Music Magazine Analysis

Beyoncé - Female Dominance

Chance The Rapper - Multi-Cultural Dominance

Sam Smith - LGBTQ+ Dominance



There are a range of different articles in the magazine. For example there is an article about someone called Paul Simon who is a featured article and tells the readers how he came from nothing. The other featured article is about a black man called Kamasi Washington who is a jazz artist. The language used is inspiring to show people who black artist can be famous.

How might audiences interpret the same magazine very differently and how might these differences reflect both social and individual differences?

Judging the front cover of 'Mojo' magazine, you would think that the magazine would be aimed at white males and no-one else. However, when going into the book, there are many black people and women in the magazine. The magazine even features a whole double-page spread on 'black lives matter'. This section of the magazine features a black artist and his verdict on racism he has received.

There are 67 adverts. Most of them are in the back and they mainly promoting bands and concerts.There is one page in the back where is advertises 17 different rock events.

•  In the magazine, men and women are represented throughout. However there are still slightly less women than men. There are 377 men and 118 women represented throughout. So clearly women are represented, but significantly less than men. An example of a female artist's presence in this edition is Patti Smith, who had a big appearance. A mid-shot of her covering the whole page is the first thing you see when you open the magazine, and further along, she has a whole 8 page article all about her.                                                                                          
• The magazine also includes other female artists including female rock bands. Rock bands stereotypically only have male members, so having full female bands represented adheres to their subdominant representation.                                                                                                   
• Ethnic minorities are represented in this magazine, which is great because stereotypically, artists of the rock genre are usually though of as white.However, of course people of all race's and ethnicities enjoy the genre and take part themselves, so this representation is great for society in being more open. However, everyone on the cover and the start of the magazine is white. up until page 18, there are almost no images of people from ethnic minorities. There is only one very small image of an asian man, however still standing with a white man; and this image is almost unnoticeable anyway. 
• There are also still no where near as many people of ethnic minorities represented as white people. there are 339 white people and 109 people of ethnic minorities throughout the magazine. However, I think this is still better than having all representations exclusively white people. 
• It is strange how a magazine that includes so many people from all races doesn't show anyone from an ethnic minority at the start of this edition. I personally think it has something to do with the demographic. The readers of Mojo are mainly middle aged white men. Because of their age, they would have been alive during the era rock was at it's peak. During those times (1960's-80's) racism was much more prominent, so people who were't white, typically weren't represented in this industry. Therefore, I suspect that in order for mojo do keep this audience, the cover and first few pages only had white people, to fit the rock image that this target audience holds in their memory. I also think this is the reason women aren't shown as much as men.
• When they take a glance at the cover and first few pages, if it appeals to them they will buy it. Further on in the magazine they will come across more women and people of ethnic minorities,  so they will be forced to accept that they're part of the rock genre. Even if they're against these inclusive representations, they will be forced to see that this is normal now, which will gradually lead us in the direction of a more accepting society.