The rolling stones magazine.
It has a focus on the artist. There is not much information on it as it only gives the main story. The colour of the Rollin Stones is linked to the artist (It is red, so it the writing for 'new faces 2011' and Wiz Khalifa's coat). There is no barcode on these. Both of the artists displayed on the front could fit into the pop genre, although they both have very different musical styles; Wiz Khalifa is hip hop and Amy Winehouse is jazz, soul and reggae.
NME (new musical express).
There is a focus on the artist. There is a lot more information, gives an insight into a few of the stories and bands/artists that are included. The colour of the title remains consistent (red) although it is altered slightly with there being a black outline on the left picture. Both of these have the bar code on the front picture. Both of these show artists that fit into the Indie genre, and the artists/bands advertised alongside them do too.
Q magazine.
Again there is a focus on the artist, however for the Prodigy cover it is not of his face, which contrasts to the others. There is much less information on the left cover than on the right, which tells the audience what will kind of content will be in it. There is a barcode included on both. It also tells the audience about the magazine as a whole 'The uk's biggest music magazine',and tries to persuade people to buy it '50-page special inside'.
In conclusion, magazine covers are there to persuade the audience to buy the magazine. By having the artist/lead singer as the main focus it will attract fans instantly. Also, by including some rufther information about the articles that are inside it can then keep a persons attention and further their interest. A running theme throughout the examples is that the magazine tends to have a certain genre as their main focus. Therefore, each magazine is aimed at people with different tastes in music.