This document analyzes the cover of a Rolling Stone magazine issue featuring the band The Strokes. It discusses the magazine's target audience as older rock music fans. It notes the cover predominantly features white band members, with only one band shown. The Strokes are depicted in their typical style of clothes representing their rebellious image. Non-visible acts mentioned inside include Outkast to attract more readers through their popularity.

1. Rolling Stone Cover Analysis Paul Robertson **View in full screen**

2. Magazine Cover Here is the front cover of the magazine I will be analysing:

3. Masthead The title of this magazine is Rolling Stone. The magazine was named after the 1948 Muddy Waters song of the same name. Rolling Stone changed its format in the 1990s, so that the magazine would to appeal to younger readers. The magazine focuses on young television or film actors and pop music. This led to criticism that the magazine was emphasizing style over substance. In recent years, the magazine has resumed its traditional mix of content, including in-depth political stories, and has seen its circulation increase. The magazine now contains many different rock artists all over the world, and has developed as a huge magazine that only allows the biggest possible acts on their front covers.

4. Audience Rolling Stone is aimed at an older age group. A lot of magazines are aimed at teenagers; however Q is aimed at both teenagers and adults. Each cover of Q may be aimed at a specific age group; however this particular cover is aimed at multiple age groups. The main headlining artist of the magazine is The Strokes, who are a band for all age groups. Teenager, adults, boys, and girls can all find The Strokes interesting, which is why the cover is so significant, as the Audience is endless.

5. Representation This magazine cover may be suggesting that hardly any black people are interested in Indie music, as the magazine cover shows only white people, The cover does not show a mix between genders. Only one band is shown on th4 cover, who are The Strokes. This does not equally divide the two genders.

6. Costume The main artist on this magazine cover is The Strokes. The Strokes are well known for their coolness and ‘I don’t care’ image. Their clothes on this particular magazine cover are typical ‘Strokes-like’ clothes, which represents their rebellious image.

7. Cover Stars The visible stars of this cover are The Strokes. The Strokes are made up of five different boys from New York. This article is relevant to the customers because Rolling Stone’s target audience are at ages where they find these stories interesting. Non-visible acts are also shown, such as Outkast. These names will bring a lot more customers to the magazine due to her popularity.

8. Genre Rolling Stone concentrates on mainstream rock/pop stars. If a pop star appears on the cover of Rolling Stone they will consider themselves as a band who have come far. On this particular cover, the main artist is the New York City indie band The Strokes. The Strokes are a very interesting band to the Rolling Stone audience, and they are also a very well known band. This is is why they have made it onto the front cover of Rolling Stone.

9. Cover Lines The non-visible artist’s names are shown in a bolder text, and are also located on the to of the cover. This makes the artists stand out to the customers. The sneak preview stories of what the magazine contains are shown in a less bold text, which allows a sneak preview but does not take over the magazine cover. The Strokes name stands out hugely, so that people will notice that the magazine contains information on this specific band.

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