Title notes and feedback

My possible titles were: Now Indie, Indie Weekly, Indie Now and Indie Music For You. I decided to go with Now Indie after analysing my survey results and seeing that the majority of my responders preferred this title over the other options. These responders were in my target audience so this gave me even further reason to use this title in my work.

House style mood board

When creating my mood board I made sure to include a variation of magazine covers, fonts and mastheads. This gave me a better understanding on how house styles are established through colour and typography. You are able to see the difference between the high and low production value magazines by the use of colour and the quality of the images. The photographs with a plain background with the shot in focus have high production values, because the magazines can afford to have professional photo-shoots of celebrities for every issue. The low production value magazines usually use bright, bold colours, but this is not always the case, as evidenced by the Q Magazine logo pictured in the bottom right of my mood board. All of the fonts, despite the high or low production  values, are in capital letters to stand out.

There is quite a variation of colours but black, red and blue are the main colours present on my mood board. These are the colours I want to include across my magazine.

Font styles

I am aiming to use quite masculine fonts to make sure my magazine appeals to both genders. Using a female throughout my magazine will appeal to the female members in my audience because it gives them someone to relate to, but I am trying to avoid using any femininity through typography and colour. This is why I am focusing on using fonts like the ones below (at the bottom of the page) which are not seen as too feminine or too masculine, so it wont appeal to just one gender in the audience. For the double page spread the text will need to be quite small to ensure that all of the information fits onto one page. I will have two columns in my double page spread, because when considering how the page will fold I decided to have the main image take up half the page, and the text and masthead to take up the other half. I am also considering using a drop cap or an initial letter at the beginning of my article to give my double page spread a more sophisticated appearance.

The two fonts below are included to show examples of the sort of font I am wanting for my masthead. I am using my understanding on how some fonts can look too masculine or feminine to make sure I avoid using these fonts, which will ensure that I am appealing to both genders. In terms of the two fonts pictured below, I would be more likely to choose the top font because it is bolder and capitalised, whereas the bottom font isn't in capital letters so it doesn't stand out as much.

Masthead design and feedback

After thoughtful consideration I decided to use the bottom right masthead in my magazine, because the bolder font makes it stand out more, which makes it gain more attention. The sans serif used makes it look more informal, because although formality usually connotes professionalism, using sans serif will attract the audience because the masthead looks more friendly and welcoming. The colour choices I am mostly likely to use are black or white, although it is more likely I will use black because I wanted the background to be white, to follow genre conventions and connote high production values.  I will also ensure that the masthead I am using will be in capital letters, to emphasise it and gain more attention. 

Photoshoot planning

Images I will need for my magazine:

• Front cover - One medium close up shot of an individual looking directly at the camera. There needs to be a neutral facial expression shown and the shot needs to be in focus. If I use a female I may consider presenting her in a slightly sexualised manner to follow typical genre conventions.
• Contents page - One medium shot of the same student or a different student to show variation within my magazine. I may also incorporate smaller images from my photoshoot within the main features section.
• Double Page Spread - One long shot and two medium shots - The long shot will be used as the main image and the two medium shots will be used as side images in the article. Maybe a mix of facial expressions, such as straight faced in one image and laughing in another, which will connote happiness, thus showing that my magazine isn't totally serious.

• Location - The location is most likely to be in the photography studio based up at Woods Browning. This way, I can ensure that the lighting is of a high quality and the shots are in focus due to the use of a professional camera.
• Costume - Indie clothing will need to be worn to represent the genre (any casual clothing like a dress, a checkered shirt with shorts/jeans etc.)
• Person - My person can either be a boy or a girl, it doesn't really matter as most indie music magazine target audiences are aimed at both genders equally.
• Representation - A white background will be needed to be used throughout my shoot to show professionalism and connote high production values.
• Camera shot - The student needs to be looking directly at the camera and every shot needs to be in focus. The camera angle is likely to be eye level to make the audience feel more personally involved with the student and magazine.

Institution Notes

I have chosen Anthem Publishing to publish my magazine because although they don't typically publish magazines relating to my chosen sub-genre of music, they publish a variety of different music genre magazines which target similar audiences to mine (both genders in social grades C1 - D aged 17-24). It is also not one of the massively known worldwide companies, such as Baeur Media, that use famous celebrities consistently in their high production value magazines.

