Music Magazine Genres

Music Magazine Genres

1   1)      Hip Hop

The target audience of Hip-Hop magazine readers are people aged between 15-35 of both genders from working class to below.

Hip Hop magazines follow the conventions of any magazine in the fact that it contains a masthead, main image, sub image, title and a bar-code. There tends to be a common theme in Hip Hop magazines because they have dark backgrounds which connotes the negativity surrounding what goes on within Hip Hop music.

You would expect most Hip Hop magazines to have a black man on the front cover as the majority of Hip Hop artists tend to be black. Lil Wayne is a prime example of this because he has a lot of tattoos which means he has a rebellious streak around him. Not only that but his tattoos are not pretty but are very dangerous and edgy. This supports Sarita Malik's theory as 'whiteness' is naturalised so to get the edgy effect they are going for, hence 'Lil Wayne' is used in this clip. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yd4GG3bed0

2)      Drum & Bass

The target audience for Drum and Bass magazines are people aged between 10-35 of both genders from working class and below.

Drum and Bass magazines tend to have a picture of an artist or producing group such as Magnetic Man or Chase & Status. The magazine is very mixed race in the fact that there is no typical race associated with Drum & Bass music. This follows common conventions in the fact that it has a main image and a masthead.

This magazine highlights the seriousness of Drum & Bass and how people do take this seriously despite it being a laid back and that it is not seen as a serious musical genre. This supports the theory of Stanley Hall who states "all young people are depressed, criminals and extremists" as you can tell that these men are extremely passionate about their music and their careers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPRkYWVinF0

3)      Indie

The target audience for Indie Rock magazines are people aged between 12-45 of both genders from all classes.

Indie Rock magazines tend to have a well-produced studio image of a indie rock band such as the Arctic Monkeys. The magazine tends to have stereotypical English indie rock artists like The Wombats and Mumford and Sons. The image on the front of NME tends to follow a continuous pattern of artists that are carefree.

This also follows Hall's theory as they appear to be characters of a criminal mindset what would take drugs and drink and would follow all young adults' stereotypes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma9I9VBKPiw

4    Pop

The target audience for Indie Rock magazines are primarily girls aged between 13-32 from working class and below.

Pop magazines tend to talk about and have an image of a boy band or popular female singer on their front cover. This is done because women find boy bands attractive and female artists inspirational. Therefore if girls see something they find inspirational or attractive they will want to read it. They also talk about free offers, concerts and exclusive news about pop artists.

This challenges the theory of Laura Mulvey who claims that "women are sexualised objects of desire" as men are being used in this sense so therefore it is not just women who are used as "objects of desire".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WUm0dN3Drs

 5)     Dance

The target audience for Dance magazines are for people of both genders aged between 13-30 from working class and below.

Dance magazines often show DJ’s and artists that tend to be associated with this. People who are interested in dance music will want to see artists on the front of magazines and listeners don’t tend to know much about artists and solely know them through their music. It gives dance listeners the opportunity to learn more behind where the music came from.

This supports the theory of Malik as Calvin Harris is white which makes him look "naturalised" on the front of this magazine as supposed to using a coloured person on this magazine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ACl8s_tBzE

6)       Jazz

The target audience for Jazz magazines are for people of both genders aged between 30-65 from working class and above.

Jazz magazines tend to contain a jazz artist in action such as Frank Zappa and Jimi Hendrix. They also talk about a lot of other artists on the side of the main image which tend to be associated with jazz magazines. Examples of this are shown below as the magazine cover is really built around the image of Hendrix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3K5uB-wMA

As you can see, Jimi Hendrix is famous for leading an unorthodox lifestyle so Malik's theory is supported here as he does not appear natural and because he is black, this is highlighted on this magazine.






My Genre Decision:

I have decided to make my magazine genre one of Indie Rock as I feel I can relate to this genre stronger than any other genre and it is also one that I am hugely interested in.