'The move follows the closure of Smash Hits magazine in 2006 after 28 years. Its publishers said teenagers were increasingly turning to new platforms like the internet to satisfy their interest in music.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6571291.stm
This extract is from an article about dramatically low sales for a new pop magazine, the magazine was axed after one week. It had an initial print run of 130,000 copies but only sold 9,000.
'First, there were fewer mediums available when the magazine came out in 1977. There was no internet, digital TV etc. So the main sources of pop music were radio, the chart show on Radio 1 and Top of the Pops.'
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070507081135AAEciFm
This extract is do to with technology changes being a reason for why the once very popular 'Smash Hits' magazine got axed. One of the reasons is that the internet has a massive impact, I agree because teenagers and children enjoy looking at music on the internet. Popular socialising networks such as Bebo and MySpace have their own official pages for music artists. Also, it's very common to download music on the internet and browse websites or watch digital music channels to get information on music gossip such as the charts, pictures and changes.
I am going to analyse and compare an old Smash Hits cover...
The fonts used on the front cover are bold in sans serif. A majority of the fonts are squared/blocked, compared to Top Of The Pops cover fonts which are mostly curved. The suitability is more masculine, but because the font colour is pink, it's more aimed at females. The suitability gives a slight sense of maturity, therefore I think Smash Hits was aimed at teenage girls, compared to Top Of The Pops which was for before teens as well as teenagers.
The Smash Hits cover also uses pink and yellow as it's main sources of colours. The main cells and main flashes are different shades of pinks, therefore the main cell in the yellow boxing is particularly eye catching. The colours also have a connection to the target audience. But do not have a mixture of eyecaching colours together like Top Of The Pops, this also supports my belief that Smash Hits had an older target audience range. As Magazines aimed at adults are kept simple, so it's a step colser.
The week the closure was announced, a copy of the first issue sold on Ebay for £30. The seller, Ruth, said: 'I bought it. Smash Hits! was the best pop magazine of its time. I'm 35 now and I used to buy it regularly from about the age of 8 to 13. I remember tearing out the posters to cover my walls and singing along really girlie to the songs.'
http://www.magforum.com/glossies/music_magazines.htm#sma
This gives a little more indication to the target audience, it's hard to determine the exact age groups as the magazine was axed.
The main image is on the left side of the page is of 'Preston' who was a house mate on the popular reality television show 'Big Brother'. The programme increased Preston's popularity in the media. He is in a band called 'The Ordinary Boys' and he is also famous for his good looks, style and celebrity girlfriend 'Chantelle', who he met on BigBrother. The image is a midshot and Preston has direct eyecontact with the audience. There is a white background behind Preston and the main flash, which combines with the image, is in the largest font. So you can tell Preston is the main feature on the cover. However, the image of the 'Jonas Borthers' on the cover of Top Of The Pops has more impact because it's larger and in the middle of the page.
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