MUSIC MAGAZINES: REPRESENTATION

 

MUSIC MAGAZINES: REPRESENTATION

How does Country Music create representations?

·         What kind of music is the magazine about? What kind of cover style would you and country music fans expect? You could listen to their music as well as look them up.

·         Identify the central splash and describe how they are presented (what they are wearing, how they are lit, the expressions on their faces, how these fit with the type of music)

·         Comment on the use of typography in The Shires coverline.

·         Looking at the cover as a whole, what can you say about the layout?

Firstly, this magazine is about country music. Country fans would expect a western type of cover style. People could be holding instruments and wearing western/Southern United States outfits. The name of the magazine is very big and at the top so that people know what the magazine is about.

In this central splash it has the artists in the centre of the page and is even going over the title slightly. This makes people seeing the name in stores want to see who’s covering it. They are lit in a particular way which makes them seem heavenly as there is a bright light shining on them from above. This may fit this type of music as the majority of people who listen to country music are probably religious and makes the artists seem like they are to be worshipped. But on the contrary, they are wearing very bland, non-flashy clothes; this makes them feel more down to earth and the readers feel like they can relate to them. They also seem to have a calm expression on their faces. This tells the reader that they possibly make serious, relaxing music to unwind to.

Also, the typography of The Shires coverline is very old-fashioned and perhaps western. It looks like cursive writing maybe used in the 19^th century. This tells the reader that the music The Shires make isn’t electronic and loud, but instead old-fashioned and calm.

The cover as a whole is very simple and clean. The central splash takes up most of the page to show the artists importance. The name of the magazine and what’s inside the magazine are at the top as that is what people will see when they are in a store so it will tempt people to picking up the magazine and looking to see what’s on the inside.