2. General Questions about Music Magazines
What is a music magazine?
The denotation of a music magazine is a magazine that contains images and text and is designed
specifically to inform readers about music. Different magazines will focus on different genres of music.
Depending on the genre, the magazine will be aimed towards a specific target audience.
What content would you expect to find in a music magazine?
I would expect to find information about that genre of music, and I would also expect to find articles
about the artists themselves. This may be in the form of stories, interviews or other types of text. As well
as this, I would expect to see text that relates to the images included in the magazine.
What images would you expect to find in a music magazine?
I would expect to see a lot of images of artists who create that specific genre of music. As well as this I
would expect to see images that relate to the information mentioned in the various articles.
Identify general characteristics you would expect to find in all
music magazines.
I would expect to see features typical of all magazines, such as the masthead of the magazine, which
would be part of the house style; a colour scheme, which would be designed to attract the specific target
audience; a selection of images, which are related to the coverlines and a main image, which is linked to
the main coverline, and which shows direct address. I would also expect to see a main coverline, the
price, the rule of thirds, a strapline, starbursts, and a barcode.
3. Questions About the Front Covers of Music
Magazines
What features/characteristics do they all have?
All of the magazine covers in my Research and Planning Booklet all have an extremely large masthead, which is always the
biggest text on the whole cover. The masthead will be the same in every edition of the magazine, making it a main part of the
house style. On most of these magazine covers, the masthead is positioned behind the main image, making it partly obscured.
The main image used in all on all of these covers is a band or an artist who is relevant to the genre. Conventionally, if there is
only one artist on the cover, then either a close up or a medium close up shot s used for the photograph. However, if the image
is of a band, then a wide shot or a mid shot is usually used. For all of these magazines, the main coverline is the biggest
coverline on the cover, and for all of these magazines it is relevant to the artists in the main image. The other coverlines will also
be relevant to the genre.
Why are these features important?
The large masthead is very important as it needs to be eye-catching and recognisable so that the target audience will be able to
spot it easily, The masthead is part of the house style as this will mean that it would be easier for the target audience to find it.
For some of the covers, the magazine is partially covered because they magazine is branded and very well known. This means
that the target audience will still be able to recognise the magazine even when part of the masthead is covered. The main image
is usually an artist relevant to the genre because this will appeal to the target audience, as they will be more likely to recognise
the celebrity and want to read about them. The main coverline will also attract the target audience, as being related to the main
image, it will be relevant to that genre of music. The other coverlines will also appeal to the target audience.
Take one magazine and say what type of music magazine it is.
The genre of Top Of The Pops is pop, as suggested my the title of the magazine.
For the same magazine, state who you think the target audience is.
I think that the target audience of this magazine would be young, pre-teen girls, who enjoy listening to pop music. I think this
because the colour scheme connotes childishness. For example pinks, baby blues and yellows are all used a lot on this cover,
and these colours all have connotations of innocence and purity. Many of the fonts used appear to be handwritten, which
suggests that the magazine is aimed towards school aged children, and also makes the magazine appear to be ‘fun’. Colloquial
language is used, and abbreviations such as ‘OMG’ are used, and this is stereotypical language for a preteen girl, thus probably
making it seem more relevant to the target age-range. All of the images and coverlines are related to pop music, which would
