Billboard Magazine Analysis

Billboard is devoted to the music industry and all its genres. As one of the oldest trade magazines in the world it maintains several internationally recognised music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis. The two most notable charts are the Billboard Hot 100, which ranks the top 100 songs regardless of genre and is based on physical sales, digital sales and radio airplay; and the Billboard 200, the corresponding chart for album sales.

Billboard magazine is published weekly and the first issue was published in 1894. Published by the American entertainment publishing company Prometheus Global Media, it attracts more than 4 million visitors each month in more than 100 countries. Billboard.com's readers rely on the site for music news, videos, charts and more. The magazine is of a high price at £5.50 in the UK, however this high price may be due to the magazine being imported from the U.S. and quality features.

In 2008 it achieved a circulation of 18,385. The target audience of "Billboard" is primarily the U.S.

The colour theme for the front cover is black and white. They have done this because Ariana's signature colours are black and white. I think it makes it look classy and refined. The hint of pink that is used makes those things stand out. The Masthead is black to match the image and the theme. Billboard have only recently started placing the masthead vertically down the left hand side. Before it was horizontal at the top like any normal magazine. This way is different and is effective. It gives more room for the photo to be the main subject. It doesnt cut off the top of the image like they usually do. It is very bold and large to stand out. The coverlines are very minimal on this. They ave done this to make people want to open the magazine to find out whats inside instead of throwing everything on the cover and giving things away. There is more mystery this way. The cover lines that they have used are very small and there are only two. This is so they don't detract attention away from the main story. Although you can't read them from far away, you don't necessarily need to know about them if all you are interested in is the cover story. The image is a medium close up. It shows Ariana from the waist up to her head. She is wearing an obscure space helmet on her head to relate to the story of her having a double life. It could also relate to the first coverline 'THE SCIENCE BEHIND A SUMMER HIT' because 'science' has connotations of space and astronauts. Ariana has become one of the hottest pop artists this year, so that means she has a lot of fans. She is very popular this year, Billboard are bound to sell out this issue. There are millions of teenage girls dying to be her so they aspire to her. The way she is dressed is something different, but because it it Ariana it is not surprising. We can't see much of the outfit she is wearing so we cant tell what it actually looks like. This makes the reader want to open the magazine to see if there is a full image of what she is wearing. The link between the photo and the story coverline is pretty clear. They have used pink for 'double life' to match the pink of her lipstick. This could be to show that the life under the helmet being hidden is pink and sweet and then the other life with the helmet on is serious and dynamic, and the pink enhances that. Overall, I think the front cover is minimalistic but it stands out and is very effective.

For the contents page, we see the sweet innocent life of Ariana. The pink lipstick again is a link to the front cover, so synergy is used there. There is not much white on this, whereas the front cover had a lot of white. The background is grey. This could be to show the mixture of the black and white and how she has two sides but can almost pull them both off at the same time. The position she is in looks secretive. She looks like she is in the sweet life but she is hiding the strong and dynamic side. The contents is again small, similar to the coverlines on the cover. This is because the main attraction/story is Ariana therefore the image takes up most of the space. Unlike normal magazines where the image on the contents is quite small and there is usually more than one picture. It is clear that the image is dominating the actual contents. The title 'contents' is much like the masthead on the cover. It has the same font and is placed horizontally, but on the right instead of the left. It is a good size because it doesn't cover up too much of the image and it isnt anywhere near as big as the masthead so it doesnt look like a second front cover. The image is a similar size, if not bigger than the image on the front cover. This is to show the double life of her in two similar pictures. If this image was on the front it wouldn't be as effective because you can't see the double life whereas on the cover you can clearly see the sweet side being hidden under the helmet.

This particular magazine is aimed at Ariana fans, so Billboard think that the people buying it will only care about the main story, if anyone else who didn't like her bought this they would be shocked because the other stories/articles are in tiny writing on the contents page next to a huge photo of Ariana Grande. So you can tell the issues of Billboard really do concentrate on one artist at a time. I think that the contents is effective for the whole main story, but rubbish for anything else. E.g. The Billboard top 100, reviews and articles about any other artists, etc. In the bottom left hand corner there is an 'ON THE COVER' bit where it states the photographer, date of photoshoot and where it took place. This just gives the reader information of where she was at that time.

