Front Page Analysis
Billboard
This is the main graphic of this magazine. It features Drake, a famous rapper who has gained many fans through his major albums such as 'Nothing was the same' and single, 'Hotline Bling'. By using the close up shot image of Drake, a certain mass market audience is promoted as all of his fans are automatically attracted. Drake's facial expression shows he is trying to portray his maturity, when it comes to being 'the new face of hip-hop'. Also, Drake's clothing correlates nicely with the simplicity of the magazines hybrid. The magazines background is also very simple, which looks like its been taken on a plain white backdrop and seems to correlate with the image. Overall, the image looks as if its been edited to achieve the black and white theme.
This is the masthead of the magazine which is centred at the top of the page and is overlapping the image of Drake. It is mainly in a bold white font, along with bright colour which make the masthead more hip and vibrant within the letters to attract the mass market audience to the magazine. The fact that the masthead is eye-catching, correlates with the niche audience, as the magazine is made uniquely recognisable.
This cover line on the magazine, again is very attractive to the reader. The use of a black typeface highlighted in a neutral yellow automatically generates an appeal to whoever would want to buy the magazine, and also the use of capital letters emphasises the enthusiastic tone. The colour scheme also generates a house style for the magazine and is also perfectly aligned. The highlighted texts are almost presented in the form of mini banners . Finally, the idea that the cover lines are on the side makes sure that throughout the element of Drake's importance is portrayed, which is linking hugely to the main headline.
The headline (also the main cover line) of this article is definitely taking graphics into consideration, as there is a change in typeface when it comes to the heading. This seems like an exclusive story, as Drake is made centre of attention along with being given a brief cover line to emphasise the popular artists' importance. The tones in the headline are very neutral and happy, which really portrays the idea of balance. The layout is also very neat, and basic. The mode of address here is definitely in the headline, as the editor may be trying to promote the idea of Drake being the next best thing.
Again, this is one of the cover lines that is featured in a nice layout on the magazine. There seems to be a basic typeface which is very captivating. The cover line is made very bold then contains mini headers underneath. This gives an informative insight as to whats inside the magazine. Also, it is easier to read in comparison to reading the whole extract inside, so people can have a skim so interest isn't lost, and readers will be more drawn to the content.
This is the bar code of the magazine, which is located on the front page. The bar code is there just to give general information on the magazine. This includes it price, issue number and also website where the circulation can be obtained.
'Billboard' is an international magazine that focuses on American entertainment and is owned by a company called Prometheus Global Media. Billboard publish many articles including news, video, opinion, reviews, events, style and of course especially music. It is known hugely for its music charts, this includes Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200. The target audience for Billboard magazine differs from teens, around the age of 16, to young adults, at the age of 26. I feel this is because the magazine supplies its readers with latest updates from the charts, but it also takes different and various types of genres that appeal to a wide audience into consideration.
The magazine is a weekly magazine and can be purchased through subscription. Billboard has a total circulation of 17,000 magazines per week and 15.2 million visitors per month to the website.
This is the only sticker used on the front cover of Billboard which states “Martina McBride country summit key note”. This tells the reader that this edition of the magazine is unlike no other, as it contains a particular feature. The sticker is a bright teal, rounded sticker, which makes it captivating and makes it look like exclusive news.
Overall, I feel that this magazine focuses purely on American Entertainment, but mainly music due to the mode of address being vibrant and colourful throughout. The facial expression of Drake is in the form of a gaze. To me this portrays the idea of being content and mature, when it comes to the title he has been given. The clothing also detonates this idea, as his clothing is simplistic and also compliments his complexion, which shows he is calm inside. Drake's positioning also seems very firm which adds to the idea of him being mature of his given title. Generally, there aren't multiple photos on the cover as the magazine is promoting an exclusive article and the language is very relatable to men, due to the world cup cover line. Kerrang and Q magazine are similar to Billboard, in the sense of not generalising the music genre they feature.