Vibe magazine is a music and entertainment magazine that focuses predominantly on R&B and hip-hop artists. It was founded by Quincy Jones and features topics of interest to young, urban followers of hip-hop culture such as new music releases and the lifestyles of popular artists. The target demographic is predominantly black and the magazine represents black artists in a wealthy light to appeal to youth who admire the success and "cool" factors associated with popular rappers. This particular issue of Vibe features Kanye West prominently on the cover and in an interview inside discussing his personal life.

1. VIBE MAGAZINE
ANALYSIS
By Sohail Rouyan

2. For this section I have been requested to complete a comprehensive
analysis of a music magazine from its front cover to content page and
double page spread, I have chosen to analysis VIBE magazine for this
piece of work. The reason for choosing VIBE magazine is due to the fact
that I have taken a lot of inspirations and ideas from their magazine to
make my own unique music magazine.

4. Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by
producer Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly
features R&B and hip-hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After
shutting down production in Summer 2009, Vibe was purchased by the
private equity investment fund Inter Media Partners and is now issued
every-other month with double covers, with a larger online presence. The
magazine's target demographic is predominantly young, urban followers
of hip-hop culture. As of April 2013 Vibe is currently owned by Spin Media.
The magazine owed its success to featuring a broader range of interests
than its closest competitors The Source and XXL which focus more
narrowly on rap music, or the rock & pop-centric Rolling Stone and Spin.
As of June 30, 2012, Vibe has a circulation of 300,943, of which 202,439
was paid, and 98,504 was non paid. Advertisers ran the gamut from
record labels to fashion houses to various cognac brands.

5. Vibe magazine mainly consists of the genre RnB and some aspects of hip hop.
This is because Vibe magazine attempts to target and attract the wider and
larger audience to increase their amount of consumers worldwide as the are
competing with or major institutions and music magazine companies.
I can tell that it is mainly focused on RnB and some aspects of Hip Hop due to
the fact that it contains textual information in relation to modern music such as
RnB and Hip Hop. Moreover it contains images of rappers and artists that
compose RnB or Hip Hop music, which reinforces the fact that the audience
and consumer can tell and recognize that VIBE magazine is classified as a RnB
and HIP Hop music magazine.
Moreover to expand on the textual side of the information that also reinforces
the fact that it is a RnB and Hip Hop genre music magazine as it mainly consists
of information or text such as ‘’Top 10 rap blogs’’ or something similar which
immediately connotes that it is classified under the RnB and Hip Hop genre.

6. The magazine's target demographic is predominantly young, urban followers of
hip-hop culture. I can tell this due to the fact that the topics and information
stated and explained in the music magazine all links in to the youths of our
generation, for example it states topics such as rap artists new music tracks, their
lifestyle and personal life stories so that their target audience can link in to the
artists situations.
Moreover the use of fashion and clothing are specifically targeted at young
target audience as it mostly consists of major designer wear which most of our
youth has inspiration of owning which mainly consists of Gucci and Louis Vuitton.
Furthermore the use of language in the context has a correlation to the target
audience as it contains slang language. Slang language is a form of informal
language used when youths are communicating socially.

7. In Vibe magazine the main group that it consists of is black race due to the fact
that black people are most well known in our generation for producing rap
lyrics and music videos which immediately grabs their target audiences
attention. Black people are represented in a wealthy and YOLO way (you only
live once) this is because most of them come from an ethnicity and
background which at that time did not life to the fullest and experience
unpleasant issues. So therefore the representations of the black group in VIBE
magazine consists of famous artists, number one music video hits, wealthy,
fashion, drugs and party. This is appealing to the target audience due to the
fact that the target audience consists of youths and youths mainly enjoy
hearing rap artists new lyrics and the fact that they got S.W.A.G (a slang term
used by youths to reinforce the word ‘Cool’) from things like their house or car to
there clothing and choice of women. Therefore the target audience admires
the artist and is a huge fan and wishes to accept him/her as there role model.
However VIBE magazine do represent some aspects of other groups such as
white artists and white rappers however they do not tend to succeed more in
there career than black artists due to the fact that they express their experience
and their emotions through their song or rap.

8. The stories mentioned and explained throughout the magazine consists
of the artist mainly which in this edition of VIBE magazine is Kanye West.
The front cover consists of a large medium close up of him and the
content page consists of a large medium close up as well as the double
page spread. This edition is mainly about Kanye West so during the
double page spread there is an interview with him which he mainly
expresses him self in a more social way and not how he is in front of his
fans, moreover he speaks about his personal life story which again links
back to VIBE magazines target audience.