The main story or 'double page spread' is actually a 3 double page spread. The first is the main image for the article/interview. With the heading and the standfirst. It also states the writer and the photographer. The image is a full image of her to show off her outfit which is the same as she wears on the cover. The image goes on both pages spread across. Again, the colour scheme is black and white but this time the whole image is in greyscale. So we can't even see the pink lipstick anymore. This is to keep the black and white theme wihtout showing off too much skin to ruin the colours. The image is again showing the double life of Ariana, hiding the sweet side. The same as on the cover. The dress she is wearing is quite short but you can't tell exactly how short it is because she is kneeling down like that. The matching helmet, dress and shoes gives the whole image synergy. It is all held together by the black polka dots on white pattern. The white symbolises the strong side of her because in the sweet pictures she is wearing black. The position she is in links with the heading because it looks like she is crawling perhaps bravely to her new world. She has quite a sweet smile on her face, which contrasts with her slight derogatory pose.

The heading is in a completely different font from the previous fonts. This is 1. Because it was probably designed by the writer themselves or 2. To mark the main event for the whole magazine. The word 'world' in the heading is in a larger font than the rest. This is to emphasise that her new world is big. It could also be because the helmet she has on her head is a sphere, much like the world is. The helmet has many different connotates to it. I think the main connotation is that it is hiding or sheilding the other side of her, the sweet side as I have mentioned is on theinside and it is covered up by this hard, protective shield which is her strong side.

The standfirst mentiones how she is conquering her fear of futuristic pop. This ties in with the helmet. Space is considered as futuristic, Ariana's style is black and white and kind of 'gogo girl like'. The colours she wears would be considered as futuristic in my eyes. She is bringing the 60s back into the future and adding her own twist into it. Lizzy Goodman, says that she is a 'micromanaging workhorse'. This means that she is completely taking over what she already has and is making it her own. She is doing everything her way and she is doing it well.

My overall impression is that it's stylist, bold and sophisticated. It is a good start to a spread.

This is the first two pages of the interview itself. The main image is back to the sweet side of Ariana. It is in colour like the contents page with the grey background. The other images relate to what is being said I am guessing. The pictures on the left are of her with her mum and brother, Frankie. The top one is when they were younger and on Halloween, the one below is of them just a couple of years ago on the red carpet. They relate to the text because it is talking about family. These are good because it shows that she is very family orientated.

The pull quote that is used on this page is also used on the front cover. This is to highlight and emphasise the amusing quote. The text that is used for the interview is quite small. It is small because there is a lot to fit on the page. The images used on the right are a timeline if you like, of her career so far. The bottom left of the four is from when she was in the broadway production of 13, that was when her talent was first put into practise. Then the top left is her and co star Jennette McCurdy's Nickelodeon TV show 'Sam and Cat', which was cancelled earlier this year due to disagreements. The next one along is of her and her recent ex Jai Brooks and then lastly is her at her best, performing. These images are good because it shows all of her progress from day one to now.

In the main image, she is wearing what looks like a very short black dress, but it could be a playsuit. Ariana has a tendancy to wear very short skirts and wears high heels to make her legs look longer, as she's only 5 ft tall. Her body again in this, like the last image, contrasts with her face because she looks sweet in the face then she is in another degrogatory pose with her legs. It makes her look controversial and 'double sided'.

My overall impression of this is that the image is showing the diversity of her sweet side and the other images relate well to her past and progress.

The last double page of the spread carries the interview on. The image for this is landscape and has a setting of a sofa. Ariana is wearing a dress with see through panels in the middle. This is to look like she is wearing less and shows off more skin. This is her sweet and her strong side mashed together I think because she isn't wearing the helmet, but the is wearing white. Which goes back to the representing her strong side and black her sweet side. In the bottom right hand corner ther eis a section 'Ariana's favourite scary movies'. This links back to last page where there was the pull quote and the picture from Halloween. It links to the pull quote because she likes scary movies and her mum thought she would be a serial killer when she was younger. In the top left hand corner there is a section 'Divas of influence'. This is basically just letting the reader know who Ariana likes and who influenced her to be who she is today. There is a pull quote in the same blue as the heading on the first double page which is also used in the sections in the two corners. These are important parts that wants to be read and stand out. In the middle where the pages are separate, there is tiny text which I cant make out but what I would imagine to be mentioning the photographer again and something said about the images.

My overall impression is that this double page is different to the last one, so it isnt repetitive or in any way similar. This gives the whole spread variety and change which gives it a better look that it all looking the same.