Typography Analysis

• Style - The style of the typography is very neat and professional, and both the masthead and cover lines are all in capital letters for emphasis and attention. 
• Font type - The font has a very tidy style, which connotes professionalism and sophistication
• Range of fonts - It looks like the magazine uses the same font for all of the front cover text, which suggests that this amount of consistency will be present all throughout the magazine. 
• Size - The masthead is the most important typography feature, so this is the largest piece of text.
• Colour - The red and purple is a common feature throughout all of the typography, which also consistency, which will create a sense of familiarity with the audience. Red connotes lust and danger which contrasts with the white background and maybe represents the female in the main image. Purple connotes luxury and power, which could also be a representation of the female.
• Case - All of the typography is in capital letters for emphasis.

• Masthead - The masthead follows genre conventions by being all in capital letters to grab attention from the audience, as well as the rest of the text. The colour used for the masthead is purple, which connotes extravagance and power. This gives further connotations of high production values.
• Cover lines - The cover lines follow typical genre conventions by just including names of indie musicians. This is also used in high production value magazines such as Q magazine. The cover lines are positioned around the main image to not take too much attention away from the main subject, yet they gain enough attention to inform the audience on what the magazine will include. The cover lines are a mixture of black and red, which are two colours which connote power, which is maybe a representation for what the magazine is trying to portray. The font used for the cover lines looks professional and the style of it makes it look like it has been outlined in bold for emphasis.
• Puffs/plugs - A photographic puff is used in the front cover by showing a female musician related to the magazines cover. This can be seen as a puff because it is presenting her in a promotional way. Every cover line could be seen as a puff because it is promoting musicians relating to the magazines chosen genre.
• Small print - The small print positioned above the barcode is all in capitals to show the audience that despite its small size, it is still important information. The font is simple to show professionalism.

• Style - The style of the typography is very neat and professional, which adds to the organisation of the image positioning and layout.
• Font type - It looks like there are two different fonts used - one for the subheadings and one for the contents and numbers. It is difficult to make out the contents typography but it looks like all of the text on the page is in capital letters. The slashes used after the some of the subheadings has maybe been done to give the contents page a  more interesting appearance. The main features and bonus features are positioned down the right hand side of the page, which has most likely been done because this is the first thing the audiences vision will be drawn to when they open the magazine.
• Range of fonts - There are two different fonts used throughout the contents page. Sans serif is used for all the font to make the contents page look professional. 
• Case - The masthead and subheadings are all in capital letters to them stand out more from the small lines of text. The small text (and page numbers) that contains information about what the magazine will include is all in a plain font with lower case letters. This has been done to make the subheadings stand out more.
• Size - The subheadings are the largest pieces of text to gain the audiences attention and inform them on the different categories the featured articles are divided into.
• Colour - Apart from the masthead and issue number, all of the text is black to contrast and stand out from the white background.

• Heading - The heading is all in capital letters to stand out. The font has a plain style, which connotes sophistication.
• Subheads - The subheadings are all emphasised by being large in size and capital letters. Forward slashes are used to make sure there is no white space between the text.
• Small print - Aside from the contents page information, there is no other small print presented on the page. This information is in a plain font with black text to make the appearance of the contents page overall look more professional and follow typical conventions created beforehand.

Style - The style is very professional - the typography is very small and plain text is used to make sure that all of the information fits into the double page spread without disrupting the structured layout.
Font type - The font is sans serif, to make it look professional to connote high production values. It also establishes a house style throughout the magazine.
Range of fonts - There only appears to be one font used throughout the DPS, and it has been decreased/increased in size depending on its purpose.
Size - The size of the text depends on what it is used for - the masthead is the biggest piece of text because it wants to grab the audiences attention and the text used for the article is of a small size to fit all of the information into the designated space.
Colour - The majority of the text is black to stand out against the white background, however the quote is blue to fit in with the occasional graphology presented in the DPS.
Case - The article follows typical conventions - the masthead is in capital letters for emphasis, and the text is in lower case letters to show formality.

