Analysis of Music Magazine Cover

Pop Music Magazine Research

Codes and conventions of a Pop music Magazine cover:

Two pop music magazines covers.

Vibe, aimed at male pop music fans.

Top Of The Pops, aimed at female pop music fans.

Mast Head and Magazine name:

All Mast heads need to be large and either along the top of the magazine or in the top left hand corner. This is so that when the Magazine is in the shops stall being sold the name of the magazine can be seen. Both of the Mast heads below achieve this.

The Top of the pops mast head is a glittery pink, suggesting that the magazine has a female target audience and possibly a younger one than Vibe. Also, the font of Top of the Pops, especially the "S" will be more appealing to a female audience then a male one. The name, top of the pops, is the name of a old popular TV show where Popular music was performed to the audience watching at home. The name therefore is well known and has some connection to music.

Vibe on the other hand is aimed more towards a male audience I believe, the bright red being a more attractive colour for men then the glittery pink of Top of the Pops.  The font also gives off a more mature feel then Top of the Pops. Vibe, is also a word that is often used to describe the mood at a gig, for example: "The vibe here is amazing!" This gives the name of the magazine a connection to music.

Common features: 

• Both have names that have some reference to music.
• Colours and fonts that appeal to audience.

Feature Article Photo:

The feature article Photo for the Top Of the Pops Magazine is of popular english singer and songwriter Jessie J. Jessie is popular among many teenage girls and she is also as music artist and therefore has some connection to music. Also, because she is popular in England, the target audience will easily recognize her. 

Vibe's Feature Article Photo is of Kesha. Kesha is yet again another popular american singer-songwriter and rapper. Vibe is sold in the US therefore the audience will be interested in reading about her, also the pose that Kesha is hold would be considered sexually suggestive...therefore attracting the male audiences attention.

Common Features:

• Both are music artist rather than a model or something unrelated to Pop music.
• Both capture that target audiences attention.

Cover story Headline:

This cover line, in the pink circle is joined by a quote from the article.  Each letter is in the same font on a angle in italics and each letter as a different colour to the last on but still keeps with the house colours: Hot pink,pink and lilac. The actual cover story headline, is quite small in comparison. The colours obviously attract a female audience's eye and  offers more info on the story then most cover headlines. This main cover story headline takes up a lot of room, almost the whole width of the magazine cover.The language of the cover line is informal and uses emotive language like "incredible". This emotive language will definitely make women want to read a celebrities real life story. The quote take is more colloquial language and uses slang words like "haters" which the audience will recognise.

Vibe on the other hand is quite snippy and just informs the reader of the Main feature articles artist that they feature. In this case the colour red is used to emphasis the artist and draw attention to her. Also the font is large and easy to read but doesn't take up a lot of room probably only just a little more then the other cover stories. The language of the headline is more informal then formal, using the well known phrase "guilty pleasure".

Common Features:

• Contain font, colours and language to attract target audience.
• Both use informal language

Cover lines:

Both Cover lines for TOTP have used similar font, and you can therefore tell that they've kept in with the house style for the fonts. The colours are also similar and go well together and fit the appropriate audiences likes. They are also have similar language: informal and quite colloquial that are appropriately for the target audience. Two have images giving more info and the two picture of the celebrities will definitely attract the female audiences attention.

Vibe keeps most of its cover lines the same and uses a similar font even for the information underneath, having the headlines in bold though to disguise between the two. The colours are all the same, white background and black writting. The information isn't formal but isn't as colloquial as TOTPs. Many of teh head lines are connected to music in some way as well. (David Guetta.)

Common Features:

• Language that is relevant to reader.
• House style and colours fitting target audience.

Plugs:

TOTP Doesn't really offer up many Plugs. The main reason for this I believe is that the audience are less likely to notice the plugs when there's so much going on underneath also because the people whom read this magazine may not read it regularly and occasionally pick it up there for they may need more info then a plug can offer . However the plug that is there has relevant colours that keep the house colours and small piece of info that will arouse the readers interest, using emotive language like stealing. The plug also happens to cover the top of the magazine cover.

Vibe has two sections for plugs, one going across the magazine. It uses emotive language that is relevant for the target audience: Exclusive. The colours and font keep to the house style and all are related to music artists. The one with all the artists names gives the readers even less info about the storys. Just about who its about. This suggests that readers of  Vibe regularly read the magazine and wont need that much persuasion to read the magazine.

Common Features:

• Both have a plug at the top of the magazine cover.
• Target audience relevant house style.