Music magazine analysis

Billboard magazine is one of the music industries oldest publications and one of the most successful music magazines in the world today. Billboard. for the most part, is intended for the muswic professionals such as music producers and record labels executives.It is generally not intended for the general public, although it can occasionally be found at bookstores.

In relation to this specific issue of Billboard have followed the most well known convention of music magazines of using one main central image as the focus of the cover. By doing this it allows the magazine to present a focused direction in their magazine and also tells readers what to expect in this particualr issue. In terms of colour and style there is a distinct and ovbious colour scheme that ties in with the style of the title. The colours used present a very sophisticated and 'adult' feel to the magazine as well as promoting a fresh and youthful feel by the using bold pastle colours. The same effect has been used in relation to the artists as their styling is indictaove of a more 'adult' style yet their fans present a more youthful feel to the magazine. This magazine could be trying to tell audiences that the artists want to take on a new direction and shake their current image of tween sensations.

The layout of the magazine is very much aligned to the left to maintain focus on the image, colours have been used as accents and are not intrusive. Artist names and features are given larger fonts and brighter colours to highlight to audiences but still remaining small enough not to detract from the center image.
At first glance it is not so ovbious that this magazine is intended for a musical audience as the layout and style are more inline with the likes of GQ indicating that perhpas this magazine isn't just a music magazine, in contrast to the likes of Kerrang that uses very brash and in your face style designs because of their younger demogrpahic and the genre of music that they present in their magazine.

Overall Billboard magazine presents a sophisticated approach to music, with a target demographic of young professionals looking for a more indepth read. The colours and layout are carefully and thoughtfully placed so not to detract from the main focus. There is a clear theme to the front cover in terms of colour and design. I want my magazine to portray the same sort of focus and I really like the layout of the text as well as the clever use of colour to highlight.

In terms of producing an Acousitc music magazine there is little out there that provides readers with the sort of magazine like the one above where artist interviews and latest updates are available. At the moment the only products in existence are music magazines dedicated to the art of PLAYING acousitc music and not for and inside look at up and coming artists, news, interviews. Guitar World, Acoustic is the only magazine in production that follows the same format as the magazine I wish to produce where the artists are the focus and not the instruments themselves. I believe this will make my product a success as there will be very limited competition to put pressure on my product.