Analysis of Music Magazine Key Conventions

One of the most generic conventions of Vibe magazine, and a constant convention throughout music magazines, is that its masthead has the same font and size (Large, bold and an easy font to read with the colours varying to issue type) and it’s always situated top central to the page. The readers, quintessentially occasional buyers, will acknowledge that the masthead will be situated there, so it isn’t always necessary to have it completely on show. The central figure, in this case, is covering the masthead which centrals the figure and enables the reader to acknowledge the significance and importance of this character to the magazine.The central figure/s helps to maintain a stereotype, as well as customer loyalty. They are always current and popular, either solo artists or groups, that fit the musical genre of Vibe (Predominantly Hip-Hop/Rap) and they are primarily male – in between the ages of mid-twenties to late thirties. They are mostly quite attractive and glamorous, which provides successful circulation of the magazine as the readers want to view their favourite artists and groups and aspire to have their prestige status. Customer loyalty is maintained primarily by maintaining features from issue to issue and constantly providing features which engage the particular audience. These include interviews with various acts and articles about current and relative artists, gig listings and free posters. In my personal opinion, I think that Vibe’s target demographic is predominantly young males from their late teens to early thirties (Roughly the age of the central figures and artists featured) I assume this due to the masculine colour schemes used; the use of greens and dark brown, the aforementioned male central figures and also the advertising featured which seem to appeal to the male market. These adverts include Rolex watch adverts, clothing brands such as Urban Street Wear and technology (i.e. IPhone 3 and the Blackberry Curve) which all belong primarily in the male market, as well as being vastly popular amongst the demographic.

On occasions, Vibe sometimes has female central figures. It isn’t often that a naked woman is featured on the front of a music magazine, therefore can be viewed as more appealing to the male target audience. The issue on the left breaks a lot of the standard Vibe conventions. The typical use of masculine colors is juxtaposed with a bright, heavenly white light with the contrasting red, which carries connotations of love and romance. Nudity, again something not often seen on Vibe covers, is seen as shocking. It is also unconventional across music magazines as a whole to feature a very revealing image of a attractive lady on their covers. This therefore indicates that Vibe are willing to offer some variety to their magazine to decrease tedium and to possibly appeal to other potential audiences while not totally changing the image of the magazine itself.

This contents page is quite simply constructed, however it is still effective as it provides a sense of class and elegance to the magazine. It features the first letter of the masthead, the letter V, but this time it is more faded and less dominant. The content itself is featured down the right hand side of a photo with the “Features” situated down the left. Underneath the photo of the central figure, is a very brief but relevant article. This builds on the interest of the contents page, as well as building on the simplicity of the design. The words “Contents” are situated at the top of the page in bold capitals which again signify the importance of the word and to indicate to the audience what the page involves. The colour scheme used – a low saturation with the use of greys and black – provide a sense of classiness and prestige to the magazine which will engage potential other demographics to purchasing the magazine if previewed. However, Vibe normally includes details of subscription to the magazine. A lot of magazines, not just musical ones, have a box of information on subscription on their contents pages. The contents page is one of the very first pages in the whole magazine itself, therefore acting as a tool of persuasion to the audience to subscribe to the magazine from the very start, resulting in a profit. Furthermore, music magazine also include the convention of adding various media platform links, such as internet sites (Facebook, Twitter and MySpace) that can be assessed by phone to subscribe the magazine on your mobile phone.

This double page spread from XXL magazine contains one central image which occupies one whole page has the effect of centralizing the image and highlighting the significance of the artist, in the case The Game. The image used is normally effective as well as the person is normally captured in a relaxed, everyday position which welcomes the reader to reading the interview. The color scheme used is fairly simple, which acts as a means of centralizing the image further and to not dominate the page. A key convention used which is evident in many other magazines, is a quote from the interview being enlarged. The quote used is often shocking in a sense of revealing the figures emotions and possible past to the audience. The use of this shock tactic again will engage the reader further and provide a further dimension to the page, making it seem more interesting and worth reading. Other conventions used, such as a dark, bold font for the artists name also enables the reader to acknowledge who the interview is about and to ensure it is easily Other conventions used, such as a dark, bold font for the artists name also enables the reader to acknowledge who the interview is about and to ensure it is easily read.

All of the above analysis and research of music magazine key conventions has helped me to come to these decisions about how I will construct and apply these conventions in my music magazine. Firstly, my central figure will be roughly the same age as the target demographic (Teenagers from 13-18) and will appear relevant to the music genre. I will not use many colors in the contents page and double page spread, as too many colors will create an eye sore and drown the main purpose of these pages, to provide a textual insight into the magazine and artist/s. The use of simple color schemes will also make my pages seem classier and more appealing, just as Vibe and XXL have successful achieved amongst their audiences. Furthermore, I will offer features that seem as though they would reoccur if the magazine was to be circulated every week (i.e. additional posters, gigs and stories etc.) Finally, I will use a large, bold font for the masthead to establish the magazine name on the page and to make it the most significant behind to central image, which will appear ahead of it. I will also use a variety of camera shots for each page, for example a Mid-shot for the front cover, a Long-shot for the contents page and a Close-up shot for the double page spread to capture the central image in various dimensions and follow the conventions of Vibe magazine.