Analysis of professional contents page of a music magazine.

The contents page of the Blue Band Magazine doesn’t fit with most of the codes and conventions of a contents page. This is because it is a Royal Military magazine and it has to look professional, it also already has a niche market or audience.

Contents list

• The contents list is different from most magazines because it only lists the feature articles for this months issue.

• There are regular features that appear in the magazine but these are not listed, this is because this magazine has an established audience whereas other music magazine are constantly trying to attract a bigger audience.

• The regular features are similar to what you would find in a traditional music magazine, for example an event guide ‘gig guide’

Masthead

• Like other music magazines the masthead appears on the contents page and also the volume number and date.

• It also has the positioning statement underneath the masthead which is sometimes seen in other magazines.

Editors letter

• The Blue Band magazine also has and editors letter like other music magazines, however in this magazine it covers more of the contents page, where as other music magazine have it in one column or a little box. This could be because this magazine has a set audience and people who would buy the magazine would read all of this, where other music magazine need to attract a wider audience and could be they are trying to attract a younger audience who wouldn’t read a long editors letter.

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Publisher and Subscription details

• At the bottom of the contents page, there are publisher details which is the same as traditional music magazines.

• Also at the bottom are the subscription details but these aren't highlighted like they would be in other magazines. This is because the Blue Band Magazine has a specific market un-like other music magazine who are always trying to gather a wider audience.

Subsidiary images

• Unlike other music magazines that have a lot of smaller images on the contents page with the page number of the article they belong to the Blue Band just has one image of the editor.

Layout

• The contents page uses a three column layout, which is the same as other magazines but these are not broken up separate sections of content or images.

Typography

• The Blue Band magazine use’s the same typography used on the front cover like other music magazine this is effective as the writing is readable, bold and signifies the genre.

Captions on images

• The Blue Band Magazine doesn't have captions image this is because it only has one image and that is of the editor. It also doesn’t need them as it has a set audience and people who are going to read the magazine don’t need to have this to tell them what the articles are about or who is in the article. Where as other music magazine will use captions on images as they are always trying to wider their audience and get more people buying and reading their magazine.

Main Image

• The Blue Band Magazine doesn’t have this due as most of the articles are feature articles of what has happened that month that involves or is associated with the Royal Marines. Other music magazine will have a large main image of their feature article to attract the reader and make them one to read their magazine, the Blue Band Magazine doesn’t have to do this due to having a niche market/audience.