Music Magazine Front Cover Analysis

The artist on this magazine front cover is represented in many ways. Firstly his facial expression suggests a lot about his personality and music genre. He appears to be shouting the word “ColdPlay”. This then links to the Headline “Barking The Secret World Of Chris Martin”, this could suggest he is like a dog and a dog is controlled by someone. He could maybe feel under pressure to share his feelings and talk about his life. Also the aggressive bark could link to the genre of music and suggest Coldplay have an aggressive side to them. A medium shot of the main image reveals his facial expression and the top half of his body. The reader can then identify his clothes and also the look on his face.

“Q” magazine holds a similar structure and layout on all their magazines. The big Q at the top right is on every magazine they have done.  This acts as their mast head, and then next to it is the main image that takes up the rest of the magazine page. The big Q attracts the main attention to the magazine. If the viewers see the Q they instantly known it’s that type of music magazine. On this magazine cover lines are spread out. This could link to the main image that his thoughts are all over the place and he can’t thing straight. This magazine also features and follows generic structures on all types of magazines such as bar codes, cover lines, date, seal of approval etc. The only thing that is different and stands out from this magazine is that the main headline goes over the main age’s mouth. This then represents he is shouting the text as it’s in a bold eye catching font.

The colour scheme for this magazine is fairly masculine. Firstly the black jacket symbolises that the artist has a punk rock side to him and maybe a dark side. This then links with the cover lines as he is not sure about himself and quite insecure. The dull coloured background emphasises the main image and brings that the viewer’s main focus. The white text stands out from the dull background and the black jacket. This is the audience’s second attention and they can then look at the image and learns about his body language and then read the cover lines and incentives.

The language features on this magazine are informal. It is very straight to the poit and out there. For example “I thought I was gay”. This cover line is very straight to the point and then the reader can instantly tell that the artist is not sure and insecure about himself. Secondly the language on this magazine could appeal to the older audience as it states sexual language and preferences and the language could appear offensive to some people.

Due to The language and cover lines stated on the front cover and the colours are quite dark and dull. I would say the target audience would be men ages 16 – 25 where as other issues could be for older and younger audiences. However the fact that cold play is listened to and viewed by both the male and female audiences this magazine is also targeted at females as well.