Magazine 1: Billboard Magazine
Billboard magazine is issued
weekly, and focuses on the music industry. As well as being one of the oldest
trade magazines in the world, it also lists the Billboard charts (most notably
the Hot 100, and Billboard 200 as well as 100 other charts).
The colour scheme is black, white
and yellow, apart from the masthead which includes the colours red and blue. On
the cover of this issue is hip-hop musician Drake from 2010. Every so often
Billboard magazine features artist photo shoots and cover stories when the
artists are promoting a new single/album.
The image is a close up of his
face as he is the “new face” of hip-hop, due to his recent surge of popularity
at the time. The image is in black & white, the lighting is quite dim, and
he is wearing black clothing. This may set a mysterious tone to him and what
his music is like, compelling the audience to find out.
The image is quite simple and laid
back similar to Drake’s music, style and persona. The rest of his body apart
from his face is blurred, meaning that the focus is on Drake’s face linking
with the cover line “Drake: The New Face of Hip-Hop”.
The masthead
“Billboard” is in front of Drake’s forehead. The masthead is the visual
branding of the magazine. As Drake is a new artist and he is not yet popular
enough to carry the magazine the masthead must be in front of him so the
magazine is still easily recognisable. This also indicates that the magazine is
promoting Drake although he is partly selling the magazine, encouraging his
current fans to purchase the magazine. The release date of the magazine “May 29
2010” coincides with the release of Drake’s single “Over” which was released
the previous month. It is placed next to the barcode with the websites, and the
prices.
This is the Billboard Magazine
Media kit for 2012. It features a screenshot of Billboard.com. The screenshot features an image of Lady Gaga
being announced as a performer at the 2010 Grammy’s. On the side it also has a
list of content that Billboard magazine contains.
Billboard magazine is produced
and published by the company Prometheus Global Media, formerly called the “e5
Global Media”. They are based in New York City. Apart from Billboard magazine,
they also publish four other magazines: Adweek, Back Stage, Film Journal
International and The Hollywood Reporter. The company also has a website (www.prometheusgm.com)
where all of the magazines are listed and a little piece of information is
there about all of them.
Contents
Page
This is the contents page from the May 29th 2010 issue of Billboard
magazine. It is clear that it is a contents page because of the way the page is
laid out.
The title is at the top of the
page and in bold text, which is the same as the masthead on the front cover.
Underneath the “Contents” title, there are photographs of other artists that
feature in the magazine such as Wale and Lady Gaga. This entices more readers
because if they are fans of Drake as well as Wale and Gaga, they are more
likely to buy the magazine. Also if they are just fans of either Wale or Gaga,
then they will also consider buying the magazine. It has the page numbers of
the articles features each artist in the right hand corner of each image so
that the readers can skip to whatever article they please and appeals to them.
As Billboard is known
for listing over 100 charts, on the right hand side of the contents page it
list who is Number 1 on some of the more prominent Billboard charts. Readers
will be able to find out who is on top of the charts easier without having to
find the full Top 100 charts.
Double Page Spread
This is a double page spread from the May 29th
2010 issue of Billboard magazine. The colour scheme is black, white, grey and
green. There are only two pictures and more text in proportion. This
immediately tells the reader it is Drake’s first feature on the magazine. We
can also tell this because of the timeline and the bottom of the double page spread
emphasising his rise to fame and again that he is a new artist.
The spread features and two-shot image
of both Drake and his mentor Lil Wayne who was also the man who signed him. It
is the biggest imageout of the two used for the spread. It is an image from the
BET awards so it is quite recent and therefore more important than the other
image. Drake’s clothes are quite mellow as usual whereas Lil Wayne’s clothing
is quite colourful and eccentric which is what both artists are known for.
Important quotes that Drake has said throughout the interview are “I’m young.
I’m 23. I know I have a lot of growing up to do” is in green bold text; they
show Drake in a mature light and quite down to earth. This helps highlight
Drake’s personality because although he is a rapper and black, he is quite
different to other rappers. He is educated and was brought up in a middle-class
family.
The other image is from when
Drake was acting on Canadian teen drama Degrassi as Jimmy Brooks. It is fairly
smaller than the other image which could be as it is from Drake’s past when he
was in another profession. It also features 3 other characters from the
programme in the shot. This suggests that this particular cover story will also
discuss Drake’s past as an actor and his progression as an actor to a rapper.
