Music Magazine Analysis

Harrison Wheeler

Mast Head

Lead Article Main Image

Skyline

Freebies

Cover lines

Left Third

Flash

“Kerrang” Cover AnalysisThis magazine is aimed at people into rock and alternative music.

Masthead- The masthead for this magazine is in capitals with an exclamation mark, this gives the idea of shouting to the reader. There is an effect on the masthead to make it look smashed or cracked. This gives the impression of loud noises breaking glass which parallels the loud music discussed within the magazine.

Main Picture- Shows the lead singer of the band at the front to attract readers. The picture has been lightened to show the contrast of the black clothing of the band to the black and white base to this cover. The expression on the artists face ties in with the rock and roll lifestyles portrayed in the magazine.

Lead Article- In a bold font to stand out on the page, the colouring of “You me at six” makes it stand out on the black clothing of the band. To make the straps stand out they are coloured yellow which sticks out from the black and white base style. The slanted text highlights the rebellious and “stand out from the crowd” feel which readers of this magazine like. “Doing it their way” shows the rebellious values of the band to appeal to the audience.

Freebies- Positioned in the left third to entice the buyer. The red border to the pictures makes it jump out of the page towards the reader because of the clashing colour.

Skyline- The black and white house style is continued with red bullet points separating them.

Flash- The purpose of this flash is to promote another article within this issue of “Kerrang” the green box stands out on the page and draws the readers eye to it.

Cover lines- These are running along the bottom of the cover which completes the “Z” shaped formation to the page. They start within the left third so that the reader can notice the cover lines and want to read those articles inside.

Masthead

Lead Article

Main Image

Sky line

Flash

Cover lines

Left Third

“SPIN” Cover AnalysisThis is aimed at people into indie and alternative rock music. Masthead- This masthead is in a bold font in capitals and is reversed out white on a red background. This gives a square sharp shape to the masthead to make it stand out.

Main Image- This picture, unlike the one shown on “kerrang”, does not have the lead singer at the front of the picture. However it also uses the colours black and white to foreground the band rather than their clothing The make up on the band shows how they aspire young teens to look like them. In this image there is an intertextual reference to the Stanley Kurbrick film “Clockwork Orange”.

Lead Article- Similar to the masthead, the lead article colour reversed out so that it is white on bright pink to make it stand out on the black and white clothing of the band. The writing is in separate boxes and is arranged in a jagged line to make it reflect the abstract music the band produces and the bands quirky lifestyles.

Skyline- Written in navy and black on a white banner to match the house colours (red, white, black and navy.) This promotes “lullapalooza” a famous festival in which the readers of this magazine would aspire to.

Flash- In the flash there is a pull quote to entice the buyer into reading another article within the magazine. “I’m crazy and I still take drugs” appeals to the magazines values on the rock and roll lifestyle and

Cover lines- on this magazine are placed at the top to the right of the centre. This is abnormal for the cover lines not to be in the left third.

Mast Head

Lead ArticleMain Image

Skyline

Cover lines

Left Third

Flash

“NME” Cover AnalysisMasthead- is short, bold and positioned in the left third. This makes is more noticeable to the reader. The simplicity of the masthead makes it more memorable for the reader so that they will recognise the magazine in future. The white red and black colours are simple but effect. Lead Article- The bold pink writing of “Paramore” shows how the band likes to stand out from the crowd as the reader will see that this is the most noticeable. “Everyone else has fallen for them. Will you?” encourages the reader to join the crowd of people who like the band.

Main Image- The main image shows the lead singer at the front of the band. This is an aspiration to teenage males because of her looks. This also aspires to young girls to aspire to look like her. The band are dressed all in black to show their new, elegant look. This also emphasises the bright orange hair of the lead singer which is a trademark of this band. Also the green eyes of the lead singer added as an after effect on Photoshop are emphasised. Two of the band and the hair of the lead singer can be seen in the left third which makes it more appealing to the buyer.

Skyline- Fits the house style with bold black writing. The “Rock star, label boss…etc” part is in a different font to stand out from the house style. This writing fits around the bold lines of the masthead to make it look professional, neat and organised.

Cover lines- Positioned in the left third to catch the buyers attention. The white and red writing contrast with the black clothing in the picture which are the house colours keeping the professional look to the magazine.

Flash- Red and black writing in a white circle, again uses the house colours and is positioned out of the way of the main image in a blank part of the picture to look more professional and concentrate on the band on the cover.

Music Magazine CoversIn Contrast

The main images in these magazines show two completely different approaches to this band, the picture on “NME” shows the band in a more elegant and glamorous look to the band with an elegant hand gesture. On the “Kerrang” there is a more bright bold rebellious picture with a rude hand gesture to show a different side to the band.

“Kerrang” Contents AnalysisThis cover is partly laid out in a menu style on the left hand side with pictures of the most enticing articles within the magazine.

The lead article has been sized to be the largest picture for the reader to notice easier.

