History of a Music Magazine - Part two

History of Vibe Magazine 

'Vibe' is both a music and entertainment magazine that was founded by Quincy Jones in 1993. It is a hip-hop and R&B based magazine and features all of the latest hip-hop artists including Kelly Rowland in the example above. The magazine was bought by Miller publishing in 1996 and the magazine is owned by 'The Wicks group' as of the year 2006.

The magazines target audience is relatively young, as many readers of 'Vibe' are urban followers of the hip-hop culture, as well as people that listen to chart music that is often played on the radio. This genre of music is often seen as 'mainstream' due to the fact that chart music is well-known, particularly by the general public because of the high amount being played on the major radio stations such as 'CAPITAL' and 'RADIO 1'. Almost every hip-hop and R&B artist has featured on the cover of 'Vibe' including highly successful singers and rappers such as, Beyonce, Kanye West, Drake and Ciara.

This music magazine offers its young audience not only the latest details about new releases by artists, but also gossip and news about celebrities of music, which shows that the magazine is highly commercialised and offers entertainment as a unique selling point. 

Despite using a different colour theme on each magazine edition, the magazine remains with the same house-style throughout every copy. With further research, I noticed that each colour scheme is adjusted to express the character of the celebrity on the cover. For example a subtle pink has been used to represent Kelly's sweet personality. 

How has the female on the cover been represented?

Kelly Rowland has been represented as a sex object rather than an empowered role model on the cover of the magazine, almost religiously adopting the concept of 'male gaze'. It could be argued that this is a negative representation of women.

This particular magazine front cover contrasts heavily with the cover below produced by the same magazine company. Despite maintaining the house-style of the cover, below, rapper T.I has been portrayed as a positive, powerful and respectable being. Looking at first glance, connotations of success and humility come to mind. Unsurprisingly, the way that male artists are represented is juxtaposed with the way female artists (such as Kelly) are conveyed. Only women are viewed by the 'male gaze' and the way they are illustrated under this concept may have an unfavourable and adverse affect on the audience. This variation created by the same company portrays the difference in representation in relation to objectifying and to some extent dehumanising women, for the success of a magazine.

Vibe magazine analysis presentation from Avigill123