Front page content research

After gathering exisiting music magazines I examined the content of the pages in order to develop ideas for stories for my own production. I generally found that msuic magazines use competitions on the front page and also advertise inisde articles on bands that are aimed at the magazines paticular audience.

I found from the NME front page below masthead's generally display information on new music as the text reads "new albums 2008." However from other research I also found masthead's can advertise competitions within the magazine. I also found from the image below it is a general convention to use band names in bold on the front page that lead readers on to inside articles. I realised that my font style must be chosen carefully here and also the colours must be chosen carefully. I found that for NME the fonts are generally kept simple and are not to extravegent. I also found from the front page below bold text is used to link with the main image which leads music fans into an exclusive interview inside the magazine.





I also learnt in my research that the front page content can also use band names from the past which can be effective. I have decided for my own magazine front page I will display a feature about the Rolling Stones. I will use a feature that intrigues my young, music audience such as 100 facts about Rolling Stones that they never would of known (and didn't care). This will also fit the genre of my magazine.


I also learnt from the music magzine front page above is that using bands from the past on the front page can be effective. This is because in a young music audience older music can often become in "fashion" due to listening to parents older records. I found that using a feature of a band from the past can be very intriguing for music fans and this will tempt them to reading my magazine.



I therefore planned for my own magazine front page to use a list of bands that readers will find out more about inside the magazine. I decided that I would use popular bands that the majority of young adults are likely to be interested in. As my magazine will be mainly aimed at Indie Rock fans I will use the most popular Indie bands. I will also add two extra features of bands which are less known as I can therefore use images of these bands.

I also found from the image above that arists names are displayed in colourful, bold fonts to draw readers in to the content of the front page. I also found that captions used with the artist name such as "on drugs violence and pulling his UK tour" are very important in order to construct an effective front page for music fans.