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EXISTING NAMES
Types of Name
Music magazine names follow one of four types.
o Acronym
o Phrase
o Connotative
o Compound
Acronym
Acronyms are popular among music magazines. This type of name involves shortening a much longer name to a series of letters (usually the first of each word). A popular magazine that uses an acronym in its title is NME, which stands for New Musical Express. This would be quite a mouthful to say, and NME is much more memorable for their readers.
Acronym
Slightly differently, US hip-hop magazine URB stands for Urban. This is an example of taking an existing acronym and not only does it become a more marketable name, but it tells the target audience what the magazine’s content will be about.Another US hip-hop magazine does something similar, taking the Acronym XXL and using it as their name.The problem with taking existing acronyms is that it would be incredibly difficult to have that acronym relate to your magazine. For example, NME is easily identifiable as New Music Express Magazine, but XXL will always be most commonly related to the sizing ‘extra extra large’.
Phrase
Names can also be a phrase. This is used commonly in pop magazines such as Top of The Pops and Smash Hits. As a phrase is generally much longer than other names, it’s important that the words flow so it’s still easy to say (and therefore marketable). Also, phrases are often used instead of acronyms because the combination of letters wouldn’t roll of the tongue easily. For example, the letters TOTP would not be easily remembered and SH is a combination of harsh syllables.
Connotative
Connotative names relate to the magazine’s genre in some way.Existing names of this type include Q. The magazine began with the name ‘Cue’ in the context of the phrase “cue the music”. However as it could quite easily be mistaken for a snooker magazine, they rebranded to ‘Q’. They still hold the connotative title, as their website is qthemusic.com.
Connotative
Another connotative name is Billboard, as the name clearly suggests that the magazine will feature music in the billboard charts. Furthermore the magazine Mixmag relates to the idea of ‘mixing music’ as the magazine has a heavy focus on DJs and dance music.
Compound
Compound names are names that link directly to the genre.A clear example of this is British magazine Classic Rock. The name plainly states the genre – classic rock. Moreover, its sister magazine Metal Hammer tells its audience that it covers heavy metal.