Music Magazine Analysis

Bailey SHOOTER

The date and price are shown here in the bottom right hand corner, this is to be expected of a magazine cover, Kerrang is priced at £2.20 per issue and an issue is released weekly, if a price is generally smaller it is because they do not want it to stand out amongst the other cover lines, Kerrang due to its music magazine status is generally spread out when it comes to the social status of the audiences, the price although it does not stand out is in a normal sized font rather than a minimal font.

This magazine uses Buzz words in order to draw the magazine readers in, and make them feel important to the magazine, this magazine includes buzz words such as, “EXCLUSIVE”, “FREE!”, “WIN”.

The Masthead on this magazine uses a sans serif font with cracks in, this probably suggests that the writing has been shattered by loud music, the colour of the masthead is a neutral colour, black, this means it is aimed at either gender, Kerrang can be associated to the sound of heavy metal therefore suggesting the genre of music the magazine is talking about.

The barcode is a common feature on a front cover in order for the purchaser to buy the product.

The sub heading in this magazine uses a popular band in order to engage either fans of the band or people willing to read about them, the magazine uses language like, “successful”, this is to make the reader curious as to why, the bands name is highlighted in red and has a slightly damaged font, this is so that it makes the band seem bigger than they maybe are and make fans excited to read.

The sub images on the front cover are related directly to the sub heading, it is again advertising the band “Paramore”, and under them “private” again engaging the readers for content that is almost secretive the sub images show pictures of Paramore having a good time, and showing a life of fame they use cultural hegemony in order to advertise the life of glam and party’s.

The plug on this cover is drawing the audience to all the bands they should listen to.

The main image is of Hayley Williams, lead singer of Paramore, the image is a medium shot however most of the image is covered up by cover lines, she is engaging with the audience with her head tilted and a large simile she is also winking at the reader, engaging with the audience, her clothes are fairly dark and in a way goes against the male gaze, she is covered up but also supports it with the wink.

The main colour scheme is used widely across different brands of magazine, the colours used on this cover are red white, black and yellow. For this cover these colours may represent danger.

On this cover the audience feel they get more than they actually get for instance other than the four free “GIANT” posters the reader also gets Paramore’s private photo album and the chance to win a trip to Barbados.

Here we see the date and the price of the magazine, the price is in a small print, the magazine will want the price to be less noticeable compared to the cover lines, this is the because the price is £3.99 which is relatively high compared to some magazine prices. Q magazine is a monthly magazine this is why the price may be higher.

The cover uses some buzz words to attract the audience to buy the magazine, they use “exclusive” and “live”, this makes the reader feel as if this magazine has something inside that only they can offer, the word “live” may also allow the audience to clarify the genre of the magazine.

The masthead of this magazine is fairly plain, it is a white Q in a red box it sits in the upper left hand corner, the red colour is likely used to attract both genders, the name Q, derives from the word cue as in cue the music the plain and neutral colours are used so that the magazine does not advertise itself to one gender more than the other. The font is coherent throughout the magazine, the Q magazine is likely aimed at the upper class due to the price also the covers of the magazine have a slightly glossy effect.

The barcode is a common feature on the front cover of a magazine, it is there to enable the audience to purchase the item of media.

The sub heading on this cover reads “ TAKE THAT, Back for good!” this tells the reader that the magazine is going to be mainly about the regrouping of Take That, it also uses a pun “ back for good!” this is also the title of one of Take That’s well known songs. The large bold black text draws attention to the reader and makes the readers main focus on this piece of text.

The front cover of this magazine does not use a sub image, it only uses the main image, The main image is of all the band mates bundling on top of each and having a good time, this purveys to the reader that any former tension between band mates is no longer there, all band mates are looking directly at the audience this makes them feel part of the fun.

This magazine does not have any plugs this is because it is seen to be a mature magazine for the upper class..

The colour scheme for this magazine is Red as the main colour this is supported by black, white and gold. The replacement of yellow by gold compared to other magazines shows its upper class status.

This magazines layout is far less cramped as the Kerrang magazine, there are less cover lines and less offers such as free giveaways and competitions, the cover lines seem to be more randomly spread out on this magazine compared to Kerrang.

This magazine uses cultural hegemony to tell the readers which bands they should be listening to.

The masthead on this cover is NME in red block capitals, it is placed in the top right hand corner, it is fairly bold and does stand out compared some other text on the magazine, due to its regularity, it is behind the main image, NME stands for New Musical Express, this suggests that it is aimed at possibly teenagers to late twenties people, it seems to cover all genres of music this could be why the cover is not really themed and is fairly blank.

The lack of buzz words could suggest tat the magazine is more aimed at young adults rather than teenagers, if the magazine was to have buzz words it would make it look more childish.

The main image on this cover, is of multiple images which have been collaborated to make a super image, each person in the image, is pulling a pose and are interacting with the audience through eye contact., each picture connotes the celebrity and there genre of music each person presents.

The date and the price of the magazine are shown on the barcode area in the bottom left of the magazine, unfortunately some of this area has been cropped, this is fairly common on the magazine and is usually found in the barcode area or underneath the masthead, when the price is in a smaller font this usually insinuates that the magazine does not want the readers to see the price standing out. The price can also reflect the socioeconomic status of the readers.

The barcode is common on a magazine cover it allows the magazine to be purchased by the audience.

