music magazine analysis

1. Music magazine analysis
Luke collinson

2. The Masthead stands out
because it is big and bold
and even though you cant
see all of it you don’t need
to because it’s a famous
magazine. The masthead is
partly covered.
Use of 3 main colours;
black, orange and blue all
of these colours stand out
well on the white
background
The main story is a
darker blue than the
rest of the story to
bring attention to it.
Secondary stories are
smaller than the main
story to show that they
are not quite as
important.
In this picture it shows
famous rapper 50 cent in
medium long shot with a
main story next to him “50
cent, why he’s everyone's
favourite gangsta.” in the
picture he is dressed
classically how you might
imagine a modern
gangster to dress; flat cap,
chain with the cross on it,
tattoos and expensive
jewellery.

3. From the main title and
the main image with him
wearing a crown it makes
the audience think that
maybe he has won, or that
the ‘king’ of hip hop
doesn’t have the title. This
makes the audience
wonder and are there fore
more likely to buy it.
There are almost two
mastheads here one is the
general one to show the name
of the magazine, it also has
another title showing that it is
a special. It also seem to be a
trend that the title is partly
covered up.
The background is a dark red,
this compliments , the gold tile
and all of the mans ‘bling’ e.g
his crown. Also it makes the
white writing really stand out,
this mean that it is more likely
to look at it and buy it. Lots of
jewellery and expensive things
seem to be a trend in hip hop/
rap magazines, in this one he
is wearing a gold crown and
chain.
The stories aren't all
necessarily to do with music
meaning it can also appeal
to a wider range of people
and give a variation to the
magazine.
This is the barcode,
issue date and price.
The price is $5.99.
this is very cheap for
a magazine and works
out to be around
£3.87.
The central main image is a
well known hip hop artist
B.I.G. The picture is close up.
However this is a different
type compared to the other
two magazines which both use
medium long shots. This one
may not be because it is trying
to focus on the fact that he has
a crown on.

4. The masthead is again
partly covered, this
seems to be a
similarity in all of the
music magazines.
The masthead is also
covered in diamonds,
this is very typical of
hip hop as it is all to do
with bling and
expensive things, as
you can see expensive
jewellery is a theme of
hip hop very easily by
just glancing at the
cover. This also makes
it easy for most people
to tell the general
contents of the
magazine, which is
very helpful because it
can reel
in any fans of this type
of music.
This picture is a
medium long shot of
lil Wayne and Baby.
This shot also shows
them dressed as what
seems to be typical
hip hop.

5. About half of the page is
taken up by a picture of
50 cent, this shows that
he is probably one of the
main stories since it is on
the contents page. Next
to him it says 48 in red
writing, on the right all
the page numbers are in
red, this makes it easy
for the reader to
understand that this is
where 50 cents article is.
This also allows the
reader to open the
magazine up and straight
away they know where
the main story/ a big
story is.
On the right it has a
full list of the
contents. There is
not much writing on
this page, there is
just; the title of the
page, the page
number and a very
brief on line
description of what
is to be expected on
this page.
The brief
descriptions can
come in the form
rhetorical questions,
short one line
statements or
statements that have
no context thus
making no sense to
the reader and
making them want
to get the context
meaning they will
need to read it.

6. On this contents page, filled mainly
with a picture, it is set out very
similarly to the other contents
page and has the same colour
scheme.
The contents page is set out into 5
sections; one is the main story,
next is featured stories that don’t
come with in the other categories,
there is also a special section that
would change every issue the
focus this issue is “women in
music”, then there is the “every
month” section these would be
things that feature in the magazine
every month and finally the review
section where different music is
reviewed.

7. This contents page is
very down to the
point, there is
minimal writing on it
and it only shows the
main articles of that
issue, it doesn’t show
what every single
page has on it.
I think that only
putting the main
stories on is a good
idea; it means as soon
as a reader opens it
the know what page
to go to at a glance,
but also it leaves the
reader wondering
what is on the other
pages which
encourages them to
open it up and have a
Look.
This page is black and
white except for a
small bit of red, this
would be good
because it catches the
readers eye before the
whole image they then
look at the whole
thing, they recognise
him and we have their
full attention.
This contents page,
much like the
others, is full mainly
of an image all the
writing is small and
minimal.
The Image of him
being grabbed
suggests that he is
desired and that he
also has big fan base.
Rap is always very
controversial, this
image could be a
metaphor of the
media trying to pull
him down.

8. This show what section of the magazine the
reader has reached. Because it is a section it
suggests that this is a monthly thing
This double page spread is split 50/50 between text and a image. The image is there to catch the readers attention
and if they don’t know who they are reading about they can put a name to a face.
Even though the
writing only
takes up a page
the story is
probably
continued on the
next few pages.
On the image
page it has a
quotation in
bold, this is a
highlight of the
article and is
used to draw the
reader in
The transparent ‘J’ on the page give it
focus and allows the reader to gain
interest in the page. It also makes it
clear that the article is about Jay-Z
The two distinct
colours on either
side of him, red
and blue, suggest
that maybe he
has a dark side
and this article
reveals it if you
read on

9. The title takes up minimal space and goes on to the other page. The title is also
effective because it is a statement from the man its about, instead of a made up
statement from some journalist this makes it more relatable.
The fact that the writing is on the left and the picture is on the right suggests that the
article is only on those pages and doesn’t continue. This is a strange way to do it and is
unconventional.
I think that
the slanted
blue writing
was a bad
idea because
as a reader it
is very
distracting
and almost
makes the
writing hard
to
concentrate
on. Also blue
on a light blue
back ground
doesn’t look
nice.
I don’t like
this double
page spread
because it
seems to
messy and
unorganised
and I think
many
readers
would feel
the same

10. On this page there is a colour scheme of yellow and black, this stands out and is eye catching. There
is not much writing on this page as the picture and title take up about 75% of the page, this is
probably because it is a main story, the writing would continue o to the next few pages.
The subtitle “how high?” is linked very closely to the picture and insinuates
that whatever it is that he's smoking, its not a vape. This all links in to hip
hops stereotype of drugs and illegal things.