Analysis of a Music Magazine Front Cover #3

Q magazine is a very well-known music magazine. Its selling line, situated beneath its recognisable masthead, is ‘The ultimate rock’n’roll magazine’. As ‘Q’ is a popular magazine, the masthead can be covered by the main image, with readers still recognising the institution. The banner across the very top of the magazine is also used as a selling technique, and therefore includes something catchy and intriguing, in this case ‘inside the rolling stones’. This short but snappy statement will attract many fans of the popular band, both young and old.

The main image is of female artist Beyonce. Though Beyonce is not particularly rock’n’roll, as her music falls under the genre of R&B, the way in which she is portrayed within the image suggests that she is. A typical stereotype of a female rock’n’roll artist is thick black eye makeup and plenty of leather. It seems that Beyonce has heavy eye makeup, and is wearing a white leather coat, lined with fur. The main cover line beneath the main image states ‘Sex, Power, Booty!’ all of which also relate to what is being presented within the image. Beyonce appears larger, and therefore more powerful, due to the angle of the camera. The camera is titled upwards, suggesting Beyonce is far more dominant than she would appear if the camera were focused straight-on, or more importantly, from above, where she would look smaller. Not only does this camera angle allow us to see the expression upon her face, it also allows us to see her figure and the way in which she is stood. Her visible facial expression suggests Beyonce holds a certain ‘sex appeal’ about her, again stated within the main cover line; she looks confident and self assured, her head tilted to one side, her lips parted, and her eyes focused on and engaging with the audience. One of Beyonce’s most popular and well-known singles is ‘Bootylicious’, a song written to represent the ideology that Beyonce has a very curvaceous figure. Therefore, not only does the last part of the main cover line, ‘Booty!’, refer to this, but it may also refer to what we can see within the image. The tight dress that Beyonce is wearing makes her curves clearly visible. Beyonce seems comfortable with this appearance, creating a positive attitude towards real beauty with the readers.

Other conventional aspects of this magazine are the cover lines distributed around the main image. Each of them refer to content within the magazine, that will interest the reader and encourage them to buy the magazine and read on. Each of the bands within the cover lines relate to rock’n’roll genre. The magazine is priced at around £3.30, stated next to the barcode in the bottom-hand corner, where the dateline is also situtated. The conventional colours for this magazine are black, white and red, which are again found upon this particular issue.

Furthermore, the target audience of this magazine are fans of rock’n’roll music, but also, for this particular issue, fans of Beyonce. As there is a wide range of bands listed within the cover lines, both new and old, I would say the targeted age group is anywhere from fifteen to twenty eight year olds, male and female, though it is perhaps slightly more swayed towards targeting a male audience due to its more masculine appearance. The price of £3.30 is slightly higher than average, and may be more affordable for those of medium-class.