• Heading - The heading is made the biggest feature to draw the audiences attention to it as soon as they will open the magazine. The typography is plain to connote professionalism and high production values.
• Subheads - There are no subheadings present on the DPS, but the article is split up by dividing it into paragraphs. This has been done to separate the information and not to bore the audience by not placing a giant section of text onto the page in the form of an essay. Graphology is used at the start of each paragraph to highlight the first letter of each section.
• Byline - Because of the images low quality it is difficult to make out the byline, but it looks as though the authors name may be at the bottom right of the DPS.  
• Pull Quotes - There is one pull quote used near the centre of the article to make the appearance of the article more interesting.
• Small print - Aside from the article text and byline, there is not other small print present on the DPS. The text in the article is black to contrast with the plain background.

From my understanding on typical genre conventions for indie music magazines, I know that the byline is either positioned at the bottom of the page or just before the article begins. The style is usually professional to connote high production values, and the text is consistently black to show professionalism. Every heading/masthead used is in capital letters to grab the audiences attention. If an article is featured on a double page spread, it is usually spilt up into paragraphs to let the audience know that each section contains information about a different topic relating the featured indie artist. Pull Quotes are also used often. Puffs/plugs are used in the form of cover lines or an image/several images for promotional purposes. A sans serif font is used throughout the magazine to connote professionalism and sophistication. It also establishes a house style, as it suggests that every page in the magazine will use the same typography. These are all features I would be able to apply to my own work.

Initial design ideas

My magazine will represent the Indie music genre, and I will either photograph an individual person or group of people as a representation of an Indie artist or band. It will cover a wide range of relevant content and will engage with the audience by encouraging them to go on social media to see sneak peeks/behind the scene content, as well as offering them prizes such as free concert tickets or merchandise.

The 3 main title ideas i was considering were 'Now Indie', 'Indie Now' and 'Indie Weekly'. The title i choose will all be in capital letters to emphasise the text and to follow genre conventions. My survey results showed me that Now Indie was the most popular option, so this is the title I may choose.This is also the title I think will suit my magazine the most, because it tells my audience the genre of my magazine and it also shows them that it is modern, and therefore more relevant to today.

Depending on whether I use one individual person or a group of people, my 3 ideas for a main image is either a close up of an individual person, and either a medium or long shot of a group of people representing an Indie band. I would only use a close up because this is following typical genre conventions, and I would use different camera angles for a group as experimentation, and afterwards I would evaluate the effectiveness of each shot.

After studying many Indie music magazine covers, this showed me that typical magazine cover lines are not commonly used for Indie music magazines. For example in almost every pop magazine similar titles are used for every cover, such as "Will Harry ask you out?", "Would JLS date you?" and "What goes your crush really think of you?" etc. This however is not the case with Indie music magazines, as it tends to be only the names of bands or artists that appear on different front covers. This is why I have decided to use a variation of both Indie solo artists and bands, and i will ensure that they are modern, well known ones that my audience should be familiar with. The musicians I was thinking of using are:Arctic Monkeys (Although the younger members of my audience may not be familiar with most of their music, it is highly possible that they will be able to recognise at least one of their songs), Muse, Ellie Goulding and ................. The results from my survey showed that the majority of my audience prefer both Indie music solo artists and bands.

TA survey and results

Every person that responded to my survey was a female, which gives me an unbalanced view of the audience. This may mean that I need to make my magazine more feminine in order to appeal to these people.



All of my respondents belong in the same age category, which doesn't give me a varied age range, however it does show me that my magazine is targeting the right audience.











This tells me that different people obviously have different preferences to music, but the genres selected are quite similar to each other which tells me that I maybe need to create an indie- pop style music magazine.

The majority of my responders preferred the title 'Now Indie' which shows me that this is the title I need to use for my music magazine.






















The majority of responders said they would prefer free merchandise, which tells me that I need to include this on my magazine front cover.



















The majority of responses said they are likely to pay £3-£4 for a music magazine, which shows that I need to price my magazine to a value between this range.






The majority of my responders said they never buy music magazines which doesn't help me with my research, but I did receive a 'monthly' response which suggests that I* should publish my magazine monthly. However most magazines published monthly are ones with high production values, because they are targeting an audience of high social classes.





















