Representational study Joanna Crook

Age Country music magazines have an equal split between men and women on their front cover. Most older country music magazine covers tend to have older men and women on them however now there are many more young people becoming involved. This could show how the popularity of the genre of music is increasing and changing. The fact that there is a fairly equal split shows the range of people who listen to the music do not associate mainly with male or female singers and increases the potential audience for the magazine. More young people on the covers could be to satisfy the changing fan group. The fact that there are young people on the front cover could also be to boost the genres popularity with the younger generations

Gender In country music magazines there is an equal split between men and women as I have said before. Men on front covers were a variety of ages and several of them were really old, the women however were generally young. They were all wearing a glamorous, flattering outfits which completely contrasts to the men on front covers. There is almost more pressure put on the women to look more presentable than the men. In this genre of music there seems to be a very clear style of what both men and women should look like. No men were wearing suits and ties and similarly no women were wearing jeans and t-shirts

Ethnicity I found no examples within this genre of any other ethnicity being represented. In other magazine genres such as pop and rock there is a more even spread of the ethnicities shown on their front covers. This area of music is still very much typical of the way it was fifty years ago and not much has changed compared to other genres. R&B magazine on the other hand feature strongly those of another ethnicity. However they are not represented in a good light, with over exaggerated poses. Most men are shown as thuggish and intimidating and women are seen as being very provocative and sexual.

Class and Status The men in particular on country music magazine front covers all have the same run down appearance in clothing. Many examples I found had the men posed in hats which suggested to me a “hillbilly” type lifestyle. This would suggest to the audience a stereotype of what people who live in the countryside should look like. They are suggested to have a poorer lifestyle compared with people living elsewhere. This contrasts with magazine covers from other genres of music who are all shown wearing loads of make-up and designer clothing hinting at the fact that they may have a better lifestyle than those represented in music magazines