On this magazine the sub heading reads “ cool list 2010, Who’s in? ,Who’s out?” This uses the repation of a question and a list made up by NME to hook the audience it advertises cultural hegemony as to which celebrity the audience should follow it also stands out more than the main heading.

This magazine does not have a sub image this is so all concentration goes towards the main image of the possible participants of the “cool list”.

The sub heading is in a plug, this is so that the it stands out more.

The main heading is short an d snappy it, reads “50 coolest people in music”, it is in a smaller font to the sub heading and tells the reader what the magazine is going to be mainly about.

The colour scheme for this cover may not follow other magazines however it still uses the colours used in others these colours being Red and White.

The Main image on the page shows Marilyn Manson's stage image, a dark and shadowy man and to people who are not into this stuff, frankly quite disturbing, he is in a way looking at the audience but the lack of pupils prevents this, he is holding tarot cards which may show that he has a superstitious personality. The picture corresponds with the colour scheme. The tarot cards show that he is unpredictable, you don’t know what your going to get with him.

The colour scheme rightfully corresponds with the cover of the magazine using the colours Red, Yellow, White and Black.. These colours may represent danger or warning.

The page uses plugs to advertise the free posters it makes them look more interesting and desirable , another plug shows the number for weekly subscription.

This page also shows previews of pages in the magazine, it shows a previews of a single page and double page spread.

The contents page uses buzz words as titles in order to make the audience more engaged. “News”, “Win!” and “Live”, these make the audience want to read the magazine, making us feel more interacted with the magazine.

The layout of the contents page is fairly straight forward, the important things (mainly page previews) are in the top half of the page, this is to prioritise, the contents for the viewers, there is more colour on the top due to the main image being at the top and any page contents are overlapping the main image, making sure the main focus of the image is still in full show. At the bottom of the page there tends to be the lesser important stuff such as the editor review and silly page fillers such as quizzes and reviews of albums etc.

Sub images are used to advertise the main focuses of pages within the magazine, this magazine uses a woman and an album cover.

The contents show another plug advertising the magazine subscription it makes, the reader feel like they should dedicate their time to the magazine it will also show the most interesting covers just to make it look better.

The Q magazine shows the issue number (293) and a picture of the front cover the colour scheme again has less variety compared to other magazine using only red and white and occasionally black, the most dominant colour being red, this could show that the magazine is aimed at both genders as red is a fairly unisex colour.

The layout is neat, and is set up in columns, until it comes to the sub images which are, spread out quite randomly , the page numbers on the sub images are bold on the page as they are white text in a black background apart from the top image, of the group of men where it is just black text this could be to single out the top image on the page to concentrate more focus on this page or could simply be because, the background of the image is white as well.

The main heading of the page is the issue number and not the word contents like the other two magazines, its possible that there is no reason for this however it could be because the issue number on the front cover is in small print so it could just show this is for people who didn’t see it on the front cover.

Q magazines contents page shows a small image of the front cover next to the issue number this could just remind people of the contents of the magazine is also shown on the front cover.

The sub images on this contents page are not interacting with the audience apart from the image on the top all the men are stood in, a posing position side by side and using eye contact to interact with the readers, and on the other side they are messing about having fun whilst someone in the middle is also using eye contact for interaction, this image uses hegemonic masculinity, to advertise a life of having fun and being well dressed, this is an image of masculinity.

These pictures show images taken from a scene or a recording, they are likely to be reviews of something likely a music video or concert, they have shown an image of this so that the reader gets a sense of continuity throughout the magazine, also so they know what genre of music they are reviewing this can be judged by the way the music artists are dressed.

The magazine also uses buzz words on the contents in order to attract audiences they are using words such as “Live” and “Now” this makes the reader feel like they are getting more than they played for.

At the bottom of the page there is the month and year, the page number and the magazine logo, the date and year is in small black text, the page number is white text on a black background, and the logo in its usual red logo.

This contents page is more traditional, and has the same layout as a television magazine, it has significantly lesser colour towards the Kerrang! magazine contents page. It has a neater layout and does not have a particular focus to the page the attention of the reader /audience will be spread out between images and texts, any colour on the magazine is on images, except the advert in the bottom right hand corner, both NME and Kerrang magazine advertise subscriptions on their contents page this could be that Q magazine is less desperate for money than the others. Kerrang magazines advert is much more appealing due to its use of images. The layout of the magazine seems significantly more neater than the other two, and splits the page up with lines.

This page uses a large bold text and in some case large italic text for each sub heading on each piece of content, the page numbers are also larger than the actual text.

The Kerrang magazine is more methodical with their subscription price, Kerrang’s price is £6 a month which makes £72 a year, whilst still cheaper than NME it seems, a lot cheaper and affordable compared to NME’s straight up approach £74.99 a year.

The contents of NME also reiterates the date of release of the magazine, although usually found only on the cover, this is just for people to know the release date of the magazine.

The magazine consists of sub images and no main images, it shows, each artist or band posing for the camera advertising their article in the magazine.

This particular sub image supports the male gaze it shows an attractive woman bending over and showing her cleavage to the audience this may be to make her article the main focus on the page especially to the male readers.

The main text is in a much smaller font compared to the sub headings, in each case the main text is giving a sentence preview of the page.

The large image, shows Angela Gossow holding her fists up at the reader, this shows a sense of power over the reader, it as if she's about to start a fight and looking at the heading and sub heading, it is likely to be some sort of comeback/recovery. On her chest she has the words “pure fucking metal”, this show the informality of the magazine and makes it seem more of a conversation rather than an article.