This question is very vague, and obviously confused some of my responders because they clicked the wrong option. I did however receive one suggestion about including interviews and posters for my double page spread. Interviews would be relevant for my DPS, but posters are more likely to be advertised as a free feature on the front cover instead of used as a feature for my magazine contents.















This shows that I should maybe include a mixture of solo artists and bands to ensure that my magazine only shows one side of the genre, and to appeal to the majority of my audience.













Because the majority of the responders use online music websites, I may try and use social media in my magazine to appeal to anyone else in my audience that also uses music websites.

Representation Analysis

This Indie Music Magazine cover supports Laura Mulvey's theory of how women are sexualised in order to appeal to the male audience. This theory is known as 'The Male Gaze' and this cover supports this theory by including a shirtless female looking directly at the camera. The fact that she is shirtless shows that she is being used as an 'erotic object of desire', as theorised by Laura Mulvey, and her body language is also very provocative. She is being sexualised to make heterosexual males want to purchase the magazine to see more of her. The sexualisation is also supported by the colour red being used frequently on the cover, as red connotes lust and passion.

In terms of my own magazine, I may consider using a female character in a sexualised (yet subtle) way to ensure that the majority of males in my audience will be interested in my magazine.























This magazine cover supports Stanley Halls theory, because the girl has a facial expression that could connote 'a state of depression'. Also, the cover line used also connotes violence because it insinuates something relating to murder until you realise that the phrase is being used in relation to the camera.
The violent expression may also be linked to support Stanley Halls theory in the way that he says 'criminal activity increases between the ages of 12 & 24'. The cover also supports Osgerby's theory because the teenager is being represented as a 'mixed metaphor' - both fun and trouble.

In terms of my own magazine, I may try and show a 'mixed metaphor' representation of teenagers, because this will imply that the teenager I use is fun, which will appeal to the younger members in my audience.

When searching for Indie magazine covers that support/disrupt Sarita Malik's theory, I was unable to find a magazine cover that had a Black or Asian person featured on the front cover. This shows support for Sarita Malik's theory, because 'Black and Asian audiences are still not sufficiently catered for'. The majority of the Indie Magazines I studied were British, and they all had a white solo artist/band on the front cover. This shows further support for Sarita Malik's theory, as it shows that 'the reality of a lived multi-culturalism is not represented in the British media'. Also, the cover lines feature bands/artists that are all white people.  This discrimination against minority groups shows support for Sivanandan's theory of 'the whole society is unbalanced against us' because they are not being represented in an equal measure to the representation of white people.

In terms of my own magazine, I may try and disrupt Sarita Malik's theory by not further discriminating against Black and Asian people. However, as stated previously, I am considering having a slightly sexualised female character for my cover, so using a female Black/Asian person sexually may increase the negative image some people have for these groups of people, which is not something I want to do.




















This cover supports Andy Medhurst's theory because you are unable to see sexuality and 'without someone telling you their sexuality you have no way of knowing'. This cover shows evidence for this because Adam Lambert is an openly gay celebrity, but you have no way of knowing this just by looking at this cover. You could argue that you are able to guess his sexuality because he looks slightly feminine, but because he is not living up to the stereotypes gay men are categorised into, you can't know his sexuality just by looking at him. This cover could also disrupt Medhurst's theory because the magnification process isn't being used.

In terms of my own magazine, it doesn't matter so much whether I use a heterosexual or homosexual person for my magazine, because my audience wont be able to know their sexuality just by looking at them. This is also not what I want the audience to focus on.




This cover supports Higson's' theory because although the image doesn't show any patriotical features such as the Union Jack, all of the bands and artists featured on the main cover are all of a British nationality. This shows that the audience for this magazine mainly consists of British readers. However, many of the magazines have a variation of both British and American artists, with the exception of Q magazine, which only seems to focus on British musicians.

In terms of my own magazine, I did definitely want to include British artists, as I haven't considered incorporating bands of different nationalities in my magazine. This is because my magazine will be targeting British readers.





