Music magazine analysis

Introduction

When analysing a magazine of my choice, I decided to choose a magazine that linked in with the theme of my own. To do this, I studied the popular music magazines that were situated in the country that my target audience predominantly lived, America, but were also available in many others for publicity purposes. After research, I found that Billboard music magazine featured many celebrities who I believe would be interested in acoustic music who mainly lived in America. Considering the target audience for Billboard can range from 25-55 year old's, I feel Billboard magazine is a great magazine to analyse to gain knowledge on the ideas, intentions, their methods of engaging the audience, eye catching appearances and history to then create a successful magazine. Although my magazine will be based around acoustic music, the majority of music artists listed in Billboard magazine are there due to being in the current charts, which makes me believe that they have the ability to expand their imaginations and develop their skills of writing and creating acoustic music.  For my next piece of research, I have found a recent Billboard magazine that was published on October 20^th 2012 that I will be analysing. Billboard magazine, 1894, is weekly published magazine, owned by the company "Prometheus Global Media". With a circulation of 16, 327, Billboard magazine features all of the acclaimed, notorious artists currently trending all over the world. 

Front cover
On the front cover of this particular issue of Billboard, is a flirtatious, explicit photograph of “Kesha”. As mentioned before, the masthead has been kept to the same font, position and design, however, the colour of the main letters have been altered to white to complement Kesha’s outfit. Overlapping the masthead is the main, and in this case, only image. In this particular magazine, the mise-en-scene used is important in the sense of producing a unique, eye catching and enticing front cover for the persuasion of the public to purchase the magazine. The setting that Kesha has been captured in seems to have a peculiar feeling evoking from it. Although the majority to objects kept within the photograph are pleasant subjects to view, a few small skulls have been placed between other colourful, random objects such as tin cans, flowers and wood. I feel that the publisher of this magazine is trying to portray a nauseating photograph that shows plenty of obscene, oddly placed, mixed objects in the empty spaces to create a front cover that has plenty to explore. I would suggest that the use of subject matters such as skulls, flowers, candles, striped materials and rocks have been included to create a textural photograph that is visually intriguing.

The appearance of Kesha is both, flattering and quaint. Although her clothing and make-up have been kept to a natural, refreshing look, the style of the clothing is less than ordinary. With a big slit running down the entire dress, (revealing the flesh of her thighs whilst her upper body has been covered with ruffles and extra flowers on her white clothing),I feel that the image is contradicting itself by the use of bold, bright and un-natural coloured flowers surrounding her. Due to this, I feel the viewers, including myself, feel unsure on the final result of her appearance and how the whole nature of the photograph feels as if she has been copied from another magazine and been placed on this one.

Although the contents within the magazine is initiated by the main focal point being Kesha, we are not given any hints from the background as to what the articles within the magazine may be about or other advertisements included. To gain knowledge of the further information and contents of Billboard magazine, sub-headings, selling-lines, listed websites and cover lines are used as hints and enticements. On this particular issue, “Kesha, works pop voodoo, new single ignites at radio. Can she do it again?” is written beside the main image. This selling line is giving little information about the particular gossip that the target audience will have an interest with. This makes the viewer want to purchase the magazine and read the article on the subject. Other small boxes have been sectioned off into their own areas on the magazine for the ease of the viewer finding the information they would like to read and what page it is on. These headings include, “Apple after Steve Jobs”, “Opening Pandora’s box” and “Who’s No.1”. All of these are the most popular and intriguing articles within the magazine. 

Due to the presentation on the front cover, I would suggest that this issue would be predominantly aimed at females between the ages of 18-30 that belong to the Lower middle social class.

Contents page
On the contents page of this particular issue, like always, Billboard has organised their layout into different sections of the page to present the audience with simple, professional information to help them find what they are looking for.

On the left side of the page, a vertical line has split a quarter of the page from the rest to organise the current music listings in the magazine and their page numbers. This column differs in position depending on the main subject matter. Sub-headings such as “Artists”, “Songs” and “Albums” are highlighted using a bright yellow font colour and being presented in bold. This sections the sub-headings from the following lists by showing change in appearance. Both, “No.1” and “Contents” have been written in a black, bold font with vertical and diagonal slices cut out of the letters, leaving gaps between the single letters. Billboard magazine have used this font throughout every issue. Creating this appearance each month presents the sense of unity within the magazine.  The font used is different from the one on the front cover. I feel that this keeps the magazine interesting, whilst introducing a more professional approach to the contents page than the front cover. As addition to this, unlike the front cover, three photographs have been used to publicise the typical celebrity included in the magazine articles and advertisements. Three of these images are aligned professionally in a row with the page number that they are spoken about more in depth overlapping the image at the bottom. Underneath these photographs lay the fourth that has been increased, 9 times the size of the others, creating the sense that this image has a higher priority than them. The information surrounding this photograph summarises the features and photographs on the contents page, giving the viewer a clearer understanding and approach to reading articles, new singles and latest gossip.

The Billboard logo is placed at the top of the page, minimized to a smaller size than usual. Although the viewer will already have recognition that the magazine that they are reading is Billboard, it is being presented for personalised purposes.

The font used in the contents page has been kept to a normal style. This creates the feeling that the publisher had the intentions of creating a straight to the point magazine that is easy to read and large enough to read by people of all needs. Furthermore, the colours of the contents page have been kept to a minimum of three main colours. These consist of black, white and blue.  Unlike the front cover, the page that consists of much more writing has been altered to an easily read, clear and understanding standard with blank spaces left, instead of filling them with unwanted images, colours or small prints.  

Advertisements
Within Billboard magazine, there are music related advertisements, publicising specific downloads, festivals, clothing or albums. In this issue, I found two of many advertisement pages that were specifically included due to the target audience. On the first page, three promotional adverts were included in separate boxes, filling the entire page. I feel that two of these advertisements are mostly aimed at the male gender whilst being appropriate for an individual in their mid-40. However, including an advertisement within the magazine such as subscribing to the Billboard magazine, is intelligent in the sense of informing the viewer that they can get easier access of the magazine by subscribing and getting the magazine within having to leave their homes. The website to enable this transaction is listed in bold, yellow writing overlapping a black strip at the bottom of the page.

On the second advertisement page, I found the main image very enticing by the use of red, usually associated with danger or love. The quote overlapping the subject reads “We don’t love music, we live music.” Under this quote was the publicised product, earphones. Whilst acknowledging that the target audience for the product will be people who have a passion for music, the publisher has specifically put this advert into the magazine for the audience to be enticed. As addition to this, I feel that the image of both a male and female has suited the intentions for the magazine to be aimed at both genders of all ages.  The important brands, attractive models and expensive looking products have all been included for the purpose of presenting the viewer with the desirable lifestyle.