AS MEDIA STUDIES COURSEWORK

Task 4

A comparison of two music magazines.

Billboard magazine features all kinds of music artists who have been in the topof the charts whereas the magazine ‘Vibe’ predominantly features R&B and hip-hop music artists. In the examples above the music magazine ‘Billboard’ portrays Beyoncé as classy and sophisticated where as in ‘Vibe’ she’s shown tobe quite sassy and very provocative. This tells us that each of these magazinesare trying to appeal to different audiences even though they both feature Beyoncé whose music genre is of RnB and other similar artists. Another similarity of both these magazines is that each of their main images cover the mast head which suggests that they don’t lack confidence as they are both well known magazines.

The target audience for Billboard magazine varies from young teens, from the age of 16, to young adults at the age of 26. This is because the magazine features the lastest updates from the music charts which are often different types of genres. This is to widen the range of the target audience as it provides for people who listen to different genres. Although the core audience for Vibe magazine targets 18-34 because it shows big music artists like Beyonce, Mariah Carey e.c.t. This magazune also satisfies audiences by including music reviews, gossip columns, next profiled upcoming artists and more.

The layout of the magazines are completely different, for example the font used in ‘Billboard’ magazines is very sophisticated and appealing.The magazine itself is very mature as its not crowded with pictures. Also the language used in Billboard magazines is very formal and professional. The strapline, ‘Our women of the year’ shows that the magazine can be considered all types of ‘professional’. As with the magazine ‘Vibe’ it uses more informal language such as ‘Strip down’, this shows that it’s wanting to attract a more male audience as well as teenagers. Also the font type used is big and bold which catches the attention of the audience.

A difference between the two of these magaiznes is that in Vibe they positioned the barcode, price and issue date on the corner of the front cover page suggesting that they don't seem too bothered about their appearance as

much as Billboard may for the reason that Vibe seem to just focus on providinginfomation. It may also be there on the front to take up space and not make the front cover look empty and unsatisfying. Whereas, Billboard magazine has very little space to take up with a barcode on the example front cover above asthey provide much more information . Although on other issues of their magazines the barcode is located on the front which is similar to Vibe. They tend to make it slightly larger compared to other magazines for the reason that it makes it easier to recognise the issue date therefore the reader knows if the information within the magazine is up to date.

Vibe and Billboard both tend to make the artists names the main focus on the main cover because they use big and bold font. Although, Billboard uses a variety of different fonts which makes each piece of information stand out fromthe page. Also each of the magazines have their own online website which is used to provide extra information than it may have in it's magazine. Having their own websites allows the consumers of the magazine feel satisfied as theywill be purchasing a valuable product from well-established companies.