Codes and Conventions of Music Magazines:

Contents Page Analysis

MASTHEADThe masthead of the magazine “Drummer” is put on the contents page. It is unconventional however, it does make the contents page look more original. Next to the text is a picture of a drum kit and instantly the reader is aware that the magazine is tailored for music lovers.

FEATURES SECTIONThe features heading is red and bold therefore it stands out. It is useful because it helps for easier navigation for the reader but also gives information about the best and juiciest pages in the magazine. The sub-lines are linked with a sentence to explain it. This enables the reader to choose whether they want to read it or not.

PAGE NUMBERSThe page numbers are big bold and red. This is helpful because it stands out on the page and it makes navigation throughout the magazine a lot easier

“EXCLUSIVE”This is white, capitalised and in brackets. The effect of light on dark makes it stand out from the background image. This tells the reader that the picture is very special and important. It is the biggest picture on the page and therefore will catch the readers attention.

CONTENTS PAGEContents is big and bold and easily marked out for better navigation for the reader. It adheres to the colour scheme to make the page look more visually appealing. The date is also quite bigger – bigger than the contents heading – which is unconventional but it gives the contents page its own style.

COLOUR SCHEMEThe colour scheme is red, black and white. It is enforced by the pictures, title, headings and sub headings. Rock Music often has connotations of red and black which helps the reader to easily identify the genre of the magazine by looking at the contents page. In addition to this, a red, black and white colour scheme is very simple. It makes the contents page look more sophisticated as there isn’t really a clash of any loud colours. Many of the pictures also have a grunge effect which again helps the reader to recognise the magazine as a rock music magazine.

USE OF PICTURESThe page is filled with a lot more pictures than words and text. Having more pictures is beneficial as it makes it more visually appealing to the reader and many non-readers wont be put off by a surplus of words. The pictures also help to enhance the colour scheme. The pictures in the bottom of the page have people with indie styled clothing so it makes them look quite edgy. This helps to appeal to a target audience of rock music lovers.

STRUCTUREThis contents page has a three column structure. We can see this because the pictures aren’t placed randomly but rather in an order. However, the structure is broken by the masthead and the main picture and by doing this, importance is placed on them. The three column structure makes the magazine more attractive and organised.

Brianna DawesStockley AcademyAS Media Studies

CONTENTS PAGE“CONTENTS” is one of the biggest text on the page. It is big and black which stands out on the white background. The enables the reader to identify this page as the Contents Page easier and therefore they will be better directed throughout the magazine.

Brianna DawesStockley AcademyAS Media Studies

USE OF PICTURESThe main image is a long shot of a women crouching. The text is edited to fit around her and she is the biggest picture on the page. Therefore it will grab the readers attention. The woman is laughing and her pose is quite confident and quirky and so it lightens the mood of the contents page.The other pictures don’t have any captions so they are obviously well known such as award winning multi-million seller- Janelle Monae in the top right corner. The pictures provide the chance for there to be less text on the page and therefore not overwhelm the reader.

COLOUR SCHEMEThe left hand side of the page has a very wide colour scheme of yellow, red, blue, pink, orange and grey. However, they are only seen in small amounts therefore they do not conflict. Some of these colours are seen in the Billboard logo in the top right hand corner which helps to establish a connection to the magazine itself and the brand. This also lets the contents page look more fun. The main part of the contents page has a colour scheme of black, blue and white – very simple and sophisticated

ALBUM AND SONGS CHARTThe box has a background of grey to make it stand out to the reader. Many magazines have songs charts in it but not on the first page therefore this is unconventional. As a result of this the contents page is unique and original – as with all of Billboard contents pages as they all have the same structure, colour scheme and music chart template. The purpose of the chart is to keep the readers up to date with the charts. It also serves as advertising for successful music artists as readers would be intrigued to listen to popular songs that they haven’t heard of.

HEADINGSThe headings are capitalised, bigger and a different font to the majority of the text to make it stand out. This helps to easily direct the reader to different pages. The sub-headings also stand out because they are in blue. They are followed by text to explain what is on the pages. This is a useful and conventional feature because it enables the reader to decide whether or not the story interests them.

STRUCTUREThe contents page is organised into columns – although it is not sustained throughout. However this again adds to the originality of the contents page. It allows a lot more to be fit onto the information packed page without looking messy and jumbled.

From the analysis, I can see that contents pages of music magazines follow the conventions of normal magazines. This includes having columns for easier structuring and pictures

to relieve the effects of the words. However, I can see that the contents pages of music

magazines are very different in comparison to others. They each have different styles which make them original for

example, having the date of the issue very big. The colour schemes are a lot more open and experimented with however all of these still help to serve the purpose of a

contents page – easier navigation.