DIFFERENT G

ENRES OF

MUSIC MAGAZINE

RESEARCHI have decided to conduct some research into different genres of music

magazine in order to give me some inspiration for creating my own music magazine, and also so that I can understand the conventions of the genre that I decide to replicate, to make sure I can include them to make my production realistic. I have also considered the target audiences of the different genres of music magazine so that I know where I could target mine once it is finished. I will mainly be looking at the magazine covers because the covers advertise by summarising the ‘best’ bits of the whole magazine and will give me a general feel of the style of the different genres.

R’N’B MAGAZINESFrom looking at several different covers of R’n’B magazines I can see

that conventions include:• A large, prominent masthead with clear typography – usually

layered underneath the photograph, but not always.• A medium shot of a popular R’n’B artist as the main focus of the

cover, although close ups are also used somewhat regularly. • Cover lines down the left and right sides of the cover, usually mixing

small and large typography. The large typography in the cover lines is designed to draw the audience’s attention to the most interesting parts of the magazine, encouraging them to buy it so that they can read these features.

• A definite, strong colour scheme, although it often varies as to whether the colours used are vibrant or dark.

R’N’B TARGET AUDIENCEThe target audience for R’n’B magazines is predominately teenagers

and young adults because this is the demographic that listens to R’n’B music most often, and they will therefore be most interested in reading articles and interviews that are based around this genre of music. You can tell that R’n’B magazines are aimed at this age group because they generally use artists who are around this age on the front cover to promote their magazine, and the language they use is informal and includes a lot of slang which is stereotypically part of a younger person’s vocabulary.

HIP HOP MAGAZINES Some of the conventions of hip hop magazines appear to be:• A large, bold masthead in capital letters, usually in black or white as this fits with their

simplistic colour scheme and makes the typography easy to read, even when it is on a shelf. • One large image in the centre of the page which tends to be a close up shot of a hip hop star,

although as shown below medium shots are sometimes used. Through my research I have found that the close up shot is a convention of music magazines in general, rather than just hip hop magazines. The stars in the photographs are usually black males because the black culture is where hip hop music stemmed from, and there are therefore a lot of black hip hop stars, who are often male because hip hop music is generally more suited to the stereotypical hard nature of males. Furthermore, the target audience of hip hop magazines is predominantly black people because hip hop music is part of their culture.

• The colour scheme used is generally simplistic yet effective, using only three colours, often black, white and red. These colours appear bold and hard, much like the genre of music. Black and white make the typography easily legible whilst the red adds some colour to make the cover more interesting. Also, the colour red has the connotation of danger which is a theme in hip hop music.

HIP HOP TARGET AUDIENCEThe target audience for hip hop magazines is generally young, black males.

This is reflected in the use of this demographic in the photographs featured in the magazines, particularly on the covers.

The magazines target these people because they are the demographic most interested in hip hop music, and they will therefore be more interested in a magazine about this genre of music. This is largely because hip hop stemmed from black culture, and thus there are many black hip hop stars, which a black audience can relate to more easily because they understand the culture of the stars and what their songs may be about. It is generally males who are interested in hip hop music because it is seen to be a rough and hard-hitting genre of music, which is more relatable for stereotypical males than stereotypical women. 4

The older generations don’t tend to listen to hip hop music because it deals with a lot of contemporary issues in the lyrics which are more relatable to the younger generations.

POP MAGAZINESFrom looking at covers of several different pop magazines I can

conclude that most pop magazines:• Use a very bright and feminine colour scheme including fluorescent

pinks and purples to appeal to girls, who are their mean target audience in terms of gender.

• A medium shot of a popular pop artist to encourage people who admire the artist to buy the magazine, as the image is exclusive to the magazine and usually connotes that the artist will be featured within the magazine.

• A bold masthead in the top quarter of the cover, although it is not always placed right across the top like traditional magazine mastheads are. This is done to make pop magazines stand out on the shelf and to connote that they’re individual and unique which will encourage their target audience to buy the magazine because they believe they’re getting something different.

POP TARGET AUDIENCEThe target audience for pop magazines is predominantly young and

teenage girls who haven’t really found their own individual music taste yet and therefore go with the crowd and the most popular music. Stereotypically this demographic is captivated by the life of pop stars and therefore would buy a music magazine to catch up with the gossip of the pop world. This is why it’s important for pop magazines to have a large, grabbing image of a popular pop artist on the front cover – to capture the attention of teenage girls. These pop stars are often boy bands which teenage girls find attractive, or beautiful women which they idolise and aspire to be like.

CLASSICAL MAGAZINESFrom looking at a selection of music magazine covers I can see that generally

they:• have a masthead that spans the width of the page, usually layered over the

image rather than underneath it so that it is more noticeable for the target audience.

• have a close up image of a classical artist, although the shots can sometimes be medium, especially if the artist is positioned playing their instrument or singing. This is done to clearly show the genre of the music magazine to the audience when it is on the shelf, although it would probably only be stocked in certain shops as it is aimed at a niche market, and also to encourage people who admire the artists to buy the magazine because they are featured.

