Music Magazine AnalysisTom Goodyear

Front Pages

(Kanye West ‘I AM RAP’) will attract readers because Kanye West is a big star in the industry, and such an outrageous quote will attract a lot of attention from people interested in the industry. It’s use of the media users need for Surveillance. This is reinforced by the fact that he is the main image, which without even using the plug, would have pulled the reader in.It has a very vibrant colour scheme which would catch the eye, as well as well as a lot of bold writing. There is barely any text that isn’t in capitals either which makes it seem important to the reader pulling them in to read it. At the top of the page it uses a few buzz words which makes this issue of the magazine seem more attractive. It makes it seem that it can offer things that other magazines can’t.On the middle right of the pages it simply names a lot of musicians in the industry, and what this will do is instantly attract the attention of anyone interested in that music genre. If someone see’s a collection of their favourite artists in abundance they’re likely to be enticed. This may play on the readers need for self identity.Above the magazines name it has a coverline, with some buzz words which will be a big selling point for the magazine.

The masthead has a fun format to it and a colours in the middle of the letters, which shows it’s trying to appeal to a young and informal audience. The entire colour scheme, especially what Soulja Boy is wearing, targets the hip-hop audience. The fact that they have an icon such as Soulja Boy as the central image will drag in readers interested in that type of music. Also he is the coverline, so fans of his are the main audience for this specific image. They’re using him to represent the general feel of the magazine.It also includes the name of many other music artists of one common genre, which is a convention of these types of magazines. The magazine is advertising itself in the bottom left corner with its own website name. Maybe if people are just browsing the magazine but can’t buy it at the time, will go on the website and this will generate long term loyal customers eventually.Another thing this magazine is doing, is that it’s trying to sell the gangsta lifestyle to the audience. This is typical or magazines of this genre.Just the whole feel of the magazine is ‘cool’ and is trying to pull in readers on it’s style factor. It reflects the personality and represents people that want this kind of lifestyle and buy into the gangsta ideology. Another example of this is what it says under ‘Soulja Boy’. Words such as ‘Cranks’ just show what this magazine is all about.

The front cover has next to nothing on it, apart from a huge central image of Jay-Z and the coverline at the bottom. This will put all the spotlight on Jay-Z and his article. The reason they do this is because he is a superstar and it is a huge article, so instead of bringing attention to all their little articles, they simply focus on him. They want to bring in all their viewers based on this. They then have the two smaller articles also trying to attract readers, although not the focus. One of these articles is about Paul McCartney which is obviously a big story so will pull in a lot of readers. It fulfils their need for surveillance as ‘McCartney & Yoko Speak!’ means they’ll get the latest news in their celebrities lives.You then have the golden colour scheme so make the magazine attractive.The barcode isn’t in the generic place, the layout of this magazine is quite unorthodox, and having a style like this may be an attempt to bring in readers.They use a lot puff such as ‘WORLD’S BIGGEST’, ‘REVEALS ALL!’ and at the top ‘SPECIAL’.

The same as the ‘Clash’ Magazine I just looked at, this XXL magazine simply focuses on one image and a coverline that goes with it. It dominates the page and is the one thing that the magazine is relying on to pull in readers.The magazine has gone with quite a sinister theme, with the aggressive look from Eminem, the coverline ‘VENGANGE IS EMINEM’ and also the black background. This will pull in readers because of their need for Personal Identity. The story may relate.In the top right it says ‘XXCLUSIVE’, which is a way of addressing it’s target audience specifically and at the same time using puff. Then under ‘XXL’ it says special collectors edition, which will be a huge reason to buy it for many readers.The magazines slogan is ‘Hip Hop on a higher level which is a is a great slogan as all readers interested in hip hop will see that and be intrigued. It again specifically targets their target audience.

Above the masthead this magazine has 4 things that should interest people, interested in this genre of music. But 3 of the 4 things aren’t music related, they’re things that ‘The Source’ think will also attract this type of audience. This is a good use of convergence, and knowing the target audience.Again the central image is linked to the coverline, and is a superstar. This is a convention all hip-hop magazines seem to use.On the right it has a lot of teasers and plugs. This is good as having a lot of things related to one similar topic should be highly interesting to the target audience. The page is quite packed, it’s trying to advertise to the reader that it has a lot of interesting content.At the bottom of the page it has it’s website address, which is the same tactic that billboard used, but this magazine does it better. It has it in loud, clear font and says ‘VISIT’. If you like the looked of this magazine you would more than likely click out the website, especially if you weren’t sure about buying it.

Contents Pages

This is a hip-hop magazine contents page. The conventions of it are that it is unconventional. It is a attracting the reader with an unorthodox layout. For instance the way contents page is written is not a very usual style. The central image is being represented as quite seductive, which is true of the artist. It also makes the reader feel more involved with the magazine. The magazine is representing itself as a down to earth intimate magazine. This is not only shown in the image it is shown in the mode of address. The ideology being sold here is that of ‘Image Matters’. The first way that is shown in the image, the second the layout and then the 3rd that actual writing itself. It has two subcategories in the contents page and 1 is fashion. That is because the audience is youthful, and into their image as well as their music.The typography of the contents page emphasisesthis.

