Music magazine evaluation and research

MUSIC MAGAZINE RESEARCH

By Rushelle Mckoy

Hip Hop I came to the decision to produce a Hip Hop related

magazine. My first step was to do some secondary research I found that that R&B magazines are heavy favourites for people aged between 14 and 30. Artists like Ed Sheeran and Beyonce have brought a lot more maturity into the genre which draws in the an older generation of buyers. Magazines such as vibe and Billboard are very popular in this particular genre and there doesn’t seem to be many magazines that do not do so well in this genre due to the large fan base. I’m looking forward to the challenge due to the amount of popular magazines in this genre and I will use the large fan base to my advantage and aim to market my magazine to compete with these other leading sellers.

XXL magazine

XXL magazine was established in 1997 and is a well known hip hop magazine. It was founded by Jules Winnfield. It is known for it rating system for different albums from ‘S’ to ‘XXL

Target audience of XXL Magazine The target audience of XXL magazine is

very similar to the target audience of the Source Magazine, so it will be fans of Hip-hop/rap music.

It is also probably at young adults because genre appeals more to younger audience.

Comparing music magazine My magazine going to relate

to XXL magazine with the colour pallet and text style of the title. The colour pallet is mix with black, white and red. A lot of Hip-hop magazine uses this colour pallet as black represents mystery and secrecy, red presents excitement and passion or danger, and white stands for clean and fresh. This text style used in XXL magazine is focused on the outline of the title, as what going to be used in my magazine.

Convention of a magazine Masthead The title of a magazine is

also known as masthead.

The title is what drags the attention people.

It tends to be big, bold and bright so that it is eye catching

Main image The main image will

always be large so that it stands out.

The person on the main image will be looking directly at the camera as though they’re making eye contact with the reader

Main cover line This tends to

be very large and takes up about a quarter of the cover page.

It tends to be around the main image.

Cover lines • Cover lines tell

reader what the main stories of the magazine are.

• This kind of like the masthead being bold and bright but doesn’t tent to be as large.

Date line • Month and year of

publication, often with the price

XXL Magazine Excusive features inside the

magazine usually contains competitions or free prizes within magazine, which will erg people into buying the magazine as they see the change of getting something free.

Red and white masthead set the theme throughout the magazine.

Star persona of Eminem by doing this XXL magazine are targeting teenage audience possible older to purchase there magazine as Eminem is one of the best and big rapper.

Headline, main cover line which also stays within the theme of red and white.

Barcode

Vibe magazine The bold masthead stand out to

the buyer so they know straight away its Vibe Magazine

Features within the magazine Medium shot image of Ciara

show some type of sensation. By showing a medium shot of Ciara, readers will want to read Vibe magazine to see what’s going on with Ciara.

Headline Memorable and catchy cover

line which also known as the lure

Lead, which is main story within the issue of the magazine

Lead which is the main story in the magazine

Exclusive The bold masthead stand out to the buyer so they know straight away its Vibe Magazine features inside the magazine

Headline, main cover line which also stays within the theme of blue, pink and gray.

Close up picture for the main picture so that the reader have direct contact with him because he look like he’s look straight at the reader. By using close up it would get the people attention quicker.

Exclusive features inside the magazine

MastheadThe front cover used is edgy and suits the title well. The light gray and dark gray fits the well with the image which makes it stands out. The masthead is set to the left of the cover.

Main image The image is used to show the Hip-hop and rapper star “drake” they used medium shot of Drake to make the everything on the front cover stands out

Main headline “Drake” is the main headline, which is very simple and unique but also effective. Prior to the boldest part say “MR. NICE GUY...” this is kind of an introduction to both the main image and the headline.

Other featuresThere are few other features on the cover page, and they blend in with the main image and the headline. They date issue.

XXL content page The main image used is very effective

because it XXL links in with ‘the A-side’ as the two rappers are placed side by side. Also the image includes two well known rappers of today The colours used for the contents page are(50 CENT and Soulja Boy) and they are both the same as the colours used for the front looking directly at the reader (mode of cover. This again shows how simple and address) which makes the reader feel consistent XXL magazine are. important as not one but two rappers are looking directly at them and paying attention. The fact that 50 CENT is bigger than yet is at the back having to turn around to look at the reader could mean that he is coming back and isn’t afraid to show his face anymore, which means that XXL could be showing the re-launch of 50 CENT.

Has significance importance as its telling to readers to read on, its almost like a command.

Masthead

Title in bold font

Hip-Hop Weekly The contents page does not have a

heading although it does have sections such as 'in every issue’ which helps the audience to familiarise themselves with the structure of the magazine-and ‘word on the street. 'I think this choice has been made because it is quite clear from the layout of then page that it is the contents page

Like many magazines the Name, logo, volume and issue number of the magazine appear in the top right and corner of the contents page. There are different subheadings such a sent entrainment and music. The contents page uses the colours red, white and black as well as a flash of yellow from the colour theme on the

The contents page of this magazine is probably the clearest tore ad and the easiest to find the features as it is written in bold and with a font that it is not confusing or had for the reader to read. Also, the features are supported by red folios which stands out of the white background and makes it easy for the reader to navigate to.

Medium shot of the main image with 50 cent is very effective to the reader on the content page

Date line of when the magazine have been issued

Title

This goes against most magazine conventions as the word is separated out making it edgy and eye catching. The simple front is used in contrast to the strange layout.

Main feature

The main feature of this page is the image, which also acts on the background of the page and is in black and white. This is the first thing that catches the reader eyes upon seeing the page therefore it is important that the main image puts across the right message and fits with the style, genre of the magazine.

Design

The design fits well with the front cover as the main colours are black, white and gray as on the front cover; although it does not display the same bold red font anywhere on the content page.

Layout

This contents page has a simple layout, showing one main image as the background with just one other familiar image, which is the front cover on the bottom left corner.

Vibe double spread page

This double spread page is continue from the previous page

The use of slang is used a lot on Vibe magazine “WANNA” “GONNA” and “GOIN”. This reflects with the theme of the magazine: rappers, violence, money and “BLING”.

The used of large amount of impenetrable text is quite unusual in most magazine but it tells the reader the rapper or singer life.

There is only image on this double spread page, as this image says more than one thing to the audience. It also show poverty.

This image has a lot of dark colour showing the danger and how life is living in the “slum”

On this page you can see that the publisher focus more on the text than image as of the text is shown in this page with only one picture covering a third of both pages.

XXL double spread page

All the Hip-hop magazine seem to have one image of an artist with a whole page of text.

This shows that the Hip-hop or rap fan will take all the time to read and find out the latest news on their favourite star.

They used the colour theme of the magazine to carry on representing the genre.