Music Magazine Textual Analysis - Front Covers

Magazine - "DJ"
Publisher - "Thrust Publishing"
Published Since - 1991

"DJ" magazine (from the front cover) appears to be aimed towards DJ's specifically, but does mention underneath the masthead "LIVING AND BREATHING DANCE MUSIC" so for the genre of music this magazine would be considered "Dance". In this case "DJ" would compete with magazines such as "XLR8R" (a magazine also aimed towards DJs), "URB" (another magazine aimed specifically towards DJs) and more, (though mainly these as these are very well known magazines like "DJ").

The front cover of this edition aims to attract it's audience through the use of very strong, vibrant clashing colours in the masthead, image, headline and cover lines (the general trend of colour here is red, yellow, blue and white (also a small amount of black and a very small amount of blue in the bottom left cover line) ). The colours on the front cover are most likely catered to the colour of the main wearing the mask in the image as his image seems to fit with the headline "SBTRKT THE MASKED MAN SPEAKS" (it's worth mention all the font across the front cover is Sans-serif (except "SBTRKT" which is written in a stylised font) ), there isn't a lure to accompany the headline only the image of "SBTRKT".

There isn't anything that shows this is particularly aimed at any specific age audience though it's theme (DJ's) might show that it is aimed towards an audience around 16 upwards as around this point onwards is where people start practicing for careers as DJ's, though there is nothing to say younger audiences couldn't read this magazine (probably no younger than around 12 though as below this age viewers may not understand some concepts of the magazines (although from inspection of the headline and cover lines of this issue, nothing seems too complex for their age group) and the use of the word "'DAM" on the front may deter certain parents from their children owning the magazine).This magazine is most likely aimed towards a male audience (thanks to the vast majority of DJ's being male) although there is nothing on the front cover to say women shouldn't and couldn't read this magazine also. 

Along the top of the magazine you will notice it says "*FREE SANTOS MULTIMEDIA CD! MUSIC AND DATA GALORE*" , this is something that will help sell this magazine as obviously the thought of paying for the magazine (what they may have purchased anyway) and getting free music with it,(that the viewer will most likely be interested in as it is bound to match the magazine genre, which is of course the base reason why the viewer is buying the magazine in the first place) sounds like a very good deal. the 'explosion' style effect up the top right of the front cover containing the words "BEST OF BRITISH LAUNCH ISSUE" may help sell the magazine within Britain, as the public will be able to relate to something aimed towards their culture more than if it was, an American special edition for example, as the content of the magazine will be more colloquial to them. 

The general layout of the rest of the front cover is that the headline escorted by the image of "SBTRKT" takes up the top half of the page whilst the still important (though slightly less so) cover lines take up the bottom of the page (though they are not accompanied by any images to help reinforce their articles, as they are less important to the issue, though strangely each of the cover lines is accompanied by a lure, all except "KUEDO'S LUSH SYNTHSCAPES" and "DEETRON GETS PHYSICAL"), it's also worth mentioning that across the front cover is a graffiti style art, perhaps relating in some way to "SBTRKT" as the artwork seems to stem from image of his mask. 

The pricing of the magazine can be seen down the bottom right of the front cover along with the number of the issue, the month for which it was published and the number of "TUNES" reviewed (which may also attract people as they may see what others think of music they like), the price of this issue is £3.95, I consider this very reasonable as it seems this magazine is monthly (so you would not spend much on it if you were to purchase the new issue each month) and this months issue contains a free multimedia CD, (which is an added bonus) so thanks to this magazine being quite a good price, avid readers can keep buying and newcomers can purchase without fear of the magazine costing them too much if they don't like what they read.

Magazine - "NME" (which stands for New Musical Express)

Publisher - "IPC Media", "TIME Inc."

Published Since - March 1952

"NME" magazine (from the front cover) appears to be a music newspaper more than a magazine as it covers various recent stories related to bands (seen through its headline and cover lines) although many of the bands on the front cover are bands that play "Rock" music so if I had to give a genre I would say this magazine is "Rock" (though really it is more of a music newspaper/journalism style of publication).

