This in an example of a popular, well known music magazine.
All music magazines, no matter what genre of music, share the same codes & conventions. When looking at the codes & conventions of the front cover it is easy to point out similarities in different magazines. The name of the magazine ,in this example NME, goes at the top of the magazine in what's called the 'mast head'. They are usually top left but can also be centred. The font used for the magazines name is unique to the other fonts used and is the biggest sized font on the cover. The name of the magazine can be part covered by the image if the magazine is well know as shown above.
Underneath the name but still in the mast head is the positioning statement. This is line a slogan or tag line that describes what the magazine believes it is about for example NME use ' New Musical Express'. This informs the reader about what the magazine may be written about.
The main image is usually a picture of the artist who features in the main story. This image dominates the cover and uses direct address by looking at the reader of the magazine to draw them in. This direct address is done by the artist looking towards the camera. This can be done by many different shots including, mid shot, close up or longer shots. Bands would use longer shots to get all the members in the image. The main images are usually posed in a studio with a plain background to draw the readers attention to the image.
The main cover line is usually about the artist in the main image and is placed on top of the image to anchor it. However it is never placed over the facial aspect of the image. Cover lines frame the image and are written in capital letters. They are usually 3-4 words long and are ambiguous deliberately to make the reader want to buy the magazine to read the story behind it. Sublines are used under cover lines and they add detail and clarity to the cover line while still being ambiguous.
All music magazines use about 3 fonts on the cover. Fonts used are usually, Arial, Times New Roman, Serif or Sans Serif. They also use 3-4 colours maximum which are often primary colours that don't clash with each other. Buzz words are used on the cover. These consist of words like, new, plus and exclusive. The bar codes on music magazines are at the bottom right of the magazine and also usually have the date, issue number and price near them. They can be either portrait or horizontal and got where there is space rather than interfering.
