Front Cover Analysis

This magazine front cover challenges the generic conventions of a music magazine as it tries to follow the generic conventions but does it in a unique, almost messy, way which gives the effect that it is going against these generic conventions. For example, it has a main image with text over it giving an indication as to what the main image is connoting but it is different to the common way a magazine does this because of factors such as the font, the colour scheme, the fact that it is in a white box and the positioning. The text to go with a main image is usually further down than it is on this magazine, as seen on the 2 magazine front covers below this one. It has bright colours with a colour scheme of red, blue, yellow, white and black which for a professional magazine is a lot and is another reason why it looks messy. They are also colours that do not really 'go' together. This indicates the type of audience this magazine is aimed at: people who generally do not follow the rules or expectations and do not worry about pleasing anyone. Blue is the colour used to represent boys when you are a child which is another factor that adds to this front cover being less mature.

It has a large number of teasers which are mainly just the names of bands that are featured in the magazine (a generic convention for a music magazine) which, like Kerrang!, indicates that they need to try hard to attract an audience and use a lot of bands to draw in a wide variety of an audience. This is obvious as if you are educated in this genre and know a lot of these bands you will know that some of these bands are in a different sub-genre of rock to others, for instance, some are more classed as metal whilst some are classed as pop-rock which each have different fanbases which means by including as many as they can, Rocksound will gain more readers than if they just appealed to one fanbase as this would mean that Rocksound only have a niche audience. However, even though Rocksound has tried to broaden its target audience, it does still have a niche audience because this magazine is only aimed at people who like a certain style/genre of music, one that is not a mainstream genre.

The main colour used on this front cover is red which is a colour that has connotations connected to it such as anger, danger and passion. These words describe the target audience as they are stereotypically going  to be males and males stereotypically enjoy danger and rebellion. The connotation of red links to the target audience of this magazine as they are stereotypically likely to be passionate about music (as if they weren't, they would not be buying a magazine entirely about music). These connotations link to Hedbridge's theory (1988) that youth are portrayed as being fun and trouble which is brought out in the use of red on this front cover and the connotations that surround this colour such as danger, trouble and rebellion. (Young people find fun in danger, trouble and rebellion). A convention that adds to the sense of danger, excitement and rebellion on this front cover is that every piece of text is in capital letters, as if it is shouting at the audience. Even though the masthead is in capital letters and is quite a bold and bright white, it does not stand out as much as it could do which means it runs the risk of not being noticed by the target audience when it is on the shelf and as the masthead is quite long, not all of it will be seen as 3 quarters of it is likely to be covered up by another magazine, this is why it is important for mastheads to be recognisable from the 'sweet spot' of the magazine which is an 1/8th of the top left hand corner of the front cover as this is all of the masthead that is likely to be seen because the rest will be covered up by either another magazine or the main image (like the main image on this magazine is covering up the 'O' in Rock Sound). 

As far as target audience goes the audience of Rocksound is likely to be around the same as Kerrang! at 14-24. I think the low target audience age is because of factors such as the colour scheme being bright colours and therefore not very 'classy' and mature, the font being slightly unprofessional and childish and because of the way it is set out. If you compare this to NME, a magazine that has a higher target audience, you will see different conventions such as the fact this magazine is much busier than NME and as I mentioned before, the colour scheme. Another convention that suggests to me that the target audience is younger than that of NME is that there is a teaser at the top of the cover advertising the fact there are free posters inside. A fully grown adult would not want posters and would have nowhere to put them as by this age they stereotypically would have matured fully therefore would not want to put messy bits of paper on their bedroom walls. The typography choices also indicate a younger audience as the font used for almost every bit of text on this cover is not a mature font that is likely to be found on Vogue or GQ.

The gender that this magazine is likely to be aimed at is males. This is because it is a stereotype that men like rock music and that it is too 'heavy' for females. Another reason that I think this is because all of the people in the main image of this front cover are males and therefore may make females think that this magazine is not for them as there is no female on the front cover that they can relate to and aspire to be. However this could also suggest that women may look at this front cover and be attracted to the males therefore buying the magazine to find out more about them. This relates to Eva Maria-Jacobsson's (1999) theory of The Female Gaze, a theory opposite to Laura Mulvey's theory of The Male Gaze. Eva's theory states that women can sexually objectify males in the same way that males do to women, quoting that "women would be objectifying the man to a subject of their desires and pleasures of looking". However, as the males have not been sexualised in any way in terms of the clothing they are wearing and the poses they are doing, this suggests that the editors of this magazine did not create this cover with the intent of attracting females.

The social grade that this magazine is likely to appeal to is Grades C1 to E (anywhere between lower middle class to students and members of the public who are unemployed). My reasoning for this is because of the denotations on the front cover such as the names of bands (Dad Punchers, Bullet For My Valentine etc, which suggest violence and rebellion, something that members of socials grades B-A would not be interested in and stereotypically are likely to disagree with), words used in the teasers such as 'off the hook' and also the way that the band in the main image are dressed and presented (they are wearing fairly scruffy clothes with fairly scruffy hair and facial hair).