This is a contents page from Q which is very British and much more band related. All of the main articles being advertised on the left are specific British artists and bands. The idea is that consumers can get the latest on all musicians related to their interests. It also has image previews of some of the pages of the double page spreads they think will most entice the reader. This is unconventional and great, because it shoes the reader exactly what they’ll be getting. The bandsand artists are being represented as the peoples artists, and the consumer loves that. The primary audience is roughly 16-25 and they like the colourful yet simple layout.

This contents page is much more conventional. You have the central image being almost the entire page, and the image represents the genre really well. This is done by clothes and hair etc. It’s to do with the ideology and lifestyle that the magazine is trying to get across, which is stylish and down to earth. Again the layout is colourful yet simple which still appeals to their young audience. On the left we have a well laid out contents with different sections and good colours. The unique selling point is that this is the only place you will get to read about particular artists, and get the writers insight on ‘100 greatest albums’. The reason this works isbecause the audience reading this magazinewants to know about that for social purposes.

The way that this contents page is laid out is that it doesn’t have different sections for its different features. For instance there aren’t any special features and there isn’t a monthly section, it just has all of the features together. Although this is not conventional of a hip hop magazine, it will attract the reader because of how basic the format is. The audience is not one that wants to read complex articles, they want to kick back and chill with this magazine, which is why the format works. Also the fact the central image is sobig that means its very good for attractingthe reader to that particular article. The reason the magazine is putting so much emphasis on it is because it is probably theUSP of the magazine.

This magazine seems to have the name on the magazine as most of the page, on the contents page. This is very unconventional and not good in my opinion, but I guess it is overemphasising the USP of the magazine. Apart from that this contents page is laid out very conventionally and very well. The contents is basic in the layout but detailed, so the reader knows exactly what’re they’re getting. The colour scheme is colourful and there are a lot of pictures, which I’m not sure is theright approach seeming as the target audience is male 16-45. Having said this it will appeal to younger readers of magazine.

Double Page Spread

This double page spread has taken a pull quote and has used it as the header. I think this is a very good way of attracting the reader to read the article, because instead of some cheesy header, you have something specific from the band, that combined with the great central image should pull in readers instantly. There are a lot of graphic images, but they don’t take away from the central image, so they work. The colour scheme is appropriate to how the band is being represented and what the target audience want to read. Another clever thing this magazine does to pull in readers to this particular article is have ‘NEWS’ and ‘WORLD EXCLUSIVE’ which is obviously going to entice people.

Again we have the conventional central image taking up the entire page, and again here we have a pull quote as the header. Very attractively laid out double page spread, with a good colour scheme well suited to the young target audience. This is an interview not an article so what they’ve put the text of the interviewer and the interviewee with different coloured fills. This is a great conventional technique, because it makes all the text look so much more appealing when deciding whether to read it or not. It also makes it clearer to read when it actually gets to it. I think the border is something you wouldn’t normally have and I think it’s just emphasis to how they want the artist to be represented, which works well.

The central image takes up more than a whole page which I don’t think is great, as some is lost in the fold, and it also means the body copy looks much less appealing when looking at the whole page. The magazine compensates for this though by having the bright blue shapes everywhere, making it much nicer than originally. This also matches the pull quote and drop capitals which is a nice touch. The double page spread has two drop capitals which is unconventional but works because of the need for extra blue. This time they have header as just the bands name, and although I prefer the pull quote I think it works here because of how big the central imageis. They complement each other andif the target audience likes the bandthey will love the boldness of the whole thing.

Here the central image takes up the half page perfectly with the body copy taking up the other half. This is very conventional and works really well. Apart from that I don’t think this double page spread is very appealing. All the text is crammed together, there is no colour alteration. It has put ‘INSIGHT’ in the top left which may attract readers but it’s not that clear and the black bar doesn’t even look good. I think the magazine is designed to appeal to an older audience, even though the article it is talking about it likely to appeal to a younger audience, so maybe they should rethink whotheir target audience actually is.

The first thing that stands out about this article is the big ‘L’ in the background of the article. To my knowledge was the first time it was used in a double page spread and went against conventions, but was a hit. It makes the double page spread much more attractive to the reader, and doesn’t even make the article harder to read. The body copy and image again split perfectly which is great. The one thing I don’t understand is why there are two drop capitals, but instead of having one at the beginning of the article they have one on the final paragraph. This double page spread is very unconventional, but seems to work, and I think the reason it’s like this is because that’s how they want to represent the artist. Lady Gaga is famous for being unconventional and this article portrays that perfectly.