A music magazine focuses on a specific musical genre like classical, rock, or hip hop. It provides information, advertising, and entertainment related to that genre. Content includes interviews, news, articles, images like concert photos, concert and album reviews, and tour dates. Music magazines use bold mastheads, coverlines, color themes, and photos of well-known artists on the cover to attract readers and establish their brand identity. Billboard magazine focuses on mainstream popular music across various genres as represented by Beyoncé and Jay-Z on the cover. It targets popular music and the music industry itself.

1. Research and Planning
Task One

2. 1. What is a music magazine
 A music magazine is a magazine that focuses generally on one specific musical genre. This type
of magazine aims to provide advertisement, information as well as entertainment about a
particular music genre e.g. classical, rock, hip hop or jazz. The target demographic of a music
magazine would be individuals who enjoy and regularly purchase music both online and in
physical CD form. The genre of music the magazine is about will also determine a specific
audience and help dictate the type of content included. Others who would be interested in such
a magazine are people who work within the music industry. In terms of advertisement the things
which would be included would be: concerts, merchandise, and albums.

3. 2. What content would you expect to
find in a music magazine?
 Interviews/ features of artists
 Latest news on popular new music
 Articles
 Visual images e.g. concert photography
 Concert and album reviews
 Tour dates
 Posters

4. 3. What images would you expect to find
in a music magazine?
 Images of featured artists
 Cover art of albums
 Concert/festival photos
 Images of purchasable merchandise
 Pictures of instruments
 Images of influential people in the industry

5. 4. Identify general features of a music
magazine
 A celebrity as the main image
 stand out quote from the celebrity as the main cover line
 Colloquial language so it is easy to understand and has a conversational,
relatable tone.
 Generally priced under £5

6. 5.Identify features they all have
 Bold masthead to bring attention to title
 Coverlines
 Clear colour themes
 A well known artist as the main image on the cover

7. 6.Why do they all include these
features?
 Because they conform to the stylings of a typical magazine
 These features help give the magazine an easily accessible layout and format
 Brand Identity (colour schemes)
 Cover lines entice readers with enclosed stories

8. What type of magazine is this?
 Billboard magazine focuses on mainstream popular music so a
specific genre is not targeted but as represented on the cover by
Beyoncé a certified pop queen and Jay Z a very successful hip hop
artist the main genre’s of music focused on by the magazine are
outline. Billboard places focus on what is popular and selling well at
the present time as it is linked to the billboard music charts which is
obvious by the masthead also titled Billboard. This magazine clearly
targets popular music “music biz’s most influential players”, but not
a particular genre. It also gives attention to the music industry itself
and it’s inner workings.