Music Magazine Front Cover Analysis

Language - The first thing we notice on any magazine cover is the image, if we don't like the images were more likely to move on to the next magazine on the shelf. The Wombats who the main image is off is very well known as The Wombats who have recently hit the headlines with their debut album. Keeping to the theme on contemporary music The Wombats are dressed in the typical trend of an indie band, which is in tune with the magazine normally. The mast head, font type and font colour are all simple yet effective too. This is crucial when targeting specific audiences because anything other than contemporary would be misleading and would loose some customers.

The camera shot used (Medium Long Shot) creates an eye catching statement look. This will automatically draw the reader’s attention, as they are displaying the typical view of a band being energetic.

The layout of this magazine is very simple, there is little unfilled space; this is very eye catching with the image clearly being what the institution wants you to focus on. The choices of colours used are typical to most magazines using black with a splash of a different colour, to highlight they key parts of each headline like that of 'The Wombats'.

Like other magazines 'NME' consists of a barcode and price on the front. This may be because they wish to let the reader decide on whether to buy it or not, based on the price because for some it would not be a consideration with the types of musical acts on the covers. Like the majority of magazines the month of publication and the year is printed in the lower right corner of the cover page.

Ideology- The ideology of this magazine seems to be to show an up to date, in the moment outlook on contemporary music. It does this by using well known people within the industry to cover their magazine as well as who they feature in it. Using a stylish, laddish, confident pose The Wombats show the right ideology for the magazine.

Institution - NME music magazines institution is IPC Media, which produces over 85 iconic media brands, with our print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men –almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month. IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.

Audience - The NME advertisers pack states what their audience profile is as the following:

Male: 71%

Female: 29%

Median age: 23

Student: 31%

ABC1: 65%

Circulation: 357,000

Representation - this magazine is representing well known, talked about figures within the music industry. By using figures like these for example The Wombats, the representation of the magazine which is a positive take on what is happening at the moment within that industry is capable of happening.