Vibe magazine was launched in 1993 by Quincy Jones but ceased publication in 2006 before being bought by InterMedia Partners LP. It targets an audience of 18-30 year old music enthusiasts, with a 50/50 gender split, through coverage of hip hop, rap, fashion and celebrity gossip. The magazine utilizes a visual style with bold fonts, bright colors, and iconography associated with rap/hip hop to attract its target demographic. It is currently published bi-monthly and owned by the private equity firm InterMedia Partners LP based in New York City.

1. A CASE STUDY

3. BACKGROUND DETAILS
• Quincy Jones launched Vibe in 1993, this was in partnership
with Time Inc. Originally the publication had been called
Volume before Co-Founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave
it the name Vibe.
• On the 30th of June shockingly Vibe announced that they
were shutting their doors and ceasing publications
immediately.
• After the shutting down and ceasing of publications,
InterMedia Partners LP, bought „Vibe‟ Magazine.

4. This is one of the first ever Vibe Front covers

5. Just like Today’s
Vibe the layout is
the same color
scheme seems to
always involve
black and white.
The main image
presents 4
typical rappers
They have big
named artists on
the front cover
just as they do
each week like
today.

6. BACKGROUND DETAILS PART 2
• In 2003, Vibe began to airs its own annual awards show on
UPN through to 2006 and finally VH1 in 2007.
• Vibe launched “The best rapper alive tournament” on July 21st
2008. In which many big named artists from al over the world
took part such as DMX, The Guru, Nas and P Diddy. There
were four brackets in which the four numbers one were
placed into. The number 1 seeds were Jay-z, Lil Wayne, The
Game and Andre 3000. The last 2 rappers who made it to the
final were Eminem and Jay-z In which Eminem came out
victorious with 69% of the votes and winning “The best rapper
alive tournament”.

7. Vibe TODAY
• Issued every 2nd month (bi-monthly).
• Can only be purchase through subscription. 2 years (12 issues)
for only $16.99.
1 year (6 issues) for only $9.99
• It is based in New York City.
• The magazines ar full of color and follow the general music
magazine conventions of today.
• Vibe has its own website and app for Iphone and ipad called
“Vibe Music Mixer”

8. WITHIN VIBE
The pages are full of color, this
makes them more attractive and
eye catching to the reader. Most
articles seem to have a image of
the artist covering one whole page
and the information on the next
page.

9. TARGET AUDIENCE OF VIBE
• 18 - 30 years old.
• 50/50 between males and females.
• Active music enthusiast and
purchaser.
• Interested in fashion or music.
• Use the same type of vocabulary a
rapper would within their songs.
• They are rebellious and confident like
those artists who feature within VIBE.

11. CONTENT
• The content devoted to music, from new songs, the charts to
what artists do in their personal life and their tweets.
• Rappers that commonly feature are 50 Cent, Lil Wayne,
Eminem and Drake.
• The magazine show off many of the rapper celebrities clothing
brands such as 50 Cents G-Unit. And Jay-z‟s Rocawear.
• Fashion is one of the most popular things promoted within the
magazine thanks to its editors such as Emil Wilbikin.
• Regularly featured segments such as multiple music genres
like Reggae and Caribbean by Rob Kenner, celebrity gossip
column and back page list 20 questions.

13. STYLE
• Vibe features lots of iconography associated with Rap/Hip-
hop and the scene that surrounds it, e.g. Bling, Snapbacks and
baggy jeans.
• The magazine is visual, image-heavy.
• Vibe features lots of text in a large sized font in bold so it
stands out on the page.
• Red and black and white show up time and time again
through each publication, along with other bright colors to
make the magazine visually attractive

14. Blue, white and
yellow feature
strongly…
Content is related to
the artist featured
on the cover and
her personal life
The magazine is
very colorful.

15. MODE OF ADDRESS
• A tone of power and strength is created
to emasculate the power and strength of
the artists featured in Vibe.
• Lots of terminology that fans of Rap and
hip hop genres will understand.
• Artists are listed on the front cover which
fans of the genre will know and if they like
one of them may e the reason hey
purchase the magazine.

16. OWNERSHIP
• Vibe are owned by a private equity firm named InterMedia
Partners LP.
• InterMedia Partners LP own numerous other companies such
as Control room, Universal sports and Thomas Nelson.
• The company was founded in 1988 by Leo Hindery Jr.
• Their headquarters are located on the 48th floor of the Chrysler
Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
• InterMedia have invested in Broadband, Print, Programming,
cable and broadband television opportunities.
• The company is successful in each investment as they are
worth over $1 billion which is no easy feet.