Codes and Conventions of Music Magazines:

Front Cover Analysis

SKYLINEThe skyline and main image slightly covers the logo of Q. This adds importance to the front cover as it shows that it is a high profile magazine. People can still associate the half shown logo with the magazine

MAIN IMAGEThe front cover is a mid shot of Ed Sheeran holding his guitar and looking away. In this shot he looks very innocent and this could reflect on his music and intrigue people to buy it. The cover star is a well known musician – Ed Sheeran. This will help increase sales as his fans or people that are interested in him will want to buy it. This improves sales.He isn’t using direct address which is unconventional, however, the guitar on his lap helps identify the genre of the magazine as music.

PUGThe pug has a red background and white text. The use of light on dark makes the writing stand out. The text ‘50’ is the second biggest text on the page and so the it attracts the readers attention. Importance is put on the pug because it is a special edition and the editors want people to be aware of it.

SELL LINES A lot of sell-lines are used to improve sales. Artists such as ‘Pink Floyd’ are advertised so that fans of them and the other bands will buy the magazine as well. Under the headings for the sell-lines, repetition is used for “on the”. It makes the writing less formal and more interesting and this also improve sales.

MASTHEADThe logo of the magazine is consistent in every publication – same font, same colour, same position on the page. It acts as a marker and makes it easily identifiable for the magazine

SWEET SPOTThe sweet spot is right in the middle of the page. The red colour stands out against the black of his shirt and also a significantly different font is used to make it stand out. The text leaves a mysterious effect and refers to him and his guitar. The main picture reflects this as well, they cleverly use a picture of just him and his guitar, making him more likeable. Therefore if anyone who didn’t know who Ed Sheeran was they would be intrigued to pick up the magazine.

BARCODEA barcode is used at the bottom of the page so that the date and issue and can be easily located. This is useful if a reader wants to check what issue the magazine is

COLOUR SCHEMEThe colour scheme of red, black and white is used. The advantage of using such a simple colour scheme including black and white is that it looks a lot more sophisticated and classy. There are a lot of different sell lines so an appealing colour scheme takes away from this and makes the front cover more visually attractive.

Brianna DawesStockley AcademyAS Media Studies

MASTHEADThe mast head is big bold and red. It is one of two uses of the colour red, the other being very small, on the front over. Behind the masthead is blue and the brown of Adele’s hair and so the masthead stands out. The font, colour and size of the mast head is very specific to the Rolling Stones brand so shoppers can easily identify it as it is very famous magazine. All of this helps the mast head stand out to the reader.

MAIN IMAGEThe main image is a mid close up of Adele. She has minimum make up on and she looks very pure and raw. This can be reflected in her music and so even without knowing the musician, shoppers will be interested in her and will buy it. The main cover star, Adele, is a very famous musician and celebrity. The advantage of using such a high profile celebrity is that the market to which the magazine sells is increased. Adele’s fans will also be buying it and as she is so famous – this will be a lot of people. Adele is using direct contact with the reader. It makes the front cover more personal as it feels as though Adele is having a conversation with you.

COLOUR SCHEMEThe colour scheme is very basic- red and white. This makes the front cover look more sophisticated as too many bright colours would clash and the front cover would be less visually appealing

SELL LINESThe sell lines are all on the right hand side of the page. They are white and the background is Adele’s brunette hair. The effect of light on dark makes the sell lines stand out. They advertise musicians such as Bill Maher which adds value to the front cover and improves the sales of this issue to not just Rolling Stones members and Adele fans but to also Bill Maher fans. In addition, the use of “The most hated girl on the internet” sparks controversy and captivates readers to fins out who this girl is.

OVERALL JUDGEMENTOverall, the front cover is very bare as compared to a normal magazine front cover. This can be advantageous as it makes the front cover look more aesthetic and authentic. In addition, in regards to ‘quality not quantity’ readers would expect to see a high value magazine which improves sales. A lot of importance is therefore placed on the front cover star – Adele as she is the main focus of the front cover. Her name is also the biggest text on the page.

SKYLINEThe skyline advertises a special issue of the magazine. It stands out less than other parts of the magazine and therefore helps to put significance on them. It advertises a “special issue” of the magazine which would be appealing to frequent Rolling Stones readers.

SWEET SPOTThe sweet spot is at the bottom of the magazine. The cover stars name “Adele is the biggest text on the page and so it attracts the audience. The small explanation of the name also grabs the readers attention and pushes them to read more and thus buy the magazine.

Brianna DawesStockley AcademyAS Media Studies

From the analysis, I can see that many music magazines follow the conventions of normal magazines. This includes having sell lines suited to maximise sales, the use of value

adding pugs and a stand out sweet spot.However, I can see that music magazines often use high

value cover stars (more than likely musicians) to also intrigue people to buy the magazine.

The colour schemes are a lot more simplistic and sophisticated and the house style of different magazines is very specific. For example. Q and Rolling Stones have very

specific mastheads which are consistent with all the publications.