Research/ case studies of real music magazines

Cover Page & Contents Page

In this part of my work, i analysed a music magazine, to use as an example. I looked at the key features of the different parts of the magazine (Cover page, Contents pages, and Double page spreads) drawing out the details of what each consists of, taking notes.

 I analysed "VIBE" music magazine firstly looking at the front cover of the magazine and the contents page/s.

Double Page Spread:

I then moved on to looking at the double page spread of this issue of "VIBE" magazine, which was an article on Usher.

From this, we were then able to have a better understanding of how we can analyse a music magazine, which was the next ask that we had to complete.

I then moved on to analysing two different music magazines of my own as part of my magazine

project. I carried out research of each of these magazines in their genre. Firstly, in part A, I looked at the textual analysis of these identifying and analysing the techniques used (image, language, genre, and conventions of the layout) for the Front cover, contents pages, and Double page spread of both magazines.

a)

XXL

FRONT COVER:

This is a n image of the front cover of XXL music magazine. The image consists of a medium-close up, at eye level, of the main artist for this issue, which has been edited on top of the masthead for the magazine. For the mise en scene it uses only a shot of the artist, in a low-key lighting setting, being that the image is in black and white, with a dark background, even though there is still some lighting shining on the artist in the image. The artist is wearing no top, with a woolly hat, and dreadlocks.

There are also conventions of the page layout used for the front cover of this music magazine. The “XXL” masthead is used, in its distinct red and white colours, and the choice of font is bold, and clear for the audience to see, making it easier.  What would usually be the skyline, has been placed beside the main image of the artist, aligned in a vertical column, and the cover lines have been positioned on the other side, giving a hint as to what an article in the magazine will be about. The use of this colour theme, and fonts are something which is standard as for this specific music magazine as it is part of their house style (red,white, and black). The left third of a magazine is usually where everything is placed on a magazine, being one of the generic conventions of a music magazine, and this would apply to this issue of XXL magazine. They have included the Masthead, “exclusive” caption, cover-lines, barcode, pricing, and some of the main image of the artist. The reason as to why they do this is so that when the magazine is placed in a shop/newsagent, it is easier to identify, and customers could scan through and know which magazine it is, how much it is, and what it is about or what the main topic is. All three of these is what you have in mind when looking for a music magazine, and they are indicated by the masthead, cover-lines, and pricing. The relationship between the image and the text is that the image reinforces what the text is saying. The cover line says “lil Wayne. Nothing left to prove”. This would link to the image, as it is a close up of lil Wayne, who has a smirk on his face and his facial expressions, would suggest that he “has nothing left to prove”. Also the cover lines to the right, would link to the image as they indicate who will feature alongside this artist in the magazine.

The cultures, groups and genres represented and portrayed from this music magazine would be those of rap/hip-hop. The culture represented would be young black people, as it is typically this certain group who are the target audience of this magazine. 

CONTENTS PAGE:

The image used here again is a medium close up shot of the same artist as mentioned on the front cover, at eye level. The lighting here Is high key lighting even though there is the background would contrast as it is a dark background. The image here on the contents page is similar to the image on the front cover, however this is in colour, and the costume has slightly changed as the artists is not wearing a hat in this shot.

The use of the masthead is that it is in a bold, clear font, and along with the image, it is the first thing you notice about the contents page. The subheadings are also in the same font/style. the reason fir this is because it is a contents page which needs to have structure and be clear so that the audience can find out clearly what is on each page and what will feature in that issue of the magazine. The text on the contents page is aligned in a column, beside the image, again making the layout clear and simple. The contents page maintains the house style of black, white and red.

The tone of the language used in the contents page and the mode of address is informal, as it is a magazine so it can be less formal, and more casual. The language is well structured and laid out, being straight to the point. 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

The image used in this double page spread is a long shot of the cover artists at a canted angle. There is a plain white background behind the artist, and there is high key lighting. The costume used is the artist in a hat, dark shades, t-shirt, and trousers with one leg rolled up. From what we see, and the body language of the artist in the image, that he is

The choice of font for the pull quote is simple, and in bold. This would be because it is the main quote for the article. The font for the text is also a simple font. Because this article is a Q&A the responses are in regular text, and the questions are in a bold, italic font. This is done purposefully so that the audience can distinguish between the questions and the responses. The main is aligned in three equal length columns, with equal margins between them. The colour scheme or house style remains similar colours of black and white. The connotations of using just a black and white colour scheme could be that it is plain and simple, as so is the article, being a Q&A. The relationship between the image and the text is that the image relates to the text. This is because the artist in the image is the same person who the topic is on, and who is giving his responses in the text.

The language used in this double page spread is informal, being that it is from an interview, so it would be less formal, even though the artist is answering questions. The text is still structured however with a question, and then a response and so on.

                                                                       KERRANG

FRONT COVER:

The image used here is a medium shot, at eye level of the artists/music, against a dark, black baground. It has high key lighting in the mise en scene. There aren’t any props used here, however the costumes worn, are the group in casual clothing, some with dark shades on.

