Conventions of a music magazine; front cover

 Every front cover of a magazine has a title. The title is one of the most important parts of a magazine cover. It can help tell a person what sort of music the magazine specializes in or if it’s an ‘all genre’ magazine. It also needs to stand out so people will be able to see what magazine they’re buying and also so that it is your magazine they see first, not someone else’s. Also, the title 'Billboard' can suggest this this magazine specializes in chart music and this would appeal to pre-teens or teenagers as they are the age group that usually listen to chart music. The colours on the Billboard are mostly primary colours; red, blue and yellow. This can appeal to the target audience of the magazine as bright, pop colours would interest and attract teens and pre-teens. This is also because chart music is mostly made up of pop music therefore this is why those colours would be appropriate.

  The name of the artist appearing in the magazine usually goes on the front as to let people know who will be featured in the magazine. Sometimes they will limit the name to just the person on the cover, or sometimes they write which other stars will be featured in the magazine. This is to gain interest from the public as they will know who will be in the magazine and can buy according to if they like the stars featured or not.

  The date is always printed on the front so people know that it is current and up-to-date. Also, the price is usually somewhere on the front of the magazine, the cheaper the magazine, the larger the text advertising the price.

 Every magazine has a front cover of someone famous or popular at the particular moment in time. They chose to do this as it gets people interested and they want to read about famous people and people they like. Usually the picture is a close up shot or a medium close up, however sometimes they do have full body shots. They do this to attract the reader into looking further into the magazine and make it look inviting.

  There are different fonts and sizes of text used on the front of the magazine, as to make it look more interesting and not boring and to make it stand out to different magazines. Also, the slogans used on the front of a magazine is important, ‘in this issue’ shows that this particular artist will be talked about, and most likely has done an interview which is featured in the magazine.

  The colours the artist wears on the cover, usualy matches and corresponds with the colours and theme of the magazine. For example, the artist on this particular cover- Michael Jackson- is wearing black and white which corrosponds nicely with the magazines black and white writing and background of the magazine. Also, his skin tone complements the colours used in the text-the reds and whites etc, nicely. This is important feature as it makes the magazine look profesional and sophisticated, but it also makes it look interesting and appeals to the magazine target audience.

  Also barcodes are always on the front of a magazine.

  These features are common on the front of magazines and I will use these features when I am producing my own magazine cover. It is important to appeal to your target audience but still make your magazine cover look attractive and presentable, which may pursuade others to look at and buy the magazine.