Second Analysis of a Music Magazine Cover

I also analysed the cover of Mixmag magazine, a magazine focused on dance music - as I want my magazine to be in the future.

Mixmag is a dance music and clubbing magazine. This is evident from the front cover of the magazine, which lists various famous DJs and electronic music artists, such as Maya Jane Coles and Pretty Lights. The cover also highlights ‘Bestival’, which is an indie/dance music festival, so we know that the magazine will cover several aspects of dance music.

The target audience for Mixmag are people in their early and mid-twenties. The median age of a reader is 26, with 72% of those readers being male and 28% female. Most of their readers have a high income and are outgoing, and so they usually have the latest fashions, gadgets and songs. This is reflected in the magazine’s high prices and using a festival article as a selling point.

The front cover features Maya Jane Coles, a famous British DJ. Her presence on the cover appeals to fans of her, and even just fans of dance music that know of her. In a store, the magazine will be amongst several magazine stores, and people will glance over the image whilst searching for one that interests them. Using a famous artist as a cover model draws in any potential artists that are familiar with her. Even if a fan of dance music does not know who she is, they will see her clothing as similar to their kind of style and be interested. It also works for her as it promotes her work, as regular readers of the magazine that don’t know her will then read about her and learn more about her.

She is using a direct mode of address, which establishes that she wants to make a connection with the audience. It entices a relationship with the audience. The eye contact also makes it look like she is following you across the store when you are searching for a magazine, making them look back at it in return. This makes them give the cover more attention and brings them one step closer to buying it.

The anchorage text says ‘The dark and mysterious world of the underground’s biggest star’. This, in addition to the image of her, makes her come off as enigmatic, which makes readers curious. This will make them want to buy the magazine so that they can find out more about her. Calling her the ‘biggest star’ also lets the audience know of her fame even if they don’t know her, and can convince those that don’t know her to read on so that they can stay up to date.

Overall, she comes off as a mysterious character, as the anchorage text implies. Her clothing and hairstyle also makes her look quite trendy, however, and somebody that the audience would want to dress like. The fashionable look also helps to draw in readers, not only because she looks good, but because she is wearing the kind of clothes that clubbers would wear when they are going for a night out. This also does a good job of representing clubbers, as they are the type of people that would buy the magazine.

The title 'Mixmag' tells readers from the start what kind of magazine they are going to read. 'Mix' is short for 'remix', which is what DJs often do to a song to make it more orientated to the dance genre. The title could be considered short for 'Remix Magazine', telling the readers that it is about dance music and DJs. The font used for the title is rounded, unlike most other text on the cover. The smooth text gives it a more modern feel, which is appropriate since dance music is a relatively new genre.

There is only one buzz word on the magazine cover. The word ‘plus’ is used to list a number of dance music artists and DJs. This gives the impression that there will be many articles inside the magazine, each covering at least one of the artists listen. It can make a potential reader think that the magazine is packed with content and thus believe that they are getting their money’s worth, which will help convince them to buy the magazine.

The puffs list several DJs, dance music artists and festivals. Being a magazine centred around dance music and clubs, it is quite clear that the magazine will feature articles regarding those groups and places. The magazine clearly expects to attract people that go to clubs or enjoy reading about what happens at them.

The magazine’s slogan is used as a skyline, and reads: ‘The world’s biggest dance music and clubbing magazine’. Its position at the top of the page makes it one of the first things viewers will see when they look at the cover. The claim is one that will surely interest any clubber that looks over the cover.

The model, who takes up a lot of the cover, is wearing black and red clothes and make-up. Black is a colour used to make other ones stand out, and it does this job well for the red featured on the cover and the neon pink used for the text. The brown background is a subtler colour compared to these two. All text, with the exception of the logo and the credits, is in capital letters, which are used for entire words or sentences to give emphasis to it.

In addition to everything else, the magazine comes with a cover mount. A free CD is attached to the copy, which holds over a dozen dance music tracks from various artists, several of which are featured in the magazine's articles. A free object is enough to get most people's attention, but when the object is designed to appeal to something the reader already likes (if they are looking at a dance music magazine, it is assumed they have some interest in dance music) it may be enough to get them to buy it, especially if they recognise one of the artists listed on the CD.