The “Contents” heading is in the far right of the page and is set in the black white and yellow house style of this magazine in reversed out black with yellow writing.

Other than the Menu Style contents there is a simpler list of pages organised into sections eg.: reviews, news, and features. These are clearly indicated with individual headings in the same style as the “Contents” heading at the top of the page to stand out from the white background.

To make the navigation of the magazine simple for the reader, the page numbers are shown in a larger and bolder font to the article names in the contents.

There is a small section written by the editor at the top of the page displaying an upbeat and informative review of what is in this edition of “Kerrang” this encourages readers to read onwards in the magazine. However, this section is quite small so some readers may not may attention to it or may not be able to read the small font.

To entice the buyer there is a pull-quote in between the contents heading and the listed contents which they will see as it stands out in the white space between the contents’. This encourages the readers to read this article.

“SPIN” Contents Analysis

This contents page is quite minimalistic in the fact that its concentrates around one main image. However there is a lot of text in the contents itself.

The image shows the lead singer from the lead article which is the main selling point for this magazine.

“SPIN” magazine has kept this contents page very simple as it has a large bold “contents” heading with a list of articles below. The articles have brief descriptions of the content of the article to inform the reader more on what to expect in the magazine.

To make it easy for readers to find articles, the page numbers are positioned in the far left margin of the page in a red font to stand out compared to the surrounding black font.

The “01’05” is the largest text on the page. This refers to the issue number and the year. This encourages the reader to buy the succeeding issues.

“NME” Contents AnalysisThe “NME” contents page, unlike “SPIN”, is full of pictures and text.

Unlike the other magazines, “NME” uses its masthead on the contents page this again is used to raise publicity of this magazine to encourage the reader to recognise the masthead.

The house style of white red and black is continued here giving a consistent and professional look to the contents page The headings, like on “NME” covers, are in a bolder font than the other text to highlight it on the page.

This magazine has a “Band Index” which allows the buyer to look for specific bands they want to read about. This allows readers to know if they would be interested in the included bands.

As well as this, there is a headed list of contents. This, as with “Kerrang” is separated in a reversed out style of black and white with headings of “News and Reviews etc…”

There is a central picture on this contents page to promote an article which would appeal to most readers. This would attract readers because it is about a famous gig venue closing and readers of this magazine are into going to gigs and concerts etc…

Similar to “SPIN” magazine the page numbers in the contents are listed in a different colour to make the reader take note of them.

This contents page has a promotional advert of a deal they are offering on subscriptions to the magazine to promote future sales.

“Kerrang” Double Page Spread Analysis

This double page spread is mainly pictures. It concentrates on one main image and has lots of smaller pictures around it. These are given white borders to make them look like photographs to give a scrapbook effect.

The article has a stand first to give the reader a brief overview in what will be in the article. “Rare laughs, fun and pissing about” fits the magazines rock and roll lifestyle which it conveys.

The white box in which the article is places has been photo shopped to look as though it has been painted onto the main image conveying the rebellious values of this magazine.

The actual article is quite brief but there is a small extra article underneath with a quote from the artist in the article. This will attract readers to look at this article because the artist is talking directly to them.

One of the photos shown is of the audience. This may be a way to promote the bands live shows and encourage fans to go to the gigs because they may be lucky enough to end up in “Kerrang” magazine.

There is a “KKKK” at the top of the article to show a rating of the band so fans of the magazine will know which articles will be the best to read.

“SPIN” Double Page Spread Analysis

On this double page spread the title is spread across both pages to stand out to the reader in the bold title is in reversed out white on a blue background in a jagged alignment to match the mood of the article.

This article is promoting “punk-rock marching bands” so the use of bright colours and lively pictures matches the article.

Unlike “Kerrang” there Is no main image. There are multiple small photos for the reader to look at with captions under one of the photos.

The use of the drop cap attracts the reader to the article and also marks the start of the article so the reader knows where it starts.

There is a strong colour scheme of red blue and white on this page which gives a professional look to the article

The stand first on this article includes words such as “radical, insanity and humping” which makes the punk rock values of the magazine to be expressed to attract readers.

The photos of people having fun also aspire the readers to get involved in something like this as it shows people who would generally buy this magazine participating in the photos.

“NME” Double Page Spread Analysis

This double page spread has, unlike the two other spreads, one main image is used on this article to concentrate on the band itself.

Again there is a small article placed in a text box in the corner of the picture.

The picture used compliments the white blue and black colour scheme of the article with the band dressed in black white and blue.

The lead singer standing at the front of the band is used so that the reader automatically notices the band because in music videos and CD covers, the lead singer is the most recognisable thing from the band.

Similar to “Spin” magazine, there is a drop cap at the beginning of the article to draw the readers eye to it.

The simple bold headings give a professional look to the double page spread.

The small caption in the top right corner does not draw the readers eye away from the picture but can be seen.

The writing in the article caption and flash box in the corner is quite small which may be hard to read for older readers and people with bad vision.

NME again used the “NME” masthead in the corner next to the page number again to promote their magazine.