Music Magazine Research

Before deciding on a specific genre to use as a baseline for my music magazine, I am going to carry out some research into the industry, looking at popular music magazines, and examine the types of genres they specify. Although I do not want to copy another magazine, I think that choosing a genre which is well received by the public and is good to use as a template will secure for me a good and interesting music magazine, and I will no doubt be influenced by certain genres.

Most music magazines continuously use the colours red, white and black, although this assumption is purely based on music magazine of a rock genre. However, after looking up magazines of more of a pop genre, I found that although using more of a variety of colours such as yellow and blue, the black, white and red colours still play a major role in the design of a magazine cover. 

Music magazines have a similar structure and design to other types of magazines, however, details like the colours and various images used means it's unique, helping it reach its potential aim, to inform the readers of the music industry, such as new artists, albums, events as well as music from the past. Music magazines also look inside the artists' lives, such as the magazine "Billboard", displayed above, as it clearly shows the main feature is purely focused on the actor/singer Darren Criss.

Music magazines also have the same codes and conventions as other magazines, as they obviously have a mastead, as well as a main image, a main coverline, and usually short, snappy coverlines. However, what makes music magazines different from other magazines is the language used, and using artists on covers, as the magazine needs to look interesting and represent the genre clearly, as the first impressions of the reader will surely affect sales of the magazine. Also, most music magazine covers I have found on the internet display as the main image a medium close up of an artist, which is used so that the reader can instantly identify who the artist is, and knowing that they are featured inside may push some customers to purchase the magazine. An example of this is shown in the Rolling Stone magazine below.

The contents page of a music magazine also follows the same structure and design of any other magazine, due to the demand of its purpose, as the layout used for most contents pages are convenient for the reader, and therefore do not need to be altered.

The contents pages of the magazine display everything featured in the magazine, as well as giving more detail about the stories and features on the cover. White and black are often a popular choice of colours, purely because they are suitable for the job. Like other magazines, rather than focusing on one image, like on the cover, they present a variety, displaying other information in the magazine, giving the reader a summary of the magazine.