• have artists’ names in large typography somewhere on the cover as an endorsement.

• use a simplistic colour scheme, often involving dark colours with white text.

CLASSICAL TARGET AUDIENCEClassical music magazines are aimed at both those who enjoy classical

music, and those who play classical music as often a classical music magazine focuses as much upon how to play and look after classical instruments as classical music that already exists. This means that classical music magazines have a wide intended audience – a variety of ages and a relatively even spread of males and females listen to and play classical music. Students often listen to help them relax when studying, children often learn to play classical instruments when they’re young, adults sometimes play a classical instrument as a hobby and the elderly stereotypically prefer to listen to classical music than more modern music because it’s more familiar from their youth.

ROCK MAGAZINES I’ve looked at several rock magazine covers and I can now conclude

that conventions of music magazine include:• A bold masthead with edgy typography, always placed at the top of

the cover but usually behind the main image so that the main image can become the centre of attention.

• An edited image as the main focus of the cover – usually a medium shot of an artist with their instrument/performing, or often a close up of an artist with a particularly bold look. If there is more than one person on the cover, the shot is generally medium. Many of the images are taken from a low angle to represent how the audience of rock magazines look up to the stars on the cover and often aspire to be like them.

• A busy cover including a lot of cover lines to make the magazine look interesting and good value for money.

ROCK TARGET AUDIENCEFrom studying the covers of rock magazines, I can conclude that the

main target audience of rock magazines is males, although the age range is quite large because those featured in the magazines are generally male, although some are old and some are young.

Furthermore, I have seen that the audience of rock magazines depends on how ‘hard’ they are because hard rock magazines attract a different audience to soft rock magazines. This is reflected in the style of the layout of music magazines – soft rock magazines are far more simplistic in their layout and use softer colours in their colour scheme such as blues, whereas hard rock magazines have a more chaotic layout with brighter, bolder colours such as red and yellow contrasting against black.

INDIE MAGAZINESIndie (non-genre specific) music magazines are some of the most successful. This is mainly

because they don’t only appeal to those interested in one genre of music magazine, they appeal to a wider audience. From looking at some indie magazines I have found that some of the conventions include:

• Masthead in the top left hand corner, not stretching across the width of the page, usually because the name of the magazine is presented in a logo format which is repeated on each cover of the music magazine, making is short and sweet.

• One main close up image on the front cover of a quirky model or pop star (usually a pop star) to depict the style of the music magazine and make it stand out on the shelves, and also to encourage people to buy it because they want to find out exclusive information about the star on the cover, as usually there is also an article within the magazine about the cover model, if they are a music star.

• A simplistic colour scheme, usually only involving three or four colours, especially red and white as they work well together by contrasting to make and typography stand out. Furthermore, red can connote love suggesting that the audience will love the magazine.

INDIE TARGET AUDIENCEThe target audience for indie music magazines is broader than most

other genres of music magazine because it doesn’t focus on one style of music, it incorporates several, meaning that it appeals to a wider audience. In addition to this, a more specific group that indie magazines target is those who listen to ‘indie’ music. Indie music is quite a wide genre of music, but it includes artists such as The Arctic Monkeys and Oasis, and so indie music magazines usually include features on artists of this genre.

INSTRUMENTAL MAGAZINESInstrumental music magazines are another popular genre of music magazine because they have

a loyal audience which will continue to buy the magazine on a regular basis, as they have a vested interest. I can see that they vary significantly depending on which instrument they are based around, but here are some of the conventions I found across all/most of the instrumental music magazines I looked at:

• A bold masthead at the top of the page in clear typography, usually spanning the entire width of the page although occasionally only taking up the top left hand corner.

• A large image in the centre of the cover, usually of a person with/playing the instrument, but sometimes just of the instrument itself. In the ‘Pianist’ magazine featured below, there is a close up of a man without an instrument. I found this to be an unusual approach, but because of the name of the magazine we assume him to be a pianist and the image therefore fits with the theme of the magazine. The images are usually close ups or medium shots.

• The cover lines are usually featured down both the left and right hand side, but more heavily on the left hand side.

• The colour schemes include crisp and dark colours, often black and white for a upmarket, classy look which also makes the typography clear and easy to read.

INSTRUMENTAL TARGET AUDIENCEAs you might think, the target audience for instrumental music

magazines is generally those who play that particular instrument as they have a strong interest in the type of music created by that instrument and often want to read about ways to improve their skills and inspiration from others who play the same instrument.

DECISION ABOUT THE GENRE FOR MY MUSIC MAGAZINEAfter looking at these genres of music magazine and their target

audiences in particular, I have decided to do some further research into niche markets because niche music magazines seem to be doing better than general pop and rock magazines as they have a more loyal audience, such as the instrumental magazines. It is also true that indie magazines are doing well compared to other music magazines (although they are also in decline) because of their wide target audience, but through this research I discovered that there are already a lot of indie music magazines, and many of them are well established with a loyal readership, such as ‘NME’ and ‘Q’, and I don’t think that there would be room on the market to create another one.