Analysis of Music Magazine Covers

By Mark Warren

Cover 1The name of the magazine is indicated by the logo in the top left hand corner. The use of a simple design for the logo and the name being a single letter help make the magazine memorable and distinguishable to both regular readers and prospective customers. The colours used, red and white are bright and bold, helping the cover to stand out.

In the top right corner, inside a brightly coloured roundel, is an offer to listen to exclusive music by the main featured artist for free if you buy the magazine. This is a sales tactic commonly used in magazines, as it is designed to make the magazine seem more like value for money, by adding an additional item for free. By relating the offer to the artist pictured at the epicentre of the cover, the magazine are helping to entice readers who may have picked up the magazine because they saw an artist they like on the cover. The words ‘exclusive’ and ‘unheard’ are featured to have the effect of making customers think they are ‘missing out’ if they don’t purchase the magazine.

By having the names of other large musical artists in large text alongside the main feature, the magazine hopes to attract potential readers who may not be persuaded to buy the magazine based on the main feature, but could be swayed by the inclusion of these other artists. As with the tagline of the main feature, a short summarising sentence is included underneath each artists’ name to inform the reader of the focus of each article, with the hope it will interest them.

The cover is dominated by a large image of the main featured artist, serving to attract fans of that artist and to give the cover a focal point. The fact this centre image overlaps the logo emphasises the importance of the main feature. Special effects are used to embellish the image.

The main title and tagline are in large text towards the bottom of the cover. The name of the artist is emphasised by the fact it is in bold, white text against a dark background. The tagline is short and emphatic. It also leaves the reader with a lack of information, forcing them to read on if they wish to find out more. The use of a quote from the article adds to the unambiguity of the tagline and is dramatic as well.

Overall, this cover is simplistic and stylised, which is very effective at drawing the eye and appealing to a wide audience as well as a specific group of fans.

Cover 2The Header is a list of featured artists which helps inform the reader of which artists will be covered in the magazine, with the hope that they will find an artist that they like and are interested in enough to buy the magazine.

The Name of the magazine is in large, bright text above the central image in order to make sure it stands out to a prospective reader.

The central image is the focus of the entire cover. In contrast with Cover 1, each member of the band is an equal size, whereas on Cover 1 the singer was the largest and clearly the focus of the feature as well, this could be because the band featured on Cover 1 have a singer who is more of a household name than the other band members, however, the band featured on Cover 2 are more well known as a group, therefore the magazine doesn’t need to exploit the fame of just one member to draw readers in. The fact the band members are all wearing the same colour and none of them are aggressively emphasised suggests that they are of equal importance and all contribute to the main feature.

As in cover 1, the names of other famous artists in the same genre are displayed down the side, in order to entice those who aren’t convinced by the main featured artist to buy the magazine. The fact hat these two are larger than the features across the page suggests these artists have a larger audience.

The name of the main feature band is the subtitle and is one of the few intensely coloured elements of the cover, acting to draw in the eye. The colour scheme of the cover as a whole consists of fairly plain white and grey, which are contrasted by the vibrant purple, which links to the name of the band.

Along the bottom, some of the band members have been named, similarly to the singer in Cover 1 and the capitalised ‘NOW WHAT?’ at the end of the line creates a sense of anticipation which can only be satiated by reading the article.

Similarly to Cover 1, free music is advertised in the top left, leaving fans of the featured band feeling like they’re missing out if they don’t purchase the magazine.

Overall, this cover is more subtle than the previous cover and isn’t as cluttered, however they share a number of conventions in terms of positioning of images and phrasing of text.

Cover 3Similarly to the previous two covers, this one offers free music inside to entice the reader to buy it. Interestingly, all of these covers have offered this music in CD format, whereas magazines covering other more modern genres tend to offer free music as a download, rather than a physical item, this could be seen as an indication of these magazines appealing to an generally older demographic of people, who are more comfortable with or prefer older methods of listening to music.

Like Cover 1, this cover uses quotes from the main article in order to project what the main feature is about whilst still maintaining a level of ambiguity which forces the reader to buy the magazine to get the whole story. The use of profane language suggests that the reader can expect a raw, unfiltered article.

Again similarly to Cover 1, the word exclusive is used to imply that the magazine is the only way the reader can access this content.

The central image serves as the focal point around which the cover is constructed, similarly to the other 2 covers and similarly to Cover 1, focuses on one member of a band rather than the whole band. The casual attire of the featured artist, compared to what is worn in Cover 2 adds to the suggestion that this with be a less formal article.

Again, other artists are named on the cover to appeal to those who aren’t convinced to buy by the main feature, however these names are smaller and less of a focus than they are on the other 2 covers. The underlining of the word ‘never’ is used for a similar effect as the word ‘exclusive’ in order to entice fans.

Both the name of the band and the name of the mainly featured member are included, like Cover 1, however, unlike Cover 1 the name of the individual is larger and more pronounced than the name of the band suggesting that he is more of a draw for potential buyers.

The name of the magazine contrasts the background in order to make it stand out, but still takes a backseat to the central image. As shown in covers 2 and 3, the name of this magazine is always in the same font, around the same size and isn’t intensely coloured.

Overall, this cover is more punchy and in your face than Cover 2, perhaps to reflect the different musical styles of the featured artists. It has a similar style to Cover 1 in terms of colours, however, it has a more casual style.