History of a Music Magazine

Rolling Stones was first published on 9 November, 1967, as a newspaper. In 1980 it was first printed on gloss paper. The owner of the magazine, Jann Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." In the 70s it started to publish political coverage as well as music articles. In the 80s the magazines started to shift to become an 'entertainment' magazine, but music was still the main topic of the magazine. It started to cover more celebrity stories, films and pop culture. In the 90s the magazine changed to appeal more to the younger generation. In recent years it has gone back to publishing a mixture of content.

Contents page analysis

The page has been lain out with small and not a lot of text, the page numbers are bigger than the actual text. It's main features are the images, especially the cartoon of the character 'Noodle' which is one out of the four characters that represent the band 'Gorillaz'. Having the character from Gorillaz as the biggest picture reminds you what the main article is. The colours white and red are used, as it is their house colours. The white background makes the images and red stand out more. The layout is a double page spread, more than half is mostly pictures that go with an article. By having articles on different subjects, such as football as well as music related articles it reaches out to a wider range audience. 

Group Work

For our group work we had to analyse three double page spreads of an article. This helped to understand how to analyse a double page spread article and also helped my research and planning.

Comparisons

Music Magazine Analysis

What institution owns your magazine and what effect does this have on the content?

The institution that owns Billboard is Prometheus Global Media. They are an American publishing company based in New York City. This effects the content because it will publish what's currently popular in the city at the time, or what's on the rise to popularity.

Mise en Scene - what impact does this have on the audience?

The face of this magazine is the new singer Janelle Monáe. She has the almost typical pop star look, she is young, has styled hair, neat and perfect make up.  She is shown to be fun, (by her costume and makeup) and shocked (by her facial expression and hand over her mouth). When looking at her you are drawn to the subtitle 'Monáe's Moment' because of her facial expression. The background and her top is black and white stripes which is the current trend. It could also connote that she is elegant and innocent. Her lips and the magazine title colour is red, this helps it to stand out against the black and white. The make up, nail polish and hair shows her femininity. The text has been neatly placed which could reflect on Monáe's personality.

Target Audience

The target audience for this issue is 16-26 year olds. This is shown through Janelle Monáe on the front.

Tone of writing

The tone of writing is excited as it is saying that she is going to become a world famous singer because of her new album.

Institution

The institution that owns Vibe magazine is Spin Media. it is a company and blog network which is based in LA. They own a community of pop websites including Buzznet and Stereogum. This effects the content of the magazine because it will publish what is popular in the area. 

Mise-en-Scene

The main image on this magazine is famous singer Chris Brown. He is leaning against a wall with his hands in his pocket and looking straight at the audience and his hat is slanted to the side, which fits in with the genre of this magazine. He is presented to be chilled out and laid back by the way he is leaning on the wall, but also he is presented to be a 'bad boy' by the way he is leaning, way he's dressed, body language and facial expression. The main picture is also used as a background but the subject is the main focus on the page. The colours of his clothes fit in well with the colour scheme of the magazine. All of the colours used on the cover compliment each other.


Target Audience

The target audience for this magazine would be 16-26 year olds. This is shown by the casual feeling of the magazine and the text containing the content, which is celebrity gossip. 

Tone of Writing
The tone of writing is casual. This is to attract a younger audience 

Institution

The institution that owns Q magazine is Bauer Media Group. Bauer is a multinational media company which is based in Hamburg in Germany. They own 300 magazines in 15 countries as well as online, TV and radio. This effects the content because it will publish different articles which are popular in different areas.

Mise-en-Scene

The main image on this issue of Q is famous British singer Adele. She is standing on her side but facing towards the audience. Her hair is being blown back which links to the text which says 'Adele Blows Us Away'. Adele has neat make up on and a flawless face which could suggest that she is elegant. Her hand is on her face and fingers touching her lips in a way that could suggest a more self-conscious personality, whereas with her hair blowing behind her could suggest a bolder personality.

Target Audience

The target audience for this magazine is 17-30 year olds. They have quite a wide range of genre published in their magazines. This is shown by the mature and sophisticated look of the magazine. And also by the content which features Liam Gallagher, Keith Richards, U2 and Adele. 

Tone of Writing

The tone writing on the right, is short and straight to the point to focus all attention to the main image of Adele.