This cover supports Keith Gandal's theory because extreme mise-en-scene is used in this image to make the singer look different to the norm. This makes it less relatable to the middle and lower classes, because the culture and fashion is very different. This also supports Medhursts theory
because it presents middle and lower class people as 'awful because they aren't like us'.

In terms of my own magazine, I would want my person to be more relatable than the celebrity used on this magazine. I wouldn't want to use extreme mise-en-scene in my photoshoot, because this might make my magazine less relatable for the audience.




This cover supports Halls theory because this indie magazine is aimed around the B-C social classes, and people from these classes will find it difficult to relate to the celebrities presented on this front cover, especially because they are all smartly dressed. They also look like they have a lot of money, which makes them more relatable to people in the higher social classes, and less relatable for those in the lower social classes. This is why magazines with lower production values target members from the lower classes, because they use more rebellious, informally dressed music stars as they are more relatable.

I couldn't find any magazine covers that target a working class audience, which could support Richard Butsch's theory because it shows that working class males aren't respected enough to be included on the front of magazines. This is maybe because they are 'incompetent' and 'flawed'.

In terms of my own magazine, I would want my person/people to look more 'ordinary' in order to make them more relatable to the audience. Also, my magazine will have low production values as I don't have the equipment available to be able to make my magazine to the same standard as a professional high production value magazine such as Q magazine.

Sub- genre Conventions

Front Page:

• Close up shot of a student looking directly at the camera with a neutral facial expression
• The clothing worn by the celebrities on the covers I looked at was difficult to make out, but I would want my student to wear clothes relating to the indie genre to reinforce my understanding on the conventions
• Plain background - this is done frequently by the magazine front covers I studied, because it connotes high production values
• The name of the magazine is positioned at the top of the page, usually in the left corner
• All of the cover lines are located down one side of the page
• The name of the featured artist is at the bottom of the page in capital letters, usually in a bold colour such as white or black
• The barcode is either positioned at the bottom left or bottom right of the page
• The price, date and issue number are usually located next to the barcode
• The common colours that appeared frequently throughout the front covers I looked at were black, white and red
• The typography is all in capital letters to attract attention and make the cover stand out more
• The fonts used are very basic to give the magazine an older, more sophisticated appearance
• The cover lines don't give too much information about the featured articles, but instead include famous music artist names to appeal to its audience and gain their interest
• The professional lighting suggests that the photos have been taken in a studio. The lighting is used the highlight the celebrities face to show that she is the most important feature. I might experiment with this when I take my own photographs

Contents Page:

• Similar colours used to the front cover, with white typically being used as the background with black text used as a colour contrast
• Structured layout - there is no overlapping of any kind and the different categories have clear lines to divide themselves
• The masthead is positioned at the top of the page, with the name of the magazine in capital letters. The background is usually black with white text to emphasise the text and make it stand out more
• Subheadings are occasionally used in some contents pages but not frequently enough to categorise it as a common convention. If subheadings are used, they use the opposite colours used as the ones used on the contents page. For example, if the contents page has a white background with black text. the subheading caption will have a black background and white text
• There is usually one main image (a close up/medium close up shot) positioned either in the centre of the page or at the centre right of the page
• The date of the magazine is located at the top of the page alongside the masthead

Double Page Spread:

• The main image is either a close up or medium shot of the artist featured on both the cover page and contents page to emphasise familiarity with the audience
• The mise-en-scene is appropriate to the genre of the magazine. This is why I will ensure that my photoshoot follows the common conventions used for indie music magazines. For example, I will make sure the clothing worn by my student is of the indie related nature 
• The same colours are used to follow conventions (black, white and red). This connotes high production values, because it shows professionalism and sophistication
• The text featured in the article is black to show professionalism and to stand out
• A large letter is used at the beginning of the article to give the DPS a more stylish appearance
• The main image usually dominates the DPS so the article isn't the biggest feature. This has maybe been done to make sure the audience are still intrigued with the magazine and don't become disinterested after seeing a lengthy paragraph of text 
• Page numbers are positioned in the conventional places used by every kind of magazine

Target Audience Research and Profile

Q magazine is aimed at an older adult audience of both genders after the founders, Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were disappointed by the music press at the time, as they felt they were ignoring a generation of older music buyers.

