Album Magazine Adverts

What Is an Album Magazine Advert?

An Album Magazine Advert is an advert about the size of an A4 page in a magazine that promotes the album that the artist(s) are releasing. Typically on an Album Magazine Advert, you will find:

The name of the artist/band who are releasing the album
The actual name of the album
Album cover/image
Different ways to purchase the album (online/in store)
If the album is a "debut"
Release Date/ if the album is already” “Out Now"
Featured Single
Producers and Record Label
Website

What research can you do into an Album Magazine Advert?

Just by looking at the album magazine advert (AMA) on the right, we can see what the purpose of it and what research can be done in order to create our own and make it as effective as possible. I can clearly see that the point of an AMA is advertise a particular artist or bands upcoming album while a reader is reading magazine and therefore, informing the reader that this album is available for purchase or will be a certain date. Firstly, some research that we can do in order to understand what style of AMA we should design, is some Audience Research, which is looking further into the people who may be looking at the advert within the magazine. We can apply this by quantitatively searching through statistics/facts that may indicate which magazine brand is currently the most popular within the Target Audience that you may be aiming the AMA at. By doing this, you will have more of an idea of what the AMA will look like and connect more with the readers of the magazine. You can find these statistics at the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).

This Template is showing the basic design for an Album Magazine Advert, it includes the artist/bands name, the album name, Album cover art and even any singles included on the trackless that reached No.1. It also includes where to put the label/companies involved in the creation of the advert.

Jessie J's Debut Album "Who you are" is a typical example of an Album Magazine Advert that would appear in a tween magazine such as "Top Of The Pop's" (below) and it coincides with the template (Above)

This is a typical tween magazine that is likely to have an Album Magazine advert within it's pages, advertising specifically artists like Jessie J (right)

It is also important to study the magazine itself and the different features involved in the pages, so that you can keep within the exam style and fashion that the magazine based around. This will also attract more attention to the AMA, and entice the readers to study the advert, rather thank making it stand out and throw readers of focus. We can continue to do this particular aspect of audience research through Secondary Research; this would include looking at previous issues of magazines that could feature your AMA e.g. Top of the Pops and understanding the structure and the style. This would also be beneficial, as it may feature other AMA's from artists of the same genre of music as the Album that you may be designing for, this can help give you some inspiration as to what you might want to achieve as the final result.

However, It should be noted that although Digipaks and AMA's are very similar in terms if the product. As I mentioned on the previous page, When a customer buys a Digipak, it is more lily that they are buying it for the disc inside the plastic case. With a AMA, it is that customers purchase the magazine for leisure and the contebnt inside it or the freebie that comes with it. It is uncommon to find a customer who will only purchase a particular Magazine just to read a A4 AMA featured inside a page of an Magazine.

So it is important therefore to draw as much attention to it as possible and make the AMA as eye catching as possible so that the reader doesn't flick past and ignore the prospect of purchasing a new album. However, like a digipak, customers are only likely to purchase an album from a singer/band that appeals to them personally or who they would like to support, rather than because the Album art is pretty or a No.1 Single is appearing on the album. So therefore, quantatitaliataive or Primary Market research might not work when designing an AMA, the reason being is simply that the people who may be reviewing/ applying their opinions to the Advert may be biased based on who may be appearing on it. Therefore the information that you receive could alter the AMA and cause controversy as it's important to keep the customers happy who are reading the magazine. Including those, who may not be fans of that singer/artist releasing an album.

Primary Research methods that involve taking in individual opinions from different readers either through Interviews or over the phone, will absolutely not work when designing an AMA, as this would be extremely Time consuming and the information gained could differ depending on who you are speaking to, as I previously mentioned, when speaking to different readers they may have individual opinion of artist's as they are they have their own personality and different music suits their own needs therefore, they could be biased about the artist appearing in their chosen magazine or the music that they produce.

As well as the fact, that these means of research can become extremely unpopular with the general public or those who could potentially read the magazine, because in the 21st Century, Unknown telephone calls, random emails and even questionnaires can be seen as dodgy and part of some cooperate "Scam", and seen as a way for some company to gain personal and valuable information from you. has been given away to a third party organization. Therefore, there is always a strong chance that a phone call survey or interview will result in a ringing dial tone. Phone Bills can be added at the business’s expense, especially if you want to make a call via Long distance. This could be beneficial, yet still expensive as the AMA will be seen across the country and even internationally.