The way the people in the main image look is likely to be how the target audience look, or aspire to look. This means that the audience will be more attracted to the cover and will want to buy it to either find out how they can look like the people on this cover or just to read about them because they are interested in them as they look alike. If the target audience already look like this, this may mean that they are already a fan of this band and this genre of music which may also mean that they are regular readers of Rocksound or are buying it to find out about more bands and news about this genre. 

 

This magazine front cover is somewhat similar to the previous one I analysed as it follows the same conventions and even has the same colour scheme of red, yellow, blue, white and black. These colours have connotations surrounding them such as danger, rebellion and anger for red, connotations that are associated with people that listen to loud rock music as well as young people (this relates to Hedbridge's theory that young people are fun and trouble, and also Stanley Hall's storm and stress theory (1904) that states young people go through a degree of emotional and behavioural upheavel and if they do not get excitement, they will seek it through violence and rebellion) and the connotation of childhood for blue (as this is the colour associated with boys when you are a child). Also, the colour black is stereotypically said to be the favourite colour of rock listeners so it is important that this colour is used on the front cover of a rock magazine in order to draw the correct target audience in.

It has teasers which are more in depth than the previous magazine (it gives you an idea of what is in the magazine instead of just mentioning bands that are featured like Rocksound). It has a different kind of teaser that is unique, it includes a free gift which is not a common convention of a music magazine, more a common convention of a young girls magazine. This is a feature that hints that the target audience is likely to be young.

The text used on this magazine represents how the magazine want the audience to portray it for instance, "Your new favourite band take on the world!". This means that they want people to instantly like the main feature band and assume that the readers definitely will like them. Other conventions that portray the way this magazine will be perceived is the way it is set out. For example, this one looks more childish than NME below because it is too busy. The fact it is too busy also shows that they have to add teasers (they use a lot of band names and images) to the cover to draw and attract an audience in, also something NME does not have to do. 

Another convention that supports my thoughts on it looking childish is the colour scheme of red, yellow, white, black and blue. The fact there is a lot of colours used also makes it look messy and suggests that the target audience is for a younger audience than NME, but around the same as Rocksound. 

The main image is not threatening or dark (in colour and tone/mood) which is also something that suggests to me that the target audience is from about 12-24. It also shows that this is the tone of the band and that the music they produce does not have really dark lyrics and are not in the metal genre etc. This actually goes against the common conventions of Kerrang! as they usually have main images that portray rebellion and disobedience which this image does not. Another way I can tell that the target audience is a fairly young one is because there is a big teaser of a free gift included with the magazine of stickers. Like I said with Rocksound and the posters, a fully grown adult of 30+ would stereotypically not want stickers and would not have anywhere to put them whereas a younger audience would have places to put them such as school diaries, phones, bedroom walls etc.

The social grade of the target audience of Kerrang! is likely to be C1-E like Rocksound, this is anywhere between lower middle class to students and the unemployed. This is because there are conventions on this cover that would stereotypically not appeal to higher classes such as B-A. These conventions include the free gifts of stickers and posters, the scruffy, un-shaven looks of the people in the main image, the bright colour scheme and also the low price (£2.20) as higher social grades will earn more money and therefore have a higher disposable income to spend on luxuries such as magazines so they will see the price of this as low and automatically assume that it is not aimed at them, but the lower social grades who have less money to spend on luxuries.

It is obvious by looking at the names of the bands on this front cover that the editors have tried to make the target audience and broad as they can because they have included older band such as Motley Crue (this is likely to be in an effort to try and make the magazine appeal to an older audience) and much newer bands such as Twin Atlantic who is the band in the main image. It is likely that the band in the main image is found appealing by younger audiences as the band members themselves do not look very old so they will be seen as relatable by the young audiences of Kerrang!.

The target audience for this magazine is likely to be primarily males because of conventions such as the colours used (very stereotypically boyish colours), the terminology used (such as words like 'bro-down' with the word 'bro' meaning brother and the band name 'smashing pumpkins' which is violent and stereotypically girls do not condone or enjoy violence, whereas men do) and the fact that every person featured in the main image is also a male and therefore the male target audience is likely to find them relatable whereas girls would not as they are a different gender. 

The masthead 'Kerrang!' instantly gives the reader a clue as to what genre this magazine is as this word connotes the typical sound that an electric guitar makes. Also, the use of an exclamation mark shows that it is a noise that is loud, which an electric guitar is and also it adds excitement (something that Stanley Hall (1904) stated teenagers crave). The editors of this magazine have also added to the effect of this use of onomatopoeia by the tagline being "Life is loud". This masthead and tagline reflects the target audience as if they are reading this magazine, they must enjoy rock music which is generally quite loud and reckless. This also links to rock concerts as they are generally extremely loud at around 115 decibels and are stated to be able to cause hearing loss (something a lot of teens suffer after coming out of a rock concert). The masthead of this magazine is in a full, bold font and colour as well as being in a position where it can be seen fully without any teasers or images covering any of it up. This increases its chances at being spotted when it is on the shelf, particularly as the sweet spot (1/8th of masthead in the top left hand corner) is on full show which means even if it is covered up, it will be seen by the audience when on the shelf in a shop.

