Analysing Pop Magazine Covers

Analysing Pop Music Magazine Covers

I am going to analyse three magazine covers from the genre of pop music so that I can understand the codes and conventions for pop music covers. This will allow me to create my own pop music magazine cover with the same style and conventions as a professionally made pop music magazine.

The audience will need to recognise that my magazine is from the genres as professionally made magazines. The audience recognises products from a similar media language conventions, which means, as Bentley (1977) states “The creative process is the rearranging of the old to create the new.”

The target audience for my magazine will be the same as for any pop music magazine because I want to work in this genre. This target audience consists of mainly young people aged between 9- 17

, heterosexual females in both the middle and lower classes and generally of a white ethnicity. The secondary audience would probably be homosexual males.

I will analyse both the denotation and connotation of each aspect of media language, masthead, layout, colour pallet, images, typography, lexis and other features.

I will also refer to how the media language represents and attracts the target audience. I will also use the theory of representation to support my points.

Billboard Magazine

Billboard magazine is a pop music magazine owned and published by Prometheus Global Media, which is a diversified company with leading assets in the media and entertainment industry. Billboard magazine was first published 1^st November 1894 and is now published on a weekly basis. Billboards circulation is at 20, 431. Tony Gervino is Billboards editor in chief.

The primary target audience for Billboard magazine are young people aged between 9-17 both male and female and has a secondary target audience of homosexual men.

The masthead of this magazine is convention in size as it takes up the whole width of the page. The typography is good at representing the target audience of young people as it is modern and represents both genders with it’s simplistic style . It also has vibrant colours, which relates to young people. The colour red connotes rebellion which links in with Stanley Hall’s 1904 theory that "Adolescence is inherently a time of storm and stress when all young people go through some degree of emotional and behavioural upheaval, before establishing a more stable equilibrium at adulthood". Also the colour yellow connotes happiness and energy, which relates to young people and the colour blue connotes depression, which also ties in with Stanley Hall’s theory.

The layout is fairly sophisticated as there is only one main image and the layout is not too busy yet it retains an element of youthfulness, which attracts a target audience of young people, but young people that are not too young. The cover only includes five stories, which stops it from looking too busy but still gives the audience an idea of what’s inside so that they can tell what is inside and if it will interest them. However the layout has an element of fun to it as there is a mixture of fonts, font sizes and colours. This is important in representing their target audience of young people as Dick Hebdige 1998 says “Youth as fun” which means that youth are stereotypically fun loving. This layout would appeal to both a male and a female audience, as the layout isn’t one gender dominant with text, fonts or images.

The colours used are red, blue, yellow, green and white.  These colours are used as part of the masthead, with fonts and in boxes for text. The colour red connotes rebellion and passion which relates to Stanley Hall’s theory of the youth having emotional and behavioural upheavel. The colour blue connotes depression, which also relates to Stanley Halls theory. The colour yellow connotes happiness which relates to Dick Hebdige’s theory of “Youth as fun” as happiness and fun are strongly linked.  The colour green connotes growth which relates to young people as they are still progressing into adults and the colour white connotes purity which is often related with young people as they are sometimes said to be “pure and innocent”.

The main image is a close up of Ke$ha a famous artist of the pop world. In the image she wears a lot of make up which may suggest rebellion which links in with Stanley Hall's theory about youth. Ke$ha also is wear accessories and make up with glitter on them which connotes glamour which would interest a young audience. Also the background is glittery which also suggests glamour and fame. The light is focused on one side of her face which suggests a black and white theme. This connotes one purity and the unknown which suggests that Ke$ha has two sides to her personality.

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops magazine is also a pop music magazine and is published by the Intermediate Media Company. It was first published in February 1995 and is a monthly magazine and has an average circulation of 63,483. The current editor is Peter Hart.

The primary audience for Top of the Pops magazine are young females aimed between 7-14, with a possible secondary audience of homosexual men.

The masthead for this magazine is quite unconventional as it doesn't take up the whole width of the cover as it only takes up only about two thirds of the width. The typography of the masthead is good at representing a female audience as the font used is quite feminine as it has swirly shapes on the letter S and seems to be fairly fancy which is popular with young females. The colour pink is the dominant colour in the masthead. The colour pink connotes compassion, love and feminism which are key themes for the target audience which allows them to relate to the magazine. Also the colour white is used in the masthead which connotes purity which also helps to relate to the magazines target audience. Another way in which the masthead relates to the target audience is by using star shapes to border the name of the magazine. Stars are seen as a feminine shape which allows this magazine to attract it's primary target audience.

The layout is fairly busy but also leaves a sense of sophistication which will help to attract the target audience as young females like to see themselves as sophisticated member of society. However the busy layout may be used to suggest fun by the designer of the cover which represents the target audience of young females because as Dick Hebdige says "Youth as fun" which suggests that youth are a fun loving group of people. The cover also includes many stories which makes it look very busy but it also means that the target audience of young females can easily see that the stories are targeted to them.  

The colours used are pink, white, yellow and blue. Pink is the main colour used because it is a popular colour with their target audience and it connotes compassion, love and feminism which allows the cover to clearly represent it's target audience. The colour white connotes purity which allows the magazine to represent it's target audience as young females are seen at times to be pure and innocent. The colour yellow connotes happiness and happiness and fun are strongly linked. As Dick Hebdige said "Youth as fun" meaning the young people are lovers of fun so the colour yellow helps the magazine to relate to it's target audience. Also the colour blue connotes depression which is something a lot of young girls feel due to bullying or low self-esteem. This is also observed by Stanley Hall who says young people go through "emotional and behavioural upheaval".

The main image is a medium shot of One Direction a famous pop group who is particularly popular with the magazines main target audience. In the image all members are dressed smartly and are mainly clean shaven which gives them a sense of class which helps relate to the target audience as young females generally want to appear as sophisticated members of society. This also is the opposite to Stanley Hall's theory as they do not appear to be anti-social or they participate in criminal activity even though they are still young. Also most of the people in the image are smiling which suggests they are fun people which help relate to their target audience because as Dick Hebdige says "Youth as fun". The lighting is fairly consistently bright which connotes that the members of One Direction are pure and innocent which can help them to relate to their target audience as young females like to see themselves as pure and innocent.