The mastheads are large and in bold. The name of the magazine “kerrang” has been edited to make it look as if it is in the background and the image of the artists is in the foreground. It is in an “edgy” font, which reflects the nature of the magazine. Also the masthead “avenged sevenfold” is in a distinct bright yellow colour so it is easily visible and a bold and simple font was chosen for this. It uses a caption below the masthead as well. The magazine has the barcode and pricing in the bottom right corner of the cover, and includes a skyline above, hinting at what will be included in the magazine which, along with where it says there is a free poster pull out inside, is a teaser. The house style here would be black, white and yellow, and the image used would link to the text as it is these people who are mentioned in the masthead title “avenged sevenfold”, the name of their music group.

The language used on this front cover is informal, and has a similar tone. The structure of it is that the text is short, simple and straight to the point. This is because it is the front cover of the magazine so people want to quickly know what the magazine is about, who will feature in it and what genre it is just by scanning through, and with this they can do that.

The costumes here would portray representations of a typical rock band..

CONTENTS PAGE:

The main image used here is a close up shot of an artist who will feature in the magazine. It is high key lighting and is in colour. 

The contents page masthead is in the top right corner of the page and is in black and white, and is in an “edgy” font which similarly relates to the nature of this music magazine. There is a teaser in the caption which is under the masthead. Here it hints at who will feature in some of the music magazine.

The language used here formal, as its purpose is to infirm and guide the audience to what will feature on which pages, however it still has an informal tone being that it is a music magazine, so it wants to closely connect with its audeine and it does this by using a more casual and less formal tone. It is strured well so that it is understandable, and clear.

The types of groups, and cultures portrayed here would be rock or metal, with a stereotypical, niche target audience of young white people, males in particular. This is reflected in this magazine as most of the artists who feature would come under this category. The groups here are portrayed in a way which 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD:

The image used here is a medium close up shot of the artist mentioned in the double page spread. The costume she is wearing is a black polo shirt, with colourful buttons. The framing of the shot is the main artist in the foreground, and photos of her with other people in the background. The lighting is high key lighting and the photo is in colour. There may be make-up which the artist in this image is wearing, but if it is it is minimal.

The masthead has been creatively edited from saying “about a girl” in bold capital letters. The word “girl” here has been crossed out and replaced with the word “band” in bright orange, yet it is still visible what the masthead had said before. This editing of the masthead changes the meaning of it, and it refers to the text as it talks about how a solo artist is now part of a “band” instead. The choice of the colour bright orange, against  a black and white writing make it stand out even more so that it catches the eye of the audience. Also, choosing this colour is significant as it is a similar colour to the artist which the topic is about, so it is symbolic in that sense. The double page spread uses drop caps for the first word in the text, which is also orange. Therefore the colour scheme and house style here would be white, black and orange. It uses a oull quote which is superimposed on top of the image of the artist. The text is aligned in three columns, which are all close enough to the same length. The relationship between the image and the text would be that the image reinforces what the text is about, in a way.

The tone used here is informal, and so too is the language, as it is from the views and topic of an artist, speaking about something in their music career.  The text here in this article doesn’t really have a structure as it is not them giving a story to the magazine, or a Q&A on the artist, yet still is laid out in paragraphs which vary in length. 

Then, in part B, I carried out analysis of the audience and institutions for each of the magazines. This included looking at secondary audience research, looking at press packs/media kit for each magazine and who publishes each of the magazines 

b)

XXL:

The audience for the xxl music magazine would stereotypically be teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-23. The culture and ethnicity would be of the target audience would also stereotypically be people of black ethnicity, as they tend to be the target audience for this type of music which is rap/hip-hop, males in particular. This would help them publish the magazine as it would help them to decide on the content to include and what they should advertise in their magazines, which is usually something that is aimed at their target audience. This would produce a vital income for them, because in this magazine in particular, being an American magazine, there is a lot of advertisement, meaning they would make a lot of money off of this advertisements and promotions. Harris publications publish XXL magazine. Harris Publications Inc. is an American consumer-magazine publisher in New York City, New York, that publishes over 75 titles, including Juicy, Dog News, 0-60, Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, Small Business Opportunities, Exercise & Health, Celebrity Hairstyles, and many more. Harris publications also produce comics. One major division, Harris Outdoor Magazines, publishes several titles on hunting, fishing, and firearms. Harris Comics published the former Warren Publishing character Vampirella for nearly two decades.

KERRANG:

The target audience for this music magazine would stereotypically be again teenagers and young adults. The culture and ethnicity would be people of white ethnicity, males in particular. It is this group of people which then help the publishers decide in what content to include to attract advertisers, even though this is a British magazine and isn’t so heavily based around advertisements and promotions in the magazine. The publisher of this magazine is Bauer media group, who are a large European-based media company, headquartered in Hamburg, Germany that manages a portfolio of magazines, digital products, radio and TV stations. H Bauer is a publishing brand that include women's weekly and TV listings magazines; namely Bella, Take a Break, that's life! TVChoice and Total TVGuide as well as a number of puzzle magazines. In 1987 Bella was H Bauer's first venture into publishing in the UK. In 1990, H Bauer launched a weekly women's magazine named Take a Break. H Bauer also has a sister title, that’s life! which launched in 1995. The H Bauer Publishing brands also include puzzle magazines that carry the Take a Break name. Q started out as a music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specialises in indie, rock and alternative.