As seen above, i researched Q magazines audience demographics to see the ratio of males to females, and how old the majority of the audience is. As evidenced by the large circulation figure, you are able to infer how popular Q magazine is in The UK. I also found a pie chart that illustrated Q magazines social classes. The larger percentage is made up of ABC1 readers, which shows that Q magazine is aimed at members of a high social class.

As seen above, NME magazine is predominantly aimed at male adults, like Q Magazine. Around half the audience are categorised into the social classes ABC1. The circulation figure is significantly lower than Q magazines, which shows that it is less well known and popular. The median age is also lower than the median age for Q magazine. 

Looking at these magazines demographics gave me a better understanding on how these music magazines are aimed at both genders - they are both primarily aimed at males. Statistically, this tells me that a higher percentage of males are more likely to buy these magazines. This is something I might need to consider when creating my own music magazine, as ideally I would like it to appeal to both males and females.

There is a number of ways in which a magazines target audience can be identified, such as the music genre, production values, the colours used, the social classes and income of consumers etc. A magazine can also look at demographics and psychographics to help them decide on how to represent their products depending on who purchases and reads them. For example, if the majority of a magazines audience belong in the social classes A and B, the magazine will have high production values and will most likely to be published once a month, as opposed to every week.

Social classes are broken down into 6 categories:

Both of the magazines I looked at in my sub-genre offered mixed results, because after researching and studying both the magazines demographics, I discovered that the majority (around 72%) of Q magazine consists of the ABC1 social classes, whereas NME magazines audience was made up of about 47% of the ABC1 social classes. NME has lower production values than Q magazine, so it is more realistic and practical for me to aim for their standards.

With my own music magazine I mainly want to focus on the C1 and C2 social classes, with the exclusion of the E class as they are not likely to have a disposable income high enough to purchase my magazine on a regular basis. I also don't want to focus on the A and B social classes, as they will expect a magazine with high production values, such as glossy magazines who use professional photoshoots of popular celebrities for their cover page and content. I don't have the materials and equipment to make my magazine look as professional as a magazine like Q magazine or Vogue.

Audience profiling

In order to understand how audience profiling works and how to create my own, I researched audience profiles belonging to my sub genre.

The image above is low quality so parts of it are difficult to make out, but it shows the audience profile created by and for Q magazine. Looking at this example gave me a good idea on what topics to include for my own profile. For example, Q magazine have used a male character because their target audience is dominantly males.

For NME magazine I was unable to find a official audience profile, so I continued looking until I found the closest thing I could find with relevance and importance. 

This audience profile is fairly similar to the one for Q magazine in the way that they have similar interests, such as using digital technology and enjoying live music. This shows me that the magazines are very similar in the way that they target and appeal to their audiences.

My audience profile

Matt is 18 and lives in Manchester. Matt is a bit of an innovator, and likes to seek new and different things for him to enjoy. He is a keen music fan and enjoys going to music festivals with his mates. He attends college so doesn't have much money, but with his part time job he is able to afford the latest albums of his favourite artists every month. He loves reading music magazines to discover new artists and music, and enjoys all the free stuff that comes with it, especially when the magazines advertise free concert/festival tickets.

Matt is a regular user of the latest digital technology, and has downloaded several music apps so he is able to listen to his favourite music on the go. He is a keen user of social networking sites, and is more than happy to invite his mates round for some beers whilst he plays his favourite tunes on his Spotify app.

As a enthusiastic music festival goer, Matt enjoys the experience of live music, and is keen to go to well known British music venues, such as Leeds and Glastonbury. Matt is seen as an explorer, and is often the first to try out new experiences, as he is driven by discovery. He has a close relationship with all the friends in his social circle, and is more than happy to go to concerts and festivals with them when he gets the chance. Matt is a bit of a trendie amongst his friends, and enjoys receiving their admiration for his open outlook on life. They all have similar interests, such as playing football, gaming and watching films. Matt is also a bit of an aspirer, as he can be materialistic and is often attracted to how something looks, rather than what it has to offer. Content is important to him but not as much as appearance.

