My Coverlines

In order to come up with some conventional style coverlines, I looked more closely at the covers in my collection, as although I looked at it when researching covers, I don't feel like I have enough knowledge of them to make my own effective ones. All I really know, is that they are mostly straightforward in their language, and use the artist's names for the main parts of the coverlines, but I don't know anything about the forms that they are in on one collective cover. I've generally learned there can be anywhere from 3-8 on a typical music magazine cover, so I was thinking about having about 5 0r 6 on my own, as to not make it over the top simple, but not horrendously busy either as they can have fairly lengthy descriptions. To come up with mainstream artists to feature, what place better for pop music that Hit40UK?

These are the forms I've discovered, along with my own proposed cover lines;

• Main coverline - When the main image is of a solo artist at least, the accompanying cover line often features some sort of title that has been made for them for example, "The New First Lady of Soul", "Pop's Next Megastar" and "The New American Heart Throb". It also ranges to less specific titles like "Pop-soul sensation", "Genius" and "The Diva". By using these titles, it's a kind of recognised code to position the audience into thinking the star is in some position of authority and power, as it what the reader wil expect from such a title. The also often mention something about them being "new" to capture that up to date value which will appeal to audiences. As I'm featuring a solo female, I think it's best to follow this, although with a slight twist. I'm planning on featuring Pink, because as well as being current, I think she was one of the first artists to rebel in that time of record-company controlled clones, so makes her a good cover star for my magazine. Also her style is quite contemporary, and although it's not the sophisticated classy style that instantly connotes grown-up pop, I think it will work with the fresh feel I'm aiming for. The thing that separates her is her rebellious nature, so I think I could incorporate this into a title. And instead of using "new", I could alternate to "the original", which although may not have as much a shock impact, I think it would still be appreciated. Instead I could maybe use some shock language to describe her, in-keeping with her attitude.
  Coverline: PINK- The original up yours to squeaky clean pop

• List - A lot of covers I've gathered use lists of artists just to squeeze that extra variation in which may increase the chance of the target readers liking and buying it. I think this shows the necessary variation within one genre that should be used because everyone that likes on genre still has their favourites. Using my own knowledge and the chart, I chose The Script, Gabriella Climi, Ne-Yo and The Sugababes as they are a variation of a male band, a solo female, a solo male and a girl band. They're also different sub and fusion genres of pop, yet stil all currently popular. Also the American magazines tend to use a + sign at the start of their lists, so I may differentiate this and use an & sign.
  Coverline: & The Script. Gabriella Climi. Ne-Yo. The Sugababes.

• Quote - I have saw a couple of these on covers, like "I was shot in the face","Stupid question! Next!" and "Will everybody please punch that pr*ick!". I think they're slightly more unusual, create intrigue, and are used for shock or humour, so I may use one. I think it could be really random or topical, which would defnitely interest someone, but I'm not sure if that's more gossip magazine style. I think I'd use it with a mixed band, as they were quite popular in my questionnaire but I'm lacking in ideas for them. I can think of The Tings Tings, The Gossip and Paramore. The Gossip and Paramore are far too rocky for my genre of music, so I think I should go with the Ting Tings. They're quite an out there band, so I think their quote could be pretty curious too. I'd like to represent some part of the gig scene, so this could incorporate that. I think this could be my chance to use a slang word too, something my readers possibly won't know, but the word I'm planning on using has came up often on network sites like MySpace, so it could work for familiarity too.
  Coverline - THE TING TINGS - "We glomp each other on stage"

• Rhetorical questions - These are used again to intrigue, and I've saw ones such as "Why do supermodels love James Blunt?" and "Who will be the new king of hip hop?". I think I'd like to incorporate quite a random one into my cover, for that extra curiousity, possibly one about a behind the scnese video feature. I'm thinking about Will Young's odd new video, which could lead on to a contents image? He jumps around in hay, gets struck by lightening etc. so hopefully it wouldn't sound to juvenile saying "Why's Will Young Jumping Around in Hay?". I'll try it out, and change it if I need too.
  Coverline - "Why's WILL YOUNG Jumping Around In Hay?"

• No specific artist related - Possibly reports of some sort, or about a certain genre, like "The Rise of Raunchy Indie Rap", "Is Rock Bad for the Environment?" and "Grunge Madness!". I think definitely gives some credibility as it focuses on the music genre as a whole and not just another artist. It can also help give a serious edge if it's a report style, but I don't think that's what I want for my magazine, so I'll probably stick to a genre feature. I'm thinking about the whole contemporary coined phrase of "nu", something I could form into a new genre, like "The Nu RnB", as Rihanna and Chris Brown came top of my questionnaire, so I think something like this would attract their fans. Also with a "the" in front of it, I think my target readers will understand this recognised code and be interested in it, similar to how "the new black" is said, something which may be familiar to my target readers.
  Coverline - The Nu RnB - 5 to look out for

These are most of my coverlines, however I may add one or two more when making my developed draft, but they will just be normal ones, one relating to my individual feature perhaps. I have also chose my font for the majority of text on my cover. As my masthead is so chunky and ragged, I felt as if I should go for a completely plain font to keep within conventional style. I've chosen one called Siple off dafont.com, which comes in light, bold and bold italic. It's tall linear and sans serif, which I find very contemporary. I'm planning on using all capitals everywhere, as I think it's a recognised code of power and loudness, all fitting in with the values and intended meanings I want to convey to my readers.