Comparative Analysis and Evaluation of Music Press Front Page!

The image to the left is the front cover of the magazine vibe. Its is colourful, the masthead is very bold and there is a lot fo writing on the front page. The picture is bang in the middle which is what the reader is most likely to look at first.


The image just below is also a front cover however the magazine is not vibe it is XXL magazine. There are 3 main colours, bold font and a massive picture which takes up the whole page.


The GENERIC MUSIC CONVENTION CODES of vibe magazine shows that the target audience is mainly people that listen to hip hop music. You can tell this because of the artist on the front page and the colours of the magazine. This magazine targets both boys and girls and the age can vary from ages 14-25. The Demomgarphics maybe hobbies such as going to hip hop concerts they wuld usually dress in tracksuits and shop in shops like footlocker and JD. The psychographics maybe are either students who are at school and are maybe thinking about what they are going to do in the future. However the older people who read the magazine most proberly have a high intrest in music and most likely have a career in music.


MASTHEAD (VIBE) - The masthead for vibe is very simple. the font is very bold and it is in all capital letters. The colour of the masthead changes every week to symbolise different seasons. The masthead is very BIG.


STRAP-LINE - The stapline in this magazine simple tells you what is going to be in the magazine rather than it being on the contents page. The strap-line colours match each other and they change every other word. Some words are in different fonts so the words in the big fonts tell us that is more important and were we should look.


MAIN IMAGE - The main image is band in the middle which means that this is were the readers eyes automatically go to. They way the artist is kneeling down efects the whole front page. All the writing is outline his crouched down posistion.


EARPIECE - There is not really and earpiece in this magazine, there are not any compitions to be won and games to play in this magazine, you would most likeyly see this in a magazine such as top of the pops.


The MODE OF ADDRESS atracts its target audience very well. It talks in slang and hip hop dialect, which is informal which is different to Q magazine which is more likely to be formal. This suggests that the magazine has a good idea about who reads the magazine and its readership.


The LAYOUT AND DESIGN of the contents page reflect a mood of that months issue. So for this front cover the contents would most likely be blue and yellow which reflects the front page. On the front page there is usually not much on it, less text and more pictures.

The GENERIC MUSIC CONVETION CODES employed by the magazine suggest the target audience are people that listen to rap music and you can see this from the artist who is on the front page and the strong colours and strong fonts


MASTHEAD -The masthead is very big and bold. The masthead is in the corner which is different from the other magazines. The font is in all captials which give an authority feeling towards it as does the use of red and white.


STRAPLINE AND EARPIECE - Suprisinly there is not a strap line or an earpiece on this magazine, however in the top right hand corner it shows what is exclusive in the magazine. XXL magazine is often different from other magazine; there is no strapline or earpience and the masthead is in the corner, not in the top centre of the page.


MAIN IMAGE- The main image takes up the entire page. It is a mid shot image as you can only see his upper body and and face and arms. The background is just black which goes with the colour scheme white,red and black.


The MODE OF ADDRESS suggests that the magazine speaks in a formal dialect but at the same time attracts its target audience with its rap features and articles. XXL know exactly what there target audience wants and is giving it to them


The LAYOUT AND DESIGN of the of the contents like most magazine will match and have a consistant flow with the colours however unlike vibe magazine there is more discription than pictures. There are a few pictures but it does what a contents page is ment to do which is tell you what is in store in the magazine.


Comparatively it is clear that both magazine have different intentions,purpose and target audiences. Vibe magazine attract both male and females,students and ages vary between 15 - 24. Unlike XXL magazine I think it is mainly for males and it can be for both students and adults and the target audience is just slightly higher than vibe magazine it varies from 18 - 24.


The genre,mode of address and layout and design on the magazine suggest a niche/mainstream audience.