CASE STUDY

BACKGROUND DETAILS

Top of the pops published by BBC Magazines, launched in February 1995 ever since has been published monthly, It features alongside the TV show Top of The Pop which was cancelled in 2006 after 42 years of running, despite the TV show being axed the magazine is still being published to this day. The top of the pops magazine supplied the readers with features like chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters. Top of the pops is famous for giving girl group The Spice Girls their nicknames, with its originally marketed to be the missing link between NME and Smash Hits, after time this format gradually changed, rather than music content more of an appeal to the young girls of the generation. Through the years of this publication running there have been many editors including Peter Lorraine, Corinna Schaffer and Rosalie Snaith as well as contributing editors including Adam Tanswell, however the current editor of the magazine is Peter Hart.

Top Of The Pops – Michael Jackson Issue,19th July, 1995

-Logo, to show the brand and the identity.- Typical magazine convention of offering a gift.-Other well known artist to highlight the music feature of the magazine alongside the authority as they are big named artists.-Other well known artist to highlight the music feature of the magazine alongside the authority as they are big named artists.- purely for music updates and interviews.- simple colour scheme to go with a simple layout-Appealing to both genders- can relate to both old and young generation depending on their musical tastes.

An issue which was created when the magazine was first established.

Top Of The Pops- Little Mix Issue, 2012

An issue which was created recently.

-Logo is completely different, very plan and simple, as well as now being very iconic.- more than artist which is featured on the front cover -More than one image- purely for girls - lost the musical concern more based around gossip on the Artist which gives us the idea its for younger teenage girls.- pinks and purples highlights the target audience is girls

Top Of The Pops Today. The style of the top of the pops magazine as moved with the generation, its now targeted for younger teen girls in which have heart throb crushes as well as classy role models within these artist. A top of the pops issue would cost £3.50, consist of 42 pages of full packed gossip and information on artist alongside freebies, top of the pops is original know for its colour scheme of pink and yellow however in recent years has changed to a variety of colours, like pinks, blues and purples. Top of the pops follow original conventions of a music magazine however has a slight twist, as it also covers other information about as well as other teen celebrity role models such a Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart

This is content in which is usually seen within the magazine. These are both from the same issue which explains the correlation of the colours and bands.

Target audience The target audience in which top f the pops appeal towards are usually young females/ teenagers, they do this through many things such as the colour as well as the artist in which they display to the target audience the age range in which top of the pops aim it at is between 13- 20. its gender in which it appeals to is female however depending on the artist in which feature it could appeal to a male. It aims it towards young females that are interested music, fashion and gossip. As well as having many role models within the music industry in which are also seen as fashion icons.

Content within the top of the pops magazine we see various pieces of content most of the magazine is dedicated to the music and artist of that genre, however with top of the pops there is a side of gossip, as well as quizzes and prizes which allow the audience to interact with the magazine. There are various artist in which commonly feature these consist of ;-One direction-Tulisa -Cheryl Cole-The wanted and others.

The magazine also offers features like posters of the artist which feature within the magazine as well as free gifts such as sweets , lip gloss and others.

Style

The style of top of the pops is very different to other magazines like ‘kerrang’ and ‘xxl ‘however with pop magazines there is a correlation of the themes between them. For example with the colour themes between them pop magazines usually have very bright and vibrant colours this is to show us that its an upbeat and edgy magazine, most of the colours seen on a pop magazine are yellow and pink however there is sometime a hint of blue to create a more suttle look . The style of the magazine is very clutter and packed, with lots of images to show off the artist. The font is very girly and swirly making it appeal to a younger more girly audience rather than males. Within the front cover and content page as well as featured articles th use slang such as ‘omg’ or ‘lol’ which appeals to a teenage audience rather than older females.