Analysing ‘Billboard’ Front Cover Magazine

Analysing ‘Billboard’ Front Cover Magazine

Billboard covers a wide range of genres such as R&B, Hip-Hop, Pop and Country music therefore they have a wide range of target audiences. The genre for this magazine however is Hip Hop which will relate to my target audience. Billboard may have done this so they can appeal to a large audience which they have because there are millions of people who prefer these genres as these are the most common genres at the moment. This enables Billboard to make a huge profit and expand more on music genres in the future. Billboard is a weekly American magazine which dedicates itself to the music industry and they are one of the oldest trade magazines. Furthermore, they write articles about the latest music including music news and produce music reviews. They include information on the most popular songs, albums and a variety of music categories which is updated every week. Billboard is basically about music charts and had grew information in music, artists, top executives, tour promoters, publishers, radio programmes, lawyers, retailers and digital entrepreneurs.

The target audience for this magazine are older teenagers around the age of 16 to mid 30s who are interested in hip hop and R&B as this specific magazine is targeting more males rather than females as it features Lil Wayne and consists of male related straplines and stories. However, it still targets females because if they weekly purchase Billboard they will purchase every magazine they publish because of the main image and the stories/straplines. You could tell they target women because it includes up to date information e.g. Michael Jackson‘s movie – ‘This is It’ who would attract many MJ fans as he had passed away and Lil Wayne has millions of fans including women too. They target this type of audience because the audience would be interested in hip-hop culture and fans who are interested in these kinds of artists where they want to recognize more individuals and gain more knowledge about their favourite artists then talk about it amongst their friends. We can tell this also because it includes a main image of Lil Wayne who is well known for his raps and songs. This will then enable to appeal to the target audience and followers who love his music and then purchase the magazine.

The method which had been used for the camera angle and lens movement is pan right and the main image is Lil Wayne and you could tell the rule of thirds has been considers. The main image is placed in the middle and the setting creates a sense of depth which enables the audience to be attracted to it because it catches their eyes. The main image will create a lot of attention because the main image is a well known rapper Lil Wayne who is recognizable by many people, even if they do not listen to his music. This then creates a centre of attention towards the magazine then the reader will then purchase the magazine and read the content and would be interested because the main image would relate to the content. As a result it creates a potential customer for the future. Also as he makes music relating to girls, money and life this also engages immediate attention. The facial expression of Lil Wayne is subtle, looks calm and readers (men) could relate themselves to him because of the pose Lil Wayne is striking. Also, the body language of Lil Wayne would be common to most Hip Hop fans as they would do the same- he looks confident and mature and it looks like if he feels the top of the world as he is holding his belt. They may have done this so the readers can purchase this magazine so the readers can find out what had inspired him to be what he is right now and find out information on what he is doing right now therefore it inspires others.

The mise en scene has been carefully placed and it helps what it wants to represent which is Hip hop is not dead and that it still exists. The clothing which Lil Wayne is wearing is high-end fashion which seems like a scarf and I think it is a leather one which represents his new experimentation in music-rock mixed with rap and hip- hop. Also, he is topless and is revealing his tattoos which are kind of typical of him to do so but that are what he is known for too. In addition he is showing his boxers which are very popular in the 21^st century where before it used to be the baggy, long tops. The readers will defiantly relate themselves to revealing their boxers as this is the fashion for hip-hop culture. The readers could relate themselves to this as some readers my read this because they want to become a hip-hop star or a R&B singer and then would like to follow Lil Wayne’s life and fashion sense too. This also is relevant in today’s society because the world is opening to more different styles and experimentation. This helps appeal to the audience because many new artists are different and are becoming totally fresh. The lighting of this is quite dark which contributes to the atmosphere which is quite full of swagger (a slang word for personality and clothes) and the sense of coolness. This means there is contrast between the lighting and the masthead as they both look totally different and it adds visual to the magazine. This also means it emphasises the title. Therefore the masthead is suggested being the most important element. The effect this image has it makes the reader to purchase or look similar like Lil Wayne because his style makes people jealous.

The colours which have been used follow the generic convention of 4 colours including: white, red, yellow and lime. The yellow colour has been used for a religious symbol which highlights optimism, happiness, idealism and imagination. The colour white has connotations of purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, innocence and this relates to the magazine because it emphasises how pure Billboard is and it suggests how they provide accurate information. This then appeals to their target audience because they want relevant information, facts and accurate information which are unbiased. Some straplines are in the colour white which shows how they are key features in the magazine. The colour red has been used because it balances what Lil Wayne is wearing. Red represents all things intense and passionate and this emphasises how Lil Wayne is at the hot spot at the moment as he was introducing new singles around that time the magazine was published. The colour red could relate to Lil Wayne and the target audience because of the excitement and the passion it implies and the power – how much Lil Wayne is dominating the music charts as he is well known for his lyrics as well as his songs.

The title of the magazine is called ‘Billboard’ which is relevant; the word itself means a large, outdoor sign. This is relevant because the magazine provides accurate, unbiased information spreading out the truth and this largely appeals to the target audience because many other magazines does not provide accurate information or their content includes biased information and influence wrong opinions.

The typeface which has been used is quite old, traditional look like if it was in the 60s or the 70s. It is simple and clear which contributes in appealing to the target audience as this magazine is popular anyway; it shows that it is well known because Lil Wayne’s head is covering the some of the lettering.