Top of the Pops magazine was launched in 1995 by BBC Magazines to complement the TV show of the same name. Over the years, the magazine shifted its focus from music content to articles about artists' personal lives and gossip that appealed more to teenage girls. It also changed its color scheme from yellow and pink to pinks, blues, and purples. While the TV show was cancelled in 2006, the magazine continues to be published today targeting 13 to 20 year old females with coverage of popular artists and free gifts.
2. 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.
4. 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.
5. Top Of The Pops- Little Mix Issue,
2012
-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
An issue which was created recently.
6. 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
7. 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.
8. 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.
10. 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.
12. 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.