Music magazine analysis

2. This magazine chose to interview this band as the music they produce is the genre of music
this magazine is based on. They reflect the genre of music as the stereotypes they carry link to
what they are saying in the article, in the article they talk about band members leaving the
studio to explore and get lost suggesting their reckless personalities. I believe the target
audience for this magazine issue would be 18 and above and people who are interested in the
music they play. This article is a regular feature to this magazine as after looking at other issues
they always have a variety of double page spreads. The text in informal and comical using
personal stories as well as rude words to suggest this is not an informative article. I believe you
don’t need to know the band to understand the text because they mention the names of
band members and are simply talking about funny moments outside of recording, apart from
that there is no information only fans would know included in the article. Within this article
there is taboo language included which usually wouldn’t be featured in a music magazine, also
there is no direct speech and the writers have wrote what they heard at the interview. It does
not feature any semantic fields nor alliteration and onomatopoeia however it does include
some forms of slang.

3. In terms of layout, the masthead is featured at the very top with as small introduction just below.
The article is written in two columns and placed in between two models and the images seen on
the double page spread is one whole image used as the background. The first thing I see when
looking at the article page is the images as there is a big size difference between that and the
text which makes the picture stand out more. There is also no text boxes or picture frames
making the page as a whole flow more and not look so structured. There are no questions
included and when reading the article it suggests they were not asking questions of if so only
one which could have been what funny moments have they experienced as a band? There is a
title featured at the top going across the whole double page which stands out more because of
the size and colours used. When the article is finished underneath is a by-line stating who wrote
the article and who took the image, this informs readers who are interested in this information
as well as promotion for the people mentioned. Before the article there is a section of text
enlarged which suggests they want the reader to focus on that part which gives a short
description of what the rest of the article will include. The drop cap included at the beginning of
the article is used to emphasise the start and will encourage the audience to read the rest of the
article. The article featured on this page continues to the other side, I know this as there is a
small arrow encouraging the reader to carry on reading the article. I believe because the article is
so long this band was the main focus of this issue and was most likely featured on the front
cover also. The small text in the bottom left corner tells the audience who is in the images and
where and when it was taken.

4. There is only one image on this double page spread which is a wide shot featuring two band
members from The Last Shadow Puppets. The image is in black and white and sees the models
leaning on brick wall which suggests they are a traditional London band. There is no caption
used to explain the picture apart from the information in the left corner telling the audience who
was in the image and where and when it was taken. The page number is included in a small font
in the bottom left corner as well as the magazine’s masthead, this is information placed on all
pages but in a small font to not make it the main focus on the page. There is no date or website
featured.

5. This magazine decided to interview Jay-Z as he is a huge artist within the music genre rap. He
reflects the genre of magazine as they focus on new up-coming artists which at the time Jay-Z
was, I believe the target audience for this issue of magazine would be 16-30 as I think this issue
in particular would not appeal to an older audience. The double page spread articles are a
regular feature of Q magazine as well as most other music magazines. The article itself is
informal by the use of course language and in my opinion it could be seen as informative, the
article is talking about Jay-Z before he became so well known and his life growing up giving
his fans information they would not know. Therefore you do not need to know anything about
him before reading this article, there is no direct speech which suggests the writer has written
what they heard during the interview. It uses slang but there is no onomatopoeia or alliteration
included within the text. The layout of the article has the main picture on the left and the
article in two columns on the right, there is a big ‘J’ written in red included on the text still
enabling you to read the article underneath. The section more noticeable is the text because
of the ‘J’, the article does not include questions and is simply facts about Jay-Z mentioned at
the interview. There is not a main title included on the double page spread however there is a
small sub-heading at the top of the article stating ‘The Most Exciting People In Music Jay-Z’.
This is just a small heading to inform the audience who the article is about as well as the main
image on the right. On the image in the left corner written in a small text is information about
the photo telling the reader where and when the photo was taken, by it being placed in the
corner and in a small font suggests it is not that important.

6. There is a pull quote situated central of the page in a big red font saying ‘Everyone trying to do
something new is going to come up against a Noel Gallagher figure in their life’. This is a quote
the writer has chosen which he believed was important to place on its own, in this pull quote it
refers to Noel Gallagher which is also mentioned in the article itself. The article continues onto
the next page as there is three arrows telling the audience to turn over and there is also a drop
cap at the beginning highlighting the start of each paragraph. Box outs included on the article is
a graffiti text stating ‘Rap Radar’ which signifies his status within the rap industry. The image is a
coloured mid-shot which is most likely to be taken in a studio as the background is white. There
is only one main image taking up half the double page spread and has a pull quote included
within it. The page number and date are include after the article as well as the website giving the
audience other ways of finding the information included in the magazine without having to buy
it.

7. This magazine chose to interview artist Adele as at the time she was an upcoming artist and was
doing exceedingly well in her music career. They included her in the ‘Women who rock 2012’
category as her music reflects the genre of music this magazine focuses on. I believe the target
audience for this would be 20-50 as I believe this music genre and the artist this article is
focused on would appeal to an older audience. This article is not a regular feature of the Rolling
Stones magazine as it is based on Women who rock 2012 so would only be exclusive to the
2012 issues. The article is informal through the use of course language and is somewhat comical
due to the story the interview is telling. You do not need to know the artist to understand what
they are talking about as they are simply telling a story that the artist has experience, it does not
include information only fans would know. The article is speech reported as there is no direct
speech from the artist, they have put what the artist stated in speech marks, and there is also
some slang used but no alliteration or onomatopoeia. They design of the article is very
sophisticated in comparison to a pop magazine, it has the main image on the right and a small
part of the article on the left. The last sentence has not been finished suggesting the article will
continue onto the next page. There are no questions asked the article describes what they heard
at the interview. The title is situated at the top in a bold black font much bigger compared to the
article text and also a sub-heading telling the audience who the article is about and who wrote
it.

8. There is not a by-line included and instead the writers information is included in the sub-
heading, they do this for promotion reasons. The image shot used in a close-up black and white
image, it was taken in a studio using a grey background and there is only one main image
included. By using only one image it does not draw all the attention away from the text and
makes the page as a whole more structured. The page number and name of the magazine is
included in a small font at the very bottom of the page as it is not as important as other
features.