Mojo Analysis

Background Research

Front Page Analysis

'Mojo' connotes magic, implying something exciting and special about the magazine, to attract buyers, or even about the music inside, to attract those with a passion, who really see music as something magical. Such passionate people are described as Mojo's ideal readers by Bauer.

Mojo is published by Bauer Media. Its circulation is 70,667, with readership of 210,000 and a mean reading age of 37. The ideal Mojo reader is described as a 37 year old man, very passionate about music and a musician himself. He 'loves nothing more' than shopping for independent records. and buys music in all formats, from vinyl to downloads. His iPod contains an incredible variety of musical genres, ands his heroes are David Bowie and Jimmy Page. He has palyed guitar from a young age, and will sometimes meet up with friends for jam sessions. He goes to many gigs, and is equally likely to attend small festivals as bigger ones such as Glastonbury. He has children and a partner, and will sometimes invite friends for dinner, where they will discuss music, books and films. One thing which comes through in all three of the Bauer music magazines I have analysed is a deep passion for music in their readers; these magazines are not aimed at casual music fans. This could potentially be a gap in the market, or perhaps it simply shows that casual fans are not as inclined to read music magazines. The magazine costs ? (CALCULTAION HERE). It is published monthly, and as such has a thick cover and fine print quality.

Mojo's masthead is very large, and the use of such a short word allows the masthead to be blown up very large whilst only using one line. The area this masthead takes up is enormous, immediately grabbing the eyes of potential buyers, and the title itself has a two-syllable rhyme to it which is pleasing to say and read. The word is also made to look three-dimensional, to give a more striking visual impact. The masthead has a strapline, 'the music magazine,' which serves two purposes' firstly, it establishes to new readers what the magazine is actually about, something which the title does not necessarily make obvious, but secondly the use of 'the' implies it is the best or only true music magazine there is. 'Mojo' is written in a bold sans-serif font, in order to fill as much space as possible with a short word, connote modernity, and have a strong impact. Conversely, whilst still sans-serif, the strapline's font is altogether different. This font is connotative of vintage times, popular on posters etc. some decades ago. Whilst this does not necessarily connote older music, it most certainly connotes showbusiness and hollywood.

The main image is of a post-punk musician, Siouxsie Sioux. She gazes out at the reader, which makes the magazine feel personal, as if she will address the reader directly in the interview inside. She is heavily made up, with dark painted brows and lashes, and bright red hair and lispstick, which helps to play up and reflect her gothic/punk persona. Were her make-up more subtle, it would seem more for beauty purposes, but because it is so pale and blatant it would seem she is trying to look gothic. Her face is positioned just under the masthead, to leave room for the free CD included at the bottom of the magazine as well as drawing one's eye to the magazine's name. Her face is very clearly the focus here, with cover lines overlapping her hair and clothes, but never her face (with the exception of the masthead covering her forehead). Her expression ultimately reaches out to the ideal reader by presenting a powerful, passioante persona. This will make passionate buyers interested to find out about Sioux. Her clothing is also gothic, smart and dark, and her earrings match her hair to continue the clear and distinct house style; red, white, black and blue. This house style has been designed to match the cover of the free CD included in the magazine.

There is only actually one other image on the cover, a picture of George Harrison, supplementing an article advertised in a header banner at the top of the page. This is another facially-focused photograph, and again he stares out at the reader. George Harrison's photo not only supplements the cover line with a visual aid to draw the eye. but also creates symmetry, being the exact mirror shape of the graphic on the left reading 'Free CD!' This picture is accompanied by the description 'his strange seventies,' which makes the reader question why they were strange and desire to read inside.

The cover lines promote interviews with music artists, as do the vast majority of cover lines of all the magazines I have analysed. A sticker-style graphic also boasts that the magazine contains '145 reviews.' The typefaces for the cover lines vary, but most prominent, used for every main cover line, is a gothic-style serif font. This complements Siouxie Sioux's photograph beautifully, both with connotations of darkness and post-punk music. Everything else on the cover is written in mostly unemboldened sans-serif fonts, which look sleek and professional, as well as appearing similar to their serif counterpart. Certain parts, such as 'BLOODY VICTORY' and 'ICE QUEEN' are emboldened for emphasis. Pull quotes are used below several cover lines, to draw people in; readers desire context for these intriguing artist quotes. Exaggerated, metaphorical language such as 'Ice Queen' is used to describe artists, to boost their musical personas and, fitting with Mojo's name-based connotations, attach a sense of awe and magic to them, drawing in passionate listeners and readers. Alliteration is used ('sex,suicide and british steel') as it flows nicely and sticks in the mind of a prospective buyer. Colour has been used to highlight key words, and in the case of the main feature this is more subtle than it first appears. Aside from the obvious use of red for 'and,' which makes it blend more with the background and subsequently makes the white of 'Siouxie' stand out more, but 'the banshees' is written in a very light grey, not white, which shows us that although they are written the same size, the emphasis is on Siouxie.

This particular issue of Mojo shares elements with several of Bauer's other publications. For example, the image is very facially-orientated, a trend very popular with NME. Like 'Q,' there are not a very large number of cover lines, but there is still much more content inside, as shown by '145 reviews.' Like Kerrang!, Mojo's masthead is central and pronounced, but Mojo's is far larger than that of Kerrang! Mojo, like Kerrang!, offers a free giveaway, but this one is of much more value, because Mojo has a higher budget being a monthly magazine with a higher circulation, and can charge more money per issue due to the older age and higher income of its readers; Mojo offers a CD whereas Kerrang! offers only some free A4 posters.

Inside the magazine, there are 139 pages, plus a back cover page. Of these, 35 pages are advertisements, some of which are for various concert tickets, some being for Sonos speakers, and some for albums, amongst various music-themed merchandise. Inside the magazine, there are several types of article. The most popular by far are interviews with artists, but the magazine also contains reviews of albums, a competition and a history of Siouxsie and the Banshees. A free CD is also included with the magazine. There are 33 double-page spreads inside the magazine, almost all of which are interviews. There are some pages inside which could be considered advertorials, such as a buyers' guide page. The emphasis seems, however, to be on blatant concert adverts. The magazine uses a lot of red, blue and black, and thus maintains something of a grounded house style to an extent. However, different sections of the magazine have their own respective colour schemes, bringing in yellows and golds on top of this. Brand identity is maintained by repeated use of the ‘Mojo’ masthead throughout, as well as similar fonts, and informal but complex language. Given that the ideal reader of 'Mojo' is a 37-year old man, passionate about music, so the sheer amount of different topics, as demonstrated by different colours, would appeal to them.