The Generic Conventions of a Music Magazine

I will use the cover of Kerrang show the generics of a Music magazine.


Most magazines conform to a certain way of laying out front covers and the words they used, these are known as the Conventions. The first thing to notice with any magazine is the house style and more importantly, what it says about the magazine. Kerrang for example use modern, bold colours: white, black and red, showing that they are all about music that's modern at the moment. The layout of Kerrang is very straight and squared off. This shows a lot of thought has been put into the cover, making sure everything fits neatly and that the images are still the main eye focus, which is what Kerrang use to attract their audience.

Kerrang use their logo as the masthead on all their covers. It's the only thing on the front cover which is in a different font, unlike the rest of the text on the magazine. The logo is made to look like broken glass or a window as Kerrang think of their magazine to appeal to heavy rockers who are looked upon as the more rebellious musicians. On this particular cover, R and A in Kerrang are covered over by the main image, showing confidence that the audience of their magazine will know exactly which magazine it is without the need to show the entire title.
The main image has a vital role in selling the magazine but not solely because of who they are. The image uses direct gaze, this is important to engage the reader and brings the artist to the same level as the reader, giving the audience a friendlier connection with them. The layout of the image tells us about the band. It's clear that the band have a 'front man' as he is super imposed over the text, whereas the over two members are beneath. It works extremely well on this with the back two men being twins, it creates symmetry in the cover, fitting into the neat house style.

The are also sub images on the cover to show the reader what else the magazine contains. This also helps to encourage people who only buy the magazine occasionally because of who they are featuring. So, even if they don't know the main artist, there could be something else on the cover to encourage them to make a purchase.
Anchorage text on a magazine cover is used to reinforce the images. "Unfold the puzzle of life" would really draw a Biffy Clyro fan in to reading the article as it's related one of their best albums, Puzzle which features songs all about their life, especially Folding Stars. Therefore, we can see that the article will be an insight of their music but also their lives. Similarly, with Paramore. At first, the words 'Hayley starts a riot' might sound like a scandal, but it is referring to their album, Riot. This is because Kerrang are all about the music and don't sell their magazine on catchy gimmicks or embarrassing photos. Fans of this kind of music will already know exactly what to expect from Kerrang.
Buzzwords are also vitally important to sell the magazine, words such as, Free! and Plus! lead the reader into thinking that are getting more for their money. Give away projects a similar meaning, as it's about a festival that is relevant to the music in the magazine, a dedicated fan would jump at a chance to get it as they wouldn't get it from any other magazine. And more... is a popular choice of wording for magazine to use as it forces the reader to buy or at least pick up the magazine to find out what more there is to read. There is also a cover line, stretching across the bottom of the magazine. This informs a reader who has given their time to study the magazine the most information possible.

Most of the text on the cover is inside banners, which makes it easier to display text to a reader with the images in the background. It also separates the different stories into sections, so the reader is not completely bombarded with text. As it is a magazine which is directed at older teenagers, they may be put off by a page which is full of text and no real reading structure, which would make it look more immature. There is also no direct address on the front cover, which tells the reader that it is all about the music and the artists, and nothing else, getting them the most for their money.
Finally, the last generic conventions, which are a necessity for most magazine now are the cover dates, barcodes and price, and on some, the issue number. These are all needed to make the buying of a magazine efficient for the reader. By having the price and cover date, the reader can assess how much it would cost to purchase the magazine and how often they would need to buy it. Whether a reader purchases it or not depends highly upon their disposable income, if they are willing to pay for it or simply have the money, they will. Pricing a magazine correctly for the audience is a huge deal breaker when it comes to selling. For an audience that is an older teenager the magazine can afford to charge more than average as their audience will usually have some sort of income.