Analysis of Music Magazine covers

This is the front cover of the popular music magazine called Kerrang!
Kerrang! appeals to many audiences, but is mainly aimed at teens and young adults who are interested in music genres such as rock, heavy metal, punk, indie and nu metal.
In this issue, there is an interview with My Chemical Romance, an American alternative rock band, who are very popular in the UK and overseas. They are the main focus of the magazine cover, which will help to attract people to the magazine as they are well known. By putting 'Exclusive' and 'The Inside Story' it makes us, the audience, think that we are going to be told something no one else knows- something we couldn't find anywhere else. By putting these in banners it helps them to stand out. The one main, central image also helps to attract us, as he is a well known member of MCR. The eye contact we have with him also helps to engage the reader and catches our eye as we think he is looking at us.
The use of 4 main colours (yellow, black, white and red) makes the front cover stand out, but not become too confusing. They are also neutral colours, allowing the magazine to appeal to any gender.  There is a lot to look at and read, if there was a variety of 15 different colours used our eyes would get distracted when we're trying to read something, and it would make it look unprofessional and tacky.
The barcode, price and issue number is placed on the front cover for a few reasons: it is quick and easy to find and scan; it makes it easy for the consumer to see what issue they are going to buy, and how much it will cost. This means people won't have to stand and look through the magazine to find these things, which would be very time consuming.

By having one main image accompanied with some smaller images helps to draw eyes in- the right balance of text to pictures will make magazine covers most effective. If there is too much text, a cover would look boring, if there were too many pictures a cover would look too busy and confusing.

This magazine front cover has many conventions other magazine covers have. For example, it has the title in the biggest font at the top of the page- meaning that it will stand out. Also, but always having the title at the top in the same font and same colours, consumers will start to look out for these things when looking for the magazine. By having the title at the top it means that it will always been seen. Due to how magazines are stacked, if the title was at the bottom it would most likely be covered up by the magazine that was stood in front of it.
The magazine also has things a certain phychographic would be interested in, for example, a 'gig guide', the people buying and reading this magazine are going to be interested in music, and there for interested in seeing the bands they like live.