As another part of my music magazine research I will be
analyzing a cover page and a contents page of two different magazines. This
will help me to see the codes and conventions that different magazines use. The
first magazine that I am going to analyse is called New Musical express better
known as NME magazine. The magazine aims to inform people about new bands and
also other famous bands and artists. The genre of this magazine is indie and
rock. I am not into this type of music although when I do my target audience
research they may be into indie and rock music this means I can look at the
codes and conventions of this magazine and apply them to my music magazine. The
target audience of this magazine is predominantly aimed in between the age of
17 – 30. their audience are usually well educated in music and have a passion
for music. This edition of NME magazine has been published by Ellie may.
When I first saw this magazine the masthead immediately
stood out to me as it is big and bold. I liked how there was only one picture
on the front cover that takes up over 95 per cent of the page. I can tell from
this magazine cover that it is all about indie and rock from the particular
band featured on the front cover. This will entice people who like that genre
of music to immediately want to buy it. You can tell that it is about the band
the Foo Fighters as it features the people from the band on the front cover and
it also says on the left hand side of the magazine it says ‘Foo Fighters take
over’. The puff in the right hand corner that says ‘special foldout cover’ will
entice people to buy the magazine. By using the word ‘special’ it will make
their readers want to buy the magazine more as no other magazine may have this type
of front cover.
In the bottom right hand corner on the barcode it says ‘the
past, present & future of music’.
This is the selling line that appears in every NME magazine. Even though
the writing is very small this is their iconic selling line and their
particular audience know and recognise it all over the world. The magazine has a target audience for people
in their teens to their late twenties who are well educated with a high income.
Their readers will depend on this magazine as it has a lot of information about
artists and upcoming gigs.
The style of the front cover is quite informal and edgy. As
they use some foul language on the front cover which is a quote from the
feature band. It is a simple contemporary front cover which would stand out to
the target audience as NME knows that this is the type of thing that they would
be into. There is black writing over the front cover that looks as if it has
written on with a marker. Then in the main image there is a mid-shot of a man
holding up a black marker to the writing which makes it look as if he has written
it on the magazine himself and this was done to anchor the image. Y
ou can see that it is a rock band on the front cover as most
of the people on the front cover main image have long hair and beards. They are
also wearing quite dark clothing which would appeal to the audience of this
magazine.
This magazine has two main colours which are red and white
which are associated with peace, passion and strength. These colours are also
always represented with rock this is how they would grab in their target
audience and the colours are quite bright also they would catch people’s eye. The
colours of the magazine and the layout of it is quite edgy and contemporary so
this would also attract their target audience.
At the bottom of the front page there is also some other
headlines. There is one promoting Dave Grohl’s new album and new TV show. The whiting
is white on a red background which makes the headline standout. This will also
entice people to buy the magazine as NME’s
target audience would want to know about these types of things. There is also
another feature cover line that starts with the symbol + which means plus. The
word plus that is associated with this symbol would give their target audience
a real sense of excitement that would entice them to buy the magazine as they
would want to read through it to read all of the other articles that these
artists are mentioned in.
The simple yet contemporary and edgy layout appeals to the
audience that they want to be looking at their magazines. This edgy look will
also make readers to continue buying this magazine. As only one image can be
seen on the front cover and as it takes up over 95 per cent of the page it
makes it stand out to their target audience a lot more. As it is simple I can
see how it would appeal to a younger audience because it is quite informal as well.
Also younger people would not want to buy a magazine that was all dull and
boring with dull headlines that don’t capture the reader’s attention.
Overall I think that this NME magazine is able to grab in
the audience that they want straight away by using the same house style that
they always use. The big bold title will draw in the reader and make them want
to buy it. By using bands like the foo fighters and the rolling stones on the
front cover it means their target audience will be sure to buy the magazine.
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