Analysis - Billboard Front Cover, March 21 2009

Target Audience

The primary target audience of Billboard magazine is working-class (social grade C1-E) black men aged between 15 and 35. The secondary target audience is working-class white older men, aged between 25 and 45.

Masthead

The masthead of Billboard magazine does not stand out very much, being positioned behind the head of the artist on the front cover, and being styled to blend in with the background. This could imply that the artist is more important than the magazine, and that the magazine is not important compared to the music.

Layout

This magazine features almost all of the common conventions of the music magazine, including a bar code, which is not featured on the other magazine front cover I have analysed. Teasers appear on both sides of the image. One common feature repeated across the magazine is the use of circles across the front cover, including the circles which contain a list of several teasers, the coloured circles inside the o, a, and d of the name Billboard, and the circular glasses and watch worn by Flo Rida.

Colour

The main three colours used on the front cover are blue, green and grey. This carries on to the photo of Flo Rida, where he can be seen wearing a green shirt and blue jeans, in the same shade as the circles on the masthead.

Imagery

There is only one photo featured on the front cover, that of the main featured artist and star vehicle, Flo Rida. He is sat in a calming and neutral stance, with his arms leaning forwards to more fully show the tattoos across his forearms. The tattoos could connote that he is unhappy with his standard body image, and feels that he needs to change himself. However, the image seems to be going against the stereotypical image of a rapper, because his clothes do not look like the stereotypical rapper's fashion, which is supposed to be baggy sportswear and lots of jewellery. Instead, his fashion seems more like the style of clothing worn by those in the secondary target audience. The calming stance also goes against the stereotype of a rapper, because rap is normally a very aggressive and fast-paced music genre.

Typography/Text

The fonts used are more standard fonts, similar to the basic fonts on Microsoft Word. This suggests that the magazine is aimed more towards the older generation, who are less interested in the modern and stylish fonts, preferring something they can clearly read. Amongst the names of star vehicles mentioned in the teasers are U2 and Jamie Foxx. While not quite appealing to the primary target audience, these names would appeal to the secondary target audience, who are more likely to listen to such musicians.

Conclusion

Overall, this magazine mostly appeals to the target audience, with one main problem with its appeal; the majority of the artists mentioned on the front cover do not appeal very well to the primary target audience.