The font across the front cover is Sans-serif, except for 2  sections of text - "World exclusive" and "Mark Ronson, Nas and Salaam Remi" (I just thought noting this would be helpful).

The masthead on this front cover stands out very well due to the use of red colour against the black colour of the hair from the image of Amy Winehouse, it also stands out due to it's use of bold text, having the masthead stand out is helpful, as it allows readers to identify the magazine upon spotting it. 

The layout of the front cover of "NME" is such that the headline is presented in much larger font (as it is the most important thing about this issue of the magazine) accompanied by a single image of Amy Winehouse spanning the entire front cover (as she is related to the headline), the headline is presented as a "World exclusive" as to draw in viewers as it is presented that nowhere else will this article be found, which is a very strong reason to purchase this magazine if the viewer happens to like Amy Winehouse.

Below the headline is a lure about the article which helps to draw viewers into buying the magazine, as they will want to know more, followed by the names of the journalists that wrote the article.

Cover lines are spread across the front cover, starting from above the masthead, following down the right hand side of the page, most likely due to the headline taking up the entire bottom left of the front cover and the want for Amy Winehouse's face to be visible in the middle of the front cover (it's also worth noting her slightly seductive expression and clothing may help to draw in the straight/bisexual male audience (above the age of 13) more (and also possibly the lesbian/bisexual female audience), not only that but also audiences that are interested in gossip as her facial expression isn't incredibly innocent which hints towards a sense of "bad behavior", which is the base for gossip (also the lure helps too, as it may be taken as partially suggestive) ).

As the cover lines end the viewers eye will also be brought to a very large white plus symbol and the fact they will receive "FREE CLASSIC AMY POSTERS", which is an added bonus of this issue of "NME" and may influence the viewer into buying the magazine more (especially if they are a fan of Amy Winehouse, or find her "attractive").

The colours scheme across the front cover is red and white as all the text (excluding that which surrounds the bar code down the bottom right (for purchasing purposes) ) is written in these two colours. These colours go well together and though they don't clash (which often attracts viewers attention as magazines with clashing colours stand out) they work very well against the image of Amy Winehouse as she is not wearing bright red lipstick or any bright red or white clothing, (excluding the little amount of white on her top at the bottom of the front cover) the red and white stand out against very well against black (which is probably the main reason why they were chosen as the image contains Amy Winehouse wearing a lot of black (including her hair colour) ) and also very well against Amy Winehouse's skin tone.

It's worth noting that all of the cover lines contain lures, which just helps to give the audience a better idea of what the article contains.

The content of the top cover line speaks to readers and offers them the chance to be involved with voting on the five bands competing for the "NME AWARDS", this may help sell the magazine as viewers may like some of the bands presented and will want to show support for their favourite band by voting for them, so obviously to do this they would have to purchase the magazine.

This issue of NME is the 3rd of December 2011 and costs £2.40, this is a mildly affordable price, as the fact that the magazine has stated the day of the issue, reveals it to be a weekly published magazine (this was confirmed with extra research). I say mildly affordable as there are roughly 4 weeks to each month (with some months being more of course) and for an avid viewer to have to pay at least £9.60 a month to get each issue of the magazine, can be considered quite pricey by some (although pricing obviously may change for the magazine each issue, meaning perhaps some issues may cost significantly less, or even significantly more. I will not go into detail about the prices for America, Spain and China, as I am not familiar with general pricing in those countries, though from a rough point of view it seems even harder to afford this magazine every week in those 3 countries).

The general audience for this magazine I believe is both males and females (as there are no obvious gender traits shown on this front cover (the Amy Winehouse image cannot be considered as it relates to the headline of the issue) ) and the age group I would predict is 13 and above (as some of the content may not be understood by younger viewers, such as the cover line regarding phone hacking, (in relation to the phone-hacking scandal on the news) "I THINK NOEL WAS PHONEHACKED", or the cover line to do with David Cameron, "DAVID CAMERON IS SINISTER", although there is nothing to say younger audiences may read this magazine, though I strongly believe the age group is 13 and above.

