couldn’t. This would make Kerrang! overall more

successful.