Contents Page Analysis

The contents page of most magazine's address the audience directly as it seems almost as it is talking to the audience for example it says 'Chris rock is back' suggesting that you are telling someone that he is back therefore making the magazine seem as it is addressing you directly which is going to have more of a successful impact as it makes the reader feel more involved with the magazine and it also makes it seem more personal, this also suggest that the audience is in the know about all the gossip. This contents page is from Vibe magazine, the content page has a lot of typical conventions of a music magazine contents page. An example of a typical convention would be the page numbers written down to each story, which allows the audience to find what they are looking for quickly. Another convention would be the that the colours are limited on the contents page as they would be on the front cover, also the text would be the same as it would have been on the front cover, this is too make the magazine look more sophisticated. An additional convention would also be the fact that, they have their website written on the contents to allow the audience to view latest news and information on artist whenever they like and also shows how Vibe magazine have become an convergence industry in recent years, and this suggest why there is a decline in people purchasing music magazines. In addition to this the pictures along the side suggest that this magazine also talks about fashion and the clothes they are wearing suggest the target audience for the magazine. Nearly all contents pages contain images on them to allow the audience to see at a quick glance who will feature in the magazine.

However it could be argued that this contents page is going against what a typical contents page of a music magazine would look like, this is because the contents page seems to be 3 pages long when most magazines such as XXL or Billboard magazine tend to use a just 2 pages, maybe this is because they want the had many artist and topics to cater for in this Issue.

However this contents page also has another typical convention which is the image, which allows the audience to see which musician is featured in the magazine and also gives the audience an idea of who the target audience is for the magazine.