Magazine - "Q" (which stands for Quieten Richardson - the maker of "Q" magazine)

Publisher - "Bauer Media Group"

Published Since - October 1986

Q magazine (from the front cover) appears to be a music review magazine, I really cannot give this a genre as across the front cover the artists written all play different genres of music, so really its a hybrid.

The masthead stands out very well on the front of this magazine due to the red background against the strong white "Q", it's also worth mentioning the image of the male on the front cover bleeds across the masthead, as we can see his arm is coming out and going through the "Q" giving an almost 3-D style effect to his image, the fact that the masthead stands out helps readers identify the magazine once they have seen the front cover.

The layout of this issue of "Q" is this, it's hard to identify the actual headline as many of the articles are presented in the same size font, but I would say it is "THE SECRETS OF COLDPLAY" as this seems to be the most prominent as comes with information on the writers of the article too, (also the stylised font makes it stand out) but the close second (and clearly one of the most important cover lines) is "2011 REVIEWED", as this also stands out a great deal thanks to the style and size of the font.

The main prominent colours of this issue are yellow and white as they stand out against the image of the male standing against a (what looks to be) graffiti covered black wall (note also that the floors are also black and covered in graffiti). I cannot say red is a main colour as the red square containing the white "Q" is the logo and masthead for "Q" magazine. the yellow and white text is a nice strong contrast to the (mostly) black background, with this contrast viewers eyes are bound to be drawn to the magazine, helping to get the magazine spotted, and thus perhaps sold.

With the headline taking up most of the left side of the front cover, the cover lines circle around the image of the man by going from the center of the top of the front cover, round and down the right side and end along the bottom. This route that the eye follows ends close to the price too, the effect of this is possibly that viewers, after reading the headline and all of the cover lines, and (possibly) finding out they are interested in this magazine, will come to see a quite affordable price and perhaps consider purchasing this issue of "Q". As we can see the magazines issue is January 2012, showing this magazine is published monthly, (as it does not give a specific day, showing it is not weekly) so along with the fact it is monthly, a price of £3.99 can be considered quite affordable in the long run (or even on the one-off occasion) if first time buyers happen to find that they like the magazine, they can know that it will probably cost them around this each month and know they will most likely be able to keep purchasing it.

From the front cover it seems that the audience for this magazine could be either sex and any age group, the reason for this deduction is nothing across the entire layout on the front cover of this issue of "Q" seems to be specifically aimed at either sex, all the artists on the front cover write music for both sexes and there seems to be no specific age group as nothing on the front cover seems to be too complex or too adult for any age, this is probably most likely to this being a music review magazine (one thing I would say about age group is obviously an age that children would be interested in music and an age they can read), I never limit age group o the elderly as many elderly find modern music very attractive nowadays, so i also cannot say that people above a certain age wouldn't find this magazine interesting, so to summarise, its aimed at both sexes, and any age group.

A few miscellaneous things worth mentioning are:

• The font (where not stylised) is Sans-serif style font (except the "of the" from "50 ALBUMS of the YEAR".
• The multicoloured graffiti in the image of the male (what appears to be) dancing may catch a viewers eye thanks to its strange composition of artwork and words.
• The male in the image may be Chris Martin (though it is hard to tell) ,a member of "Coldplay", in which case it will relate to the headline and fans of "Coldplay" will spot this image of him, and may be drawn to find out more, and thus seeing the headline, may be convinced to buy the magazine.
• The random mention of a farmer along with well known artist on the cover line across the bottom of the front cover, may have a slight influence on viewers, as they may want to know why a farmer is being mentioned in a well known music review magazine (though this is just a theory).

This sums it up for my music magazine front cover textual analysis, till next time everyone :D