Research and Planning - Music magazine analysis

This is a really good example of a rock magazine cover, as it stands out, is eye catching and is easy to tell what genre of music this magazine contains. I can easily tell this is a rock music magazine because of the masthead, the image and the text used on the cover. The masthead says "Classic Rock" which straight away indicates that the magazine is about rock music and it is in a large white font which is a contrast to the black background, which makes it stand out and easy to read. The image used on the cover also indicates that the magazine is based on rock music, as the man in the image has a wild style of hair, which is a typical style for rock artists; he is wearing black clothing, another thing which is common for rock artists; and he isn't smiling, showing he is not 'soft' or 'happy' (things which are not common for rock artists to do) which reflects the seriousness and hard edge of rock music and the message it portrays. The image is also in shadow, which shows the artist to be slightly mysterious and most rock artists have a slight mysteriousness and darkness surrounding them (for example: Ozzy Ozbourne biting the head off a bat, or Alice Cooper ringing the neck of a chicken and drinking it's blood; its dark and mysterious stuff and they are both rock artists).

I can also tell it is a rock magazine because of the text on the cover that says 'Led Zeppelin' which is a well known classic rock band for the 70s - showing its a rock magazine. This magazine also uses the 3 colour rule, using black, white and red which are common colours associated with rock for various reasons, such as: Black is for the darkness and mystery surrounding rock stars; red which is the colour of hell and most rock artists sing about the devil and hell and religious people used to call rock music "the devil's music" associating them with red; and white which is the contrast to black and the use of both colours is common in rock artists to make them stand out, but also have a simplicity about them, as rock artists generally don't believe in wearing colourful designer branded clothing as they want to be individual and different. The three colours work very well together and definitely show the cover is for a rock genre magazine.

The target audience for this magazine is literally anyone who likes rock music. The colours used are not gender specific and therefore do not appeal to one gender more than the other, which means their audience is open to both genders. I dont believe the magazine is aimed at a specific age, because although the band being advertised are an old band, most young rock fans know about them too.


I really like this magazine, especially the colour scheme and how the image has been edited to make it suit the magazine more. This magazine has definitely influenced me to use a similar and just as effective colour scheme in my own rock music magazine.