Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Independent Music Magazine Front Covers?

From my research into independent magazines front covers, the two independent magazines I used as  examples being The Wire and RnR. 

One similarity between the two is that they have gone through re-brands (in the case of RnR two re-brands) it can be assumed that these changes to the titles were done by the creators under the belief that it would make their titles more eye-catching or wanting to have a more recognizing name for readers. For The Wire they had previously been published monthly as Wire but later became The Wire to be more notable. For RnR's re-brands, they had originally been called 'RocknReels' in 2007 when a matter of years later the title was called R2, until halfway through 2017, when the title became what it has been known as today, RnR. Independent magazine titles are important as they need to be noteworthy enough for peoples eyes to be drawn to them especially since it is rare for independent magazines to survive in such a competitive industry, and the fact that the two of these titles have survived whilst being independently owned could in some small way be helped by these titles both knowing when they needed to conduct a re-brand in order to entice a higher level of readership. 

Both of these magazines almost always use their main image of an artist on the front cover, especially in the case of The Wire, they feature artists in particular who are underground or lesser known. This appeals to the target audience as it helps to get across what the titles topic is, it also helps to promote the smaller artists, which The Wire specifically sites as its mission. 

RnR blends its main image as the cover whilst The Wire focus on a different colour palette for each, both differentiating and also intended to be appealing to audiences. 

Both consistently without fail, have their titles in the skyline. They did so to make clear to their readers what they should expect from an issue of The Wire or RnR.