Magazine 2: Vibe Magazine
Vibe Magazine is a music and
entertainment publication predominantly featuring R&B and hip-hop music
artists. The magazine was founded by music producer Quincy Jones who is famous
for his work with Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson.
The colour scheme for Vibe front
cover changes regularly from each issue to the next. In particular in this
February/March 2012 issue, the colour scheme for the front cover is orange,
white and black. Nicki Minaj is featured on the cover of the issue. The image
is a mid-long shot of Minaj wearing a tiara, red hair and a white dress. The
background colour of the image is white. As a whole the image is quite plain
and although Nicki is known for her outrageousness and loud persona, the image
still manages to reflect this via the red hair and her pose. The lighting is
quite bright and she is wearing a tiara and a dress. This links to Minaj’s new
found title as “Queen of Hip-Hop” and also suggests that she is the best in the
genre right now.
The masthead is the same
colour as Nicki’s hair and is behind her suggesting that as an artist she is
now popular enough to be able to carry and publicise the magazine without the
title needing to be fully displayed. The fact that she is also ahead of the
masthead also displays her growth in popularity since her last Vibe magazine
front cover in 2008. The main cover line is beside her face and the same colour
as the masthead. The other cover lines are in either black or white and are in
smaller font. All of the cover lines and the masthead are aligned on both the
left hand side and the right. The language is quite relaxed and is not as
strict as the language used for Billboard magazine for example.
This is a screenshot from the
Vibe Magazine 2011 press pack/media kit. The total audience of Vibe Magazine is
2,400,000. The audience for the magazine is mostly Black/African American men
and women aged 21 and over. The audience is either in employment, education or
both. The artists that are usually on the front cover reflect the taste of the
audience as that is their target market who are “comprised of trendsetting
individuals passionate about music, entertainment, fashion and pop-culture”
Vibe Magazine is published by
Vibe Media. The company was formed in 2012 when Vibe Holdings merged with
BlackBook Media. Vibe.com publishes the same articles as the magazine form and
is updated regularly.
Contents Page
This is the contents
page from the February/March 2012 issue of Vibe. As Nicki Minaj is the focus of
the issue, she is also on both the front cover and the contents page. The contents page is clear like
the front cover and is listed as “Features”. It is also a few pages in the
magazine so some readers might be confused as to where the contents page is, if
they are not used to Vibe magazine. It is again easy to tell that the magazine
is going to be mainly about Nicki Minaj because she is on the contents page
again. An image of Nicki doing a different pose but in the same image is on the
right hand side of the page. The image shows Minaj in a different light – cute
but also toned down.
The listed “features” of the
Feb/March 2012 issue of Vibe is listed on the left hand side of the contents
page. Unlike many other music magazines only the featured articles that are
unique to this particular issue are listed. A description of what each of the
articles is about is underneath each heading. The details of the photo shoot
and the outfits are listed in the left hand bottom corner of the page. As a
whole the contents page is simple and entices the reader as it is not cluttered
and full of pictures and information. It is also makes it easier for the
audience to find a specific article they are looking for.
Double Page Spread
This is the double
page spread about Nicki from the February/March 2012 issue of Vibe. The main
image of Minaj is on the majority of the spread. The quote is quite provocative
but links with the image. Nicki is saying in the quote that she wanted to write
an album that was about sex, showing off her body and still make the album a
success. The image is quite respectable, relaxed and displays Minaj in a classy
light, but still showcasing how quirky she is. The most enticing quote from the
interview is placed in the right corner of the image of Minaj, which persuades
readers to read the whole interview to understand and read Nicki explain what
she meant. The quote also hints at what is next to come for Minaj in terms of
her music and as an artist as she said that she has “defeated her critics”
intriguing the audience to again read the article to get a hint of it.
Furthermore the image used is from a photo shoot on the set of her “Va Va Voom”
video shoot, providing fans with a glimpse of the fashion and hair in the video
further tempting fans to look through the spread.
The actual article is placed on
the right hand side of the spread in small, justified font. Compared to the
proportion of the image, the proportion of the text is quite small and is
perhaps only the cover story portion of the spread as the interview is on a
separate double spread page. Throughout the interview there are references that
are further explained on the far right hand side of the spread bettering the
knowledge/understanding of the audience when reading the article.
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