My initial Introductory task

1. Initial Introductory
Task
General Questions about a Music Magazine

2. 1. What is a Music Magazine?
• A music magazine is a collection of text based around
music, designed specifically for certain genres of music
and niche markets. The target audience is often
appealed to via. Denotations, i.e. music related images
and selected pieces of information

3. 2. What Content (text/copy/writing/articles/stories)
would you expect to find in a music magazine
• In a music magazine you would expect music related
news, interviews with bands and musician; exclusives on
certain bands/musicians and concert information. You
would also likely see information about up and coming
festivals, contests revolving around music or music artists
that could act as lures/puffs. There could also be music
or occasionally film reviews and quizzes readers can take
that revolve around a particular music genre or icon.

4. 3. What Images would you expect to find in a
music magazine?
• You would typically expect to find images of music artists or bands
that may be associated with a specific genre, (e.g. Beyoncé with pop
or R&B), you may also expect images of musical instruments that are
used typically in certain genres, or images of music fans who’ve
attended concerts or festivals that have recently taken place.
• Images of latest album covers or photo-shoots may also be featured
in a music magazines particularly if they revolve around the artist
featured on the front cover of the magazine so that their own
following and niche market are attracted to the magazine.

5. 4. Identify general characteristics/ Features that
you would expect to find in all music magazines
• The general characteristics follow the typical codes and conventions of
magazines. The masthead and any skylines are often depicted at the top of
the cover, it may or may not be obscured depending on how renowned the
magazine is a well known brand. The main cover image is often somewhat
central and there is a direct address between the subject and the audience-the
main cover image often depicts a artist or music icon, there is also a
clear house style shown throughout the magazines (mainly the front cover
and contents pages) which follow a colour scheme that uses a limited
number of colours to create a sense of familiarity in the magazine. The
cover lines are often to the left or right of the magazine’s front cover to
ensure that the main cover image isn’t obscured and there is often
numerous cover lines depicted. The fonts used are often simple serif fonts,
excluding the masthead’s font, and also follow the constant colour scheme,
the main cover line may be in a different font and is usually much larger in
size compared to the rest of the cover lines on the front cover. Rules of
thirds are also often used in music magazines.

6. Questions about music magazines front
covers
• 1. Identify the features/characteristics they all have.
• The music magazines all have : All magazines I have seen appear to have a masthead that goes along the top of
the magazine, the masthead will often be the largest piece of text and differ from any other text shown on the
cover( Unique font, bold), the masthead is often kept the same on every issue of a magazine and follow a certain
house style to create a sense of familiarity and brand, if the magazine isn’t a well known brand the masthead will
normally go over the main cover image. A main cover line is often present that links with and anchors the main
cover image, the main cover line is always considerably larger in font size and bolder than all the other cover lines
and is often more central on the front page, all the other cover lines often go to the left hand side of the front
page so that they don’t obscure the main cover image . The main cover image will often link with the overall genre
of the magazine, for a music magazine it would probably be a popular band or solo artist, there is practically
always direct address with the audience in the main cover image following a convention of magazines, if there is
just one person the main cover image will Often be a close up or a medium close up, for a band it generally
depends on the size of the band and the types of shots can vary to a wide shot.
• 2. Why are these features present on all of the magazines? Why are they
important?
• The masthead must be considerably noticeable so that it is easily noticed by a potential buyer, it is important that
a not so well known magazine’s masthead isn’t obscured so that target audiences can feel a sense of familiarity
with the masthead, causing it to become more memorable and create a brand with a consistent house style that
would eventually be instantly recognisable, the position of the masthead along the top follows the conventions of
magazines and is placed where a person could easily find the masthead. The main cover line must be larger than
the other cover lines so that it can be differentiated from them, it anchors the main cover image to provide
context to why the main cover image has been chosen and also so that it can provide target audiences with
information on the articles and genre of the magazines. The main cover line will be placed in a more central
position so that it is more noticeable than the other cover lines. The other cover lines will go along the left hand
side so that they are not blocking the main cover image from the view of the audience, that would also be easily
found as a person browses through a rack of magazines and will generally provide information of the genre of the
magazine. The main cover image is important as it often shows music artists that relate to the genre and appeal to
the target audience, also some music artists will attract a specific following and niche market, increasing sales of
magazines based on their popularity.
• 3. Take one of the magazine covers and say what type of music magazine it is.
• The subgenre of the music magazine ‘Top of the Pops’ is a pop music.

7. Questions about music magazines front
covers (continued)
• 4. For the same magazine, state who you think the target
audience is.
• The target audience for the ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine is probably young female pop music fans around the ages
of 11-14. I think that the target audience would typically be female because of the band used in the main cover
image, the ‘Jonas Brothers’ are a all male band that had quite a large following of female fans who found them
attractive, a majority of those fans would have probably also seen them on the ‘Disney channel’ as they were
heavily associated with Disney , the channel is particularly made for young people in around their pre to early
teens which increases the likelihood of their fan base being quite young. The language used on the front cover also
suggests the target audiences age as the use of the abbreviation ‘OMG’ is slang commonly used among young
people, stereotypically young girls in particular, this language was probably used to appeal to that particular target
audience. The majority of the fonts used on the front cover of the magazine are sans-serif, this makes the fonts
look quite modern and gives the typography a smooth, young effect which would typically appeal to younger
people. Finally the colours used on the front cover consist of pinks, light blues and yellows, the use of ‘light’
colours carries connotations of ‘youth’ and are often described as ‘childish’, lighter colours also often associated
as ‘feminine’ particularly the colour ‘pink’ which is stereotypicallya young ‘girl’s’ colour.