Institutions Research

IPC Media is a major print publisher that owns a large variety of magazines, such as TV Weekly,  Marie Claire and NME. As from 2016, the circulation figure for NME magazine is 307,217.

Bauer media is a European based media company that manages a portfolio of over 600 magazines, including Q Magazine and Kerrang! As from 2015, the circulation figure for Q magazine is 44, 050. As from 2015, the circulation for Kerrang! Magazine is 24,207.

ISSUU digital publishing is an online publishing platform for different types of magazines, catalogues and papers.

FACT Magazine covers a wide range of UK, US and international music and youth culture, with a particular focus on pop electronic, rap and experimental artists. It was originally published as a print magazine from 2003 onwards, but went digital in 2007. FACT Magazine is published by VF publishing.

Under the Radar is an independently published music magazine founded in 2001. It also has a website that features web-exclusive reviews, news and interviews. As from 2016, Under the radar magazine has a circulation figure of 65,000.

The Fly Magazine was published by MAMA & Company until 2014, where it released its final copy before ceasing publication. The magazine started as a listings leaflet in Camden, North London, for the Barfly music venue on Chalk Farm Road. In 1999, it went national. It was A5 sized, and was distributed around record shops, bars and venues around the United Kingdom. The magazine had a review section featuring new releases and live concert reviews. The remainder of the magazine typically featured new bands alongside more established acts in the pages of its new bands section, titled 'OnesToWatch', which was sponsored by Levis until 2010.

The Fly Magazine relaunched its website in April 2008, which contained a virtual magazine section and online archive of previous issues. In Summer 2008,  a new name for the website was launched, The Courtyard, in which bands were filmed playing stripped-down versions of songs in the courtyard outside The Fly Magazines office. Some of the bands/artists who performed are Everything Everything (Indie Rock), The Cribs (Indie Rock), Black lips (Punk/Indie rock), The Kooks (Indie Pop) and Jake Bugg (Indie Folk). The sessions were renamed The Fly sessions in 2012, where the website was then relaunched again.

In 2008, the magazines circulation increased to 105,212. However, by mid-2013, its readership had almost halved to 55,580. The Fly Magazine received its funding through advertisement revenue and subscribers.

All of these magazines receive their funding from advertisements and customers; either from subscriptions or over the counter.

Key differences between online and print music magazines:

• Cost - Overall, most online media is free and usually less expensive than viewing print media.
• Ad revenue - It was reported in September 2012 that revenue from print advertisements is falling while online ad revenue grows. However there are advertisers who prefer print. In many cases, a marketers advertisements spread across both print and online media.
• Environmental impact - Print publishers pollute more from the making and distributing of their product. However, online publishers pollute more from requiring readers to use energy while online, and to use devices that are manufactured in facilities which emit heavy amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
• Space - Online magazines have an infinite amount of pages, which means space is not an issue. With print magazines, the length of the articles has to be in accordance with the page length.
• Appeal - Online music magazines don't tend to carry the same amount of appeal as print music magazines. Many people prefer to hold magazines and enjoy the ability to take them anywhere e.g on a train, aeroplane etc. Also, many print magazines usually offer some kind of free product that will attract the audience and make them want to buy the magazine.
• Attention - When looking at online articles, people tend to scan over information rather than take the time to read it carefully.
• Interactivity - With online magazines, there is more opportunity to interact with the magazine. For example 'Letters to the editor' allows the audience to tell the magazine their views and opinions about certain topics. This also happens with print magazines, but with online magazines communication is more instant and accessible for the audience.
• Layout - Print magazines are only able to be designed in a way that fits to paper. Whereas an online magazine can afford to change the layout to some extent - it can incorporate a variety of extra features such as moving images and videos that could not be found within a print publication.

A print music magazine would be able to promote a online music magazine in the way that it could include social media features that would encourage the audience to go online. For example, for a music magazine promoting a concert, they might include a link to an online magazine that shows behind the scenes footage and exclusive interviews with the band members. This can also be used for interactivity, as the magazine may have interactive features that encourage the audience to go online and vice versa.

Examples of Other Indie Music Magazines and their Publishers:

• The Wire (Independent magazine so independently published)
• Mojo Magazine (initially published by Emap, and by Bauer since January 2008)