A CASE STUDY

BACKGROUND DETAILS• Quincy Jones launched Vibe in 1993, this was in partnership

with Time Inc. Originally the publication had been called

Volume before Co-Founding editor, Scott Poulson-Bryant gave it the name Vibe.

• On the 30th of June shockingly Vibe announced that they

were shutting their doors and ceasing publications immediately.

• After the shutting down and ceasing of publications,

InterMedia Partners LP, bought „Vibe‟ Magazine.

This is one of the first ever Vibe Front covers

The main image

presents 4

typical rappers

Just like Today’s

Vibe the layout is

the same color

scheme seems to

always involve

black and white.

They have big

named artists on

the front cover

just as they do

each week like

today.

BACKGROUND DETAILS PART 2

• In 2003, Vibe began to airs its own annual awards show on

UPN through to 2006 and finally VH1 in 2007.

• Vibe launched “The best rapper alive tournament” on July 21st

2008. In which many big named artists from al over the world

took part such as DMX, The Guru, Nas and P Diddy. There

were four brackets in which the four numbers one were

placed into. The number 1 seeds were Jay-z, Lil Wayne, The Game and Andre 3000. The last 2 rappers who made it to the

final were Eminem and Jay-z In which Eminem came out

victorious with 69% of the votes and winning “The best rapper

alive tournament”.

Vibe TODAY• Issued every 2nd month (bi-monthly).

• Can only be purchase through subscription. 2 years (12 issues) for only $16.99.

1 year (6 issues) for only $9.99

• It is based in New York City.

• The magazines ar full of color and follow the general music

magazine conventions of today.

• Vibe has its own website and app for Iphone and ipad called “Vibe Music Mixer”

WITHIN VIBE

The pages are full of color, this

makes them more attractive and

eye catching to the reader. Most

articles seem to have a image of

the artist covering one whole page

and the information on the next

page.

TARGET AUDIENCE OF VIBE

• 18 - 30 years old.

• 50/50 between males and females.

• Active music enthusiast and

purchaser.

• Interested in fashion or music.

• Use the same type of vocabulary a

rapper would within their songs.

• They are rebellious and confident like

those artists who feature within VIBE.

CONTENT• The content devoted to music, from new songs, the charts to

what artists do in their personal life and their tweets.

• Rappers that commonly feature are 50 Cent, Lil Wayne,

Eminem and Drake.

• The magazine show off many of the rapper celebrities clothing

brands such as 50 Cents G-Unit. And Jay-z‟s Rocawear.

• Fashion is one of the most popular things promoted within the

magazine thanks to its editors such as Emil Wilbikin.

• Regularly featured segments such as multiple music genres

like Reggae and Caribbean by Rob Kenner, celebrity gossip

column and back page list 20 questions.

STYLE• Vibe features lots of iconography associated with Rap/Hip-

hop and the scene that surrounds it, e.g. Bling, Snapbacks and

baggy jeans.

• The magazine is visual, image-heavy.

• Vibe features lots of text in a large sized font in bold so it

stands out on the page.

• Red and black and white show up time and time again

through each publication, along with other bright colors to make the magazine visually attractive

Blue, white and

yellow feature

strongly…

Content is related to

the artist featured

on the cover and

her personal life

The magazine is

very colorful.

MODE OF ADDRESS• A tone of power and strength is created

to emasculate the power and strength of the artists featured in Vibe.

• Lots of terminology that fans of Rap and hip hop genres will understand.

• Artists are listed on the front cover which fans of the genre will know and if they like one of them may e the reason hey purchase the magazine.

OWNERSHIP• Vibe are owned by a private equity firm named InterMedia

Partners LP.

• InterMedia Partners LP own numerous other companies such as Control room, Universal sports and Thomas Nelson.

• The company was founded in 1988 by Leo Hindery Jr.

• Their headquarters are located on the 48th floor of the Chrysler

Building in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

• InterMedia have invested in Broadband, Print, Programming,

cable and broadband television opportunities.

• The company is successful in each investment as they are

worth over $1 billion which is no easy feet.