Research: Detailed analysis of music magazine front cover (a variety of music genres)

This classical music magazine cover is designed to draw in the audience who are interested in classical music from around the world. The image of the Chinese woman holding a violin represents musicians from around the globe and gives the impression to the audience that classical music is a global thing. Next to the images there is a bold and large words that say 'Sarah Chang’. Although it does not state it on the magazine, but this immediately indicates to the audience that that is the girls name on the cover. This is interesting because its something that the audience presumes without the magazine saying ‘this girl on the cover is Sarah Chang. The pink clothing on them woman represents femininity and by having an attractive woman on the cover also shows the audience the attractive side of classical music. The words’ FREE CD’ is put in a bold yellow circle by the title of the magazine to attract the audiences attention to what the magazine has to offer for the audience. Also by having the words in capital letters and it a bold font, it makes it stand out to the audience and make it seem urgent to get this magazine before they miss the chance of getting this free CD. This magazine attracts mature people who are interested in reading about classical music.

This popular rock music magazine cover is designed around the main image of the popular music artist. The image of the artist ‘Mia’ attracts the audience who may know who she is, and if they don't the image still draws the reader in. In the image she’s wearing what looks like is a union jack style top, which represents that she is a British artist. The way her hair is messily styled, the cigarette are all indications that she is not a stereotypical girly girl and has a slight rough edge to her. She’s also seen as a confident woman, this is done by wearing the red lipstick because red represents sexiness and also the fact that she has direct eye contact with the audience, it makes the audience think that she is a confident and attractive girl, which draws the audience in. This fits in with the rock them style of this magazine. The word ‘Mia’ next to the image represents that this is what the artists name is without telling the audience. By having the word ‘Mia’ main feature is ‘Mia’. The background which Mia is in is a very neutral background which again makes her stand out to the audience. Also on the front cover there isn't much text, this mainly focuses the attention on the image and points out that she is the main feature. I think that this magazine would attract the younger audience who may like the artist Mia and also who may like indie/rock music.

The magazine company Billboard is targeting there younger audience with this magazine cover of Miley Cyrus. The image on this cover is a friendly, inviting and fresh image. Many people may be used to seeing the more glamorous side of this celebrity, so this image may show a new side to her. The setting around her is a naturalistic image of her in a field makes her seem like a normal human and shows that she isn't so glamorous. The clothes The guitar around her body represents that she is a musician as well as a singer. The lighting is this is bright and makes this image seem very welcoming and happy, which allures the audience in. The master head of this magazine is a white colour and has bright colourful infill's on certain letters. This is done to make the master head look bold and colourful without changing the whole master head. The font is bold and large and is edited to be under the image of Miley Cyrus, this makes her seem more important and also shows how she’s the main feature of the magazine. I think young people may pick this magazine up, because it looks like an idyllic image for teenagers to be.

This magazine cover is a very simple cover, but however also has a very powerful image. The image on the cover is a edited image of a popular music artist breaking the ground. By having the image of him breaking the ground gives the image that he’s a tough man. More indications to this representation is that he has tattoo’s, spiky hair and a mega phone. This shows that he is loud, tough and powerful. By having as edited image of the ground splitting in half beneath him shows that maybe he is too much to handle and gives the audience the image that he is powerful. The mastered is an inverted white ‘Q’ on a bold red background. This makes the ‘Q’ stand out. However the image of the artist has been edited to be put over the master head, this may seem like he’s taking over this magazine cover, because he’s so powerful. The lead article is in the centre of the cover, and is in the only article to be shown on the front cover. The title suggest the name of the artist, and by having it in bold grey writing it represent toughness, which is what the image is also representing. I think that people younger people may buy this magazine because its tough and they may also be interested in the artist on the cover.

This magazine cover for this guitar magazine goes against the typical guitar magazine. The reason why it goes against the conventions of a typical guitar magazine is because it has an image of an attractive women holding a guitar, instead of just a guitar. By having the girl holding the guitar makes the guitar seem nicer and also makes the audience think that if they buy this guitar they may get a women like this. The women is wearing pink lingerie and has blonde hair, this is a typical woman stereotype and represents the female gender typically. The women has eye contact with the reader and makes it seem alluring. The master head is a large and bold black style writing. This makes it look more masculine compared to the female image on the cover. The image on edited over the master head, which makes the women look more important. The Cover line’s are also bold and colourful against the neutral white background. This makes them stand out and highlight the features in the magazine to the audience. The cover line ‘the girls next door’ is edited to represent the female gender. The words 'the girls’ is in a swift, swirly style to represent females because that is a girly font. This then contrasts with the words ‘next door’ which are in a bold and large font, by doing this is makes in seem more interesting and stand out from the other cover lines which have all the same font. This shows that this is one of the main features in the magazine. I think mainly men would buy this magazine because it has the male appeal to it.

This magazine is designed around the younger female audience. This magazine of top of the pops you can tell is designed and made for younger female audiences because of the celebrities used and the fonts. The celebrities on the cover used are either popular female singers or attractive younger celebrities. One of the images is a picture of a boy band which are not wearing any tops, and also the image has pink hearts around them. This suggests that this boy band is attractive and dreamlike to the female audience. The colour of the font represents the female gender because it is pink and the colour pink represents the female gender. The master head of ‘top of the pop’s’ is a edgy and modern font and is pink with a white outline. The white outline contrasts against the pink and gives it a bubble like effect which represents that this is a pop magazine. When you think of pop you may think of a bubble, which is why this may represent the pop genre. The main image of the female celebrity is edited on top of the master head which makes it seem as if she’s dominate. Think they have done this to represent the quote on the cover which says ‘how I beat the bullies’ this shows that she is strong which is exactly what the image shows. The celebrity looks pretty and I think she can be seen as a role model to the younger audience. The logo of the BBC is used in the top left corner of the magazine to show who published this magazine. A bar code is also displayed on the bottom left of the magazine to use when the people are buying the magazine.