History of Music Magazines

Rolling Stone magazine

Even though rolling Stone is not a rock magazine it follows most of the tropes of a typical rock magazine, first of all the colour scheme used is not bright and not a lot of colours are actually used, there are three main colours used which are red, blue and black, from other rock magazines and magazines in general three colours are nearly always used. The limited colours make it seem more professional as it is not busy or overcrowded instead a simple layout is used. Other than the masthead the font is simple which can represent the fashion trope of rock, rock fashion is considered quite simple and casual much like the font used on the magazine. The main image covers part of the masthead and makes it look distorted, this is seen as going against magazine conventions however a distorted mast is a typical convention of rock magazines. Amy Winehouse is the dominant aspect of this cover and is a well known icon, the way she looks in this image gives a 'rock' or rebellious' impression to the reader, for example her tattoos are on show, lack long hair and casual clothing all of these are tropes of a typical rock magazine. The main subtitles that catch the readers eye on this cover is  'The Diva & Her Demons Amy Winehouse' this headline explains the main image. Another headline that catches your eye is 'Summer Tours' this explains what is also inside the magazine. In my opinion this magazine follows a lot of the conventions of magazines however the cover does not give much away about what is inside which my mean the target audience may not be as interested.

Brief History of the magazine

This magazine is an American magazine, published every two weeks. It was founded in 1967 in San Francisco by Jann Wenner and Ralf J. Gleason. In the 1970's Rolling Stone was about politics, however in the 1990's it changed its direction and focused more on television, music and film in order to appeal to the younger generation. There was criticism when the the magazine started to write about the media as it was claimed to be emphasising style over substance. The first ever issue was released on November 9, 1967.

Typical content

Nowadays the magazine has a variation of the music, television and film industry and in-depth political stories.

• Reviews-on music, films and albums
• Photos
• New Movies and TV
• Music
• Political stories
• The Charts

Typical reader?

This magazine is mostly aimed at the more mature audience such as late teens and adults due to the nature of the magazine as it contains information about music and music from years ago that the older people would recognise, also the political content would not appeal to a younger audience.

Magazine house styles?

A house style is where a magazine is repetitive with its structure, for example the same font, colours and logo's are the same with every issue, This is a typical convention of a magazine cover, this way the magazine gets a distinguished and unique look, and so the reader can easily recognise the magazine.

Rolling Stone House style:

• Same font used every time for masthead.
• The colour scheme is usually made up of three main colours, The colours for the subheadings are usually not that bright, however the masthead is, and so this makes it stand out and appeal to the readers.
• Looking at a lot of Rolling Stone magazines it seems that the image one front is usually just one person and then somewhere on the magazine that persons name is in a big font which can sometimes be as big as the masthead.
• The models on the front are very rarely smiling and instead look very serious as the the stories that o with them are mainly 'sob stories' or 'life stories'
• The models used are always very well known and important.
• The masthead is always in the same position however sometimes it is behind the main image which makes it distorted or in front of the image. 

Smash Hits!

The magazine cover has typical conventions of a pop magazine, Firstly the colours used are very childish, as they are bright, and not considered sophisticated. The Cover is also very compact and busy, there may be one main image but there are smaller images which fit with the subtitles.

Brief history of the magazine

This magazine has been running since 1978 and was founded by Nick Logan. To begin with it was issued monthly but because of its popularity it began to be issued fortnightly. Every magazine has a major selling point and in its early days smash hits was Top 20 song lyrics. The magazine was particularly popular in the 1980's which helped, launch careers of journalists who went on to produce and edit other major magazines such as Q, Heat, Mojo and Word.

Typical content

• Free gifts-such as posters
• Battle of the bands
• Information and gossip on celebrities
• New artists

 Typical reader?

 This magazine is aimed mostly at 8-16 year olds. This magazine is mainly a pop magazine and so does not appeal to all of the demographic, and because of the age range there is going to be a secondary reader which will be the parents as they will want to know what the magazine contains.

Magazine house styles?

Smashhits! house styles are:

• Colourful writing which is usually it capitals making it stand out. Also neon colours are used often.
• Large image
• Same font for masthead
• Main image is usually current and very popular pop artists.
• A lot of Colours are used and do not stick to the typical convention of magazines which is usually three colours.
• The colours used are considered very immature and young (pink, yellow, blue, green) and so this means that the magazine will appeal more to a younger demographic and not particularly be considered to have a mature target audience.
• The cover is usually very busy and contains other images with subheadings.

Who produces and distributes the magazine?

EMAP produced and distributed the magazine fortnightly