When looking at this front cover it is obvious that there is a lot more content on the left hand side of the magazine rather than the right. This is also so that even if most of the cover is covered up by other magazines, there will still be teasers on show (and arguably the teasers that are most likely to draw an audience in) that will draw an audience in. The words "your new favourite band take on the world!" adds a touch of personalisation because it is as if the magazine is talking directly at the reader which will make the reader feel more involved and accepted by the magazine, making the reader more likely to by it. 

This magazine is completely different to the others I have analysed as it does not have a lot of text, has a very simple design/layout and only one image which is the main image that features only one person. The masthead is slightly hidden by the main image and isn't the most bold piece of text on the magazine, this is not a common convention of a magazine but it does make it unique. It is a simple design which hints that it is aimed at older male as they are focused more on what is inside and are likely to buy it on a regular basis so do not need persuading to buy it.

The main text of this cover suggests that the audience are educated in the genre of this magazine. The main reason I can tell this is because of the "Billie Joe" piece of text over the main image. This suggests that you know who Billie Joe is and therefore are educated which makes the reader feel good about themselves. Another thing that is suggested by the text is the masthead. The font that says NME is slightly hidden by the main image which shows that the masthead is not important and people looking at the magazine will know what it says without seeing all the letters, this is because it is a well known magazine that has regular readers. Also, there is only one image on this magazine which indicates the same thing as the masthead, that they do not need teasers because they are a well known magazine and do not need to attract their audience because they already have a regular audience and do not really need to reel new ones in. 

The masthead of this magazine is a perfect example of a magazine using the 'sweet spot'. This is the area in the top left had corner that is usually all that can be seen of the magazine because of other magazines covering the rest. It is important for front covers to give a strong indication as to what the magazine is in the sweet spot to make it easier to be noticed when on a shop shelf. 

The colour scheme of this cover ever so slightly challenges the target audience as it uses bright colours of red, blue and white. However the way it differs from Kerrang! and Rocksound is that these colours are slightly faded and look more vintage rather than just being slapped on the page. The colour red represents anger, passion and blood. All things that are also supported by the connotations of the main image, for instance the pose he is making and the colour clothing he is wearing. You can also see a couple of tattoos that are one of the most powerful representations of rebellion and danger, implying that even though the background is an almost baby blue which if left alone could completely change the magazines image and even possibly change their target audience, it still has an element of fiest and danger. This could also be a direct link to the personas of the target audience that I would image to be older males from the ages of about 30+ who are nearing the end of their prime and are entering fully into parenthood so do not have time to go to rock concerts and do the rebellious things they did when they were younger which is the reasoning for the childish blue background (as young people would see this blue and think that they do not want to be related to anything remotely childish as they are in the midst of leaving their childhood behind and are eager to grow up but fully grown adults would not think this way as they are obviously adults and do not need to prove it), which is also what could be the persona of the person in the main image as he is around this age. 

The target audience of NME is likely to be in a higher social grade than the audiences of Kerrang! and Rocksound, because NME is aimed at an older audience so are likely to have fairly good jobs. For this reason, the social grades of the target audience is likely to be B-A (middle class to upper middle class). However, because of the tattoos on the person in the main image, this may also appeal to people in social grade C1 (lower middle class). I stated earlier that the target audience is primarily males and this because stereotypically, rock is the genre enjoyed by mainly males because it is loud and violent, connotations that are never associated with women and also as the person in the main image is a male and there is no mention of any females which mean women can not relate to this cover, but males can, making men more likely to buy it than women. However, as there is a male on the front this could indicate that women may buy this because of the males sex appeal. This links to Eva Maria-Jacobsson's theory (1999) of the female gaze and that women are also capable of sexualising males (this is the opposite to Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze in which Laura states that men only look at women to sexualise them).

Another way this magazine makes sure they are not portrayed as being a softer magazine, which they are at risk of because of the amount of blue there is (a colour that is not linked to danger, feist and rebellion) is by the text "my lyrics come from a really dark place" that is a quote that the person in the main image has said, most likely in the interview in the main feature article inside the magazine. This means that this article is most likely not for the faint-hearted as it contains information about when Billie Joe (the person in the main image) was in a dark place and is likely to include details that some readers may find distressing. By adding this teaser on to the front cover, it is likely to attract a wider range of audience as this may appeal to people who feel they have gone through or are going through a similar thing as Billie Joe went through when he wrote these dark lyrics and want to read how he got through it. Putting Billie Joe on the front cover means that this magazine is likely to draw in a wider audience anyway because he is a member of a very well known band, Green Day, who have hundreds of thousands of fans in the UK meaning they are likely to buy this magazine just because he is on the cover. The pose the person in the main image is doing is the typical expression you do when you are in distress or you are angry. This links to the main teaser of "My lyrics come from a really dark place".