Comparison of Music Magazines

These are two very different music magazines aimed at completely different audiences, and this is why I have chosen to compare them as they represent different parts of the music industry. The Top of the Pops magazine on the left has a very stereotypical target audience of young teenage girls and therefore includes stereotypical content such as female role models, like Katy Perry. Also it includes male artists and boys who young girls would consider to be 'hot', for example where it says 'Super Bods!' it shows hot, young boys that would appeal to girls and encourage them to buy the magazine. Also the colours used on the magazine are high in contrast and are 'funky' which is what young teenage girls look for. When I was younger I used to love the contrast of blue and pink and they were my two favourite colours, this is the case for a lot of girls today also.

Top of the Pops magazine is very different to Vibe magazine, mainly because of the target audience. However the content and images are also very different. The genre for Vibe magazine is rap and urban music such as RnB. This would appeal to older teenagers who used to listen to RnB when they were younger, but mainly boys because in general boys listen to more rap music than girls do, but this doesn't mean that this magazine won't appeal to girls. The colours used are quite neutral, like the white with the strong contrast of the red making it attract attention to the target audience. It is clear that the target audience isn't young people because of the content which is mentioned in the feature stories. For example there is 'iconic cars' and 'sex symbols'.

The style of the two magazines are completely different, and the fashion sense in both magazines are also different. The Top of the Pops magazine has singers and artists dressed in pretty, bright clothes which young girls would love to copy and style themselves like. It also has lots of pictures around the outside to get girls excited about reading the content. However Vibe magazine is quite basic and it shows that the chosen target audience don't need over exaggerated colours and fonts to attract them. Even the clothes the featured artist (Kendrick Lamar) is wearing aren't eye catching, just a white shirt with a gold watch, however this creates a contrast and along with this creates a sophisticated and professional image. Also Vibe magazine only has the main feature photo on the front. This is all this magazine needs to get the target audience to pick it up and buy it. However Top of the Pops likes to cram as much content on the front as possible for their target audience to see, so they know the information inside is going to be interesting and worth buying.

Another thing that is completely different in the magazines is the facial expressions of the artists. Katy Perry is smiling which is a stereotypical facial expression for young girls, and it shows that this magazine contains exciting and interesting information. Also Katy Perry is a role model to many young girls and she needs to be shown in a positive way so that the target audience can take away the positive influence. Because Vibe magazine has an older target audience, things like the facial expression and clothing aren't important, this is mainly because older people have usually established who they are and therefore don't become easily influenced by images, like especially young girls do. On the cover of Vibe magazine Kendrick Lamar has a straight facial expression and he isn't expressing any emotion. This may be because of the genre Kendrick Lamar is, he is a rapper who generally speaks about crime and violence and his facial expression, plain clothes and gold watch all play a role in expressing his music.