Task 1

What is a music magazine?

A music magazine is a magazine based on
music/ music culture. Such magazines typically
include music information, celebrities,
interviews, photo shoots and concert reviews.
Music magazines usually have a main genre
and sub genres to appeal to a niche or
specialised audience. Purposes of a music
magazine are to provide information and to
entertain.

What content would you expect to find

in a music magazine?

Music information
Celebrities
Interviews
Photo shoots
Concert reviews
Album reviews
Strapline
Masthead
Pugs
Date
Images
Music articles
Upcoming events
Investigative report
Adverts
Location photography

What images would you expect to find

in a music magazine?

Photoshoots
Portraits
Instruments
Concert photos
Musicians
Instruments

Identify general characteristics/

features that you would expect in a
music magazine?

Visual style
Organisation (rule of thirds)
Colour scheme
Modern design
Symbolism, visual references, connotations
to genre
Language
Consistency (formal or informal?)
Depends on genre you appeal to. For
example, a pop genre would be slang and
informal. A classical genre would be formal.

What features/ characteristics do the

covers have in common?

All magazines feature musicians on the front

Masthead
Coverlines/ Main coverline
Straplines
Barcodes
Colour scheme

Why are these features present? Why

are they important?
Celebrities on the front
Shows you who will feature in the magazine.
Tells you about the genre.

Masthead
Connotations of magazine.

Cover lines
Shows you what content and features are inside
the magazine

Colour scheme
These show the genre of the magazine and who
it is aimed towards.

Take one of the magazine covers and say what type of music magazine it is. Provide at least 4
specific examples from the magazine that supports your claim that it belongs to this particular
sub-genre

Main image of popular boy band.

Bright pink, blue and yellow colour
scheme.
Top of the pops masthead is
bright and easy to read with a pink
background to further appeal to a
sub-genre
Cover lines anchored to secondary
images to indicate content inside
of the magazine.
Secondary images of other pop
musicians.
Lots of heart shapes.

For the same magazine, say who you think

the target audience is. Give reasons for your
answers
I believe the target audience of Top of the
pops magazine is female children/ teens
from the ages of 8-16 years. The bright pink,
white, blue and yellow colour scheme are
quite feminine colours and appeal to the
young audience. As well as this, the feature
of male musicians in the main image and the
secondary images indicates that the
magazine is aimed towards females. The
fact that the magazine is a pop magazine
and only features pop musicians also tells us
that the target audience is young children.