Sub-Genre Research

Pop Music Magazine typical genre conventions:

In the UK, there are 2 different types of Pop magazines. There are low production value magazines that are aimed at a younger female audience, such as Top of the Pops and We Love Pop, and there are high production value magazines, such as Billboard and Q, which are aimed at an older female audience. You are able to guess the production values of a magazine by looking at how often is published and the types of images used for the front cover. For example, if a magazine is published every week it will have low production values because it will have a lower budget, so will unable to photograph celebrities professionally in a studio every week. You can connote that a magazine has high production values if it is published less often, such as one a month, and it constantly features well known celebrities photographed professionally in a studio. For example, in the two pop magazines below, you are able to infer that Billboard is a professional magazine with high production values from the way that they have represented Katy Perry. The background is plain which indicates the photographs have been done in a studio, and her outfit looks like a huge amount of time, effort and money has been put into it. This contrasts with the 'We Love Pop' magazine, which has used a blurry unfocused photograph of Cheryl Cole. She is also wearing ordinary clothes, which suggests that 'We Love Pop' haven't professionally styled her clothes and make up. This also connotes low production values. You can also infer the production values of a magazine by the language it uses for its cover lines. Low production value magazines tend to use more rhetorical questions and exclamation marks to make their articles seem more exaggerated to shock the reader into wanting to buy the magazine to find out more.

The typical target audience is female teenagers (14-18), so the colour scheme is typical girly colours, such as pink and purple

• One main image of a popular celebrity. Both of these magazines have positioned their celebrity on the far right. Usually a medium close up shot
•  The magazine background is usually either white or a plain colour - this can either connote high or low production values depending on the quality of the image
• The cover lines are typically featured on both sides of the page, or on one side depending on the positioning of the main image
• Many of the mastheads are all in capital letters. The amount of different styles of fonts varies depending on how many cover lines are on the magazine
• The black and white text used for Billboard magazine gives the cover a more professional look. Whereas the pink text used for We Love Pop magazine makes it look more girly, which will appeal to the target audience, but it also looks less sophisticated and professional, which can also connote low production values
• You are able to notice the difference in age for both target audiences because of the way Katy Perry has been slightly sexualised by her facial expression and wearing a short dress. Whereas with Cheryl Cole she is wearing appropriate clothes and her facial expression is a cheerful one, which will appeal to We Love Pops young target audience because the magazine creates a positive atmosphere

Rock Music Magazine typical genre conventions

• Darker colour scheme - the mastheads are mainly all in capital letters and either in white or black
• Many rock magazines feature additional information at the bottom of their front cover
• The main image is usually a medium close up of a solo artist or a long medium shot of the featured band
• Features attention grabbing words, such as 'Plus!', 'Free!' and 'Win!' to attract interest from the audience
• Usually 2-3 different fonts of a similar style to each other, all in capital letters. The capital letters are used to make the text stand out more, which will grab the audiences attention
• Aimed at a 17+ audience, mainly males
• The use of colour can indicate high or low production values. For example, with The Fly magazine you can connote that the main image has been professionally taken in a studio. The black and white effect used on it gives it a more classy, professional appearance. Whereas with KERRANG! magazine you are able to infer that it has low production values, because of the bright colours used. Also, the main image appears to have been taken at a concert, which makes KERRANG! seem like it has low production values because it hasn't professionally styled and photographed the artist in a studio
• The lower production value magazine appears to offer more content to its audience to appeal to their interests, such as offering free posters and giving the audience a chance to enter prize-winning competitions

Heavy metal music magazine typical genre conventions

• Unvaried colour palette - usually featured 2-3 dark colours, with the exception of red being used in the masthead for 'Metal Hammer' magazine

• The front cover is more eventful - there is a lot to take in and rarely any white space. This can connote low production values because the disorganisation makes it look less professional
• Aimed at young adults, 18+, mainly males
• Black/white/red is consistently present on every magazine cover
• Close up/medium close up of the featured artist/band
• Low production value - plain backdrops, usually a dark colour
• Large masthead, all in capital letters to grab attention 
• Cover lines are usually 2 lines and in different colours 
• The barcode is positioned on the right hand side of the cover, usually in the top or bottom corner
• Every person used is looking directly at the camera, possibly to engage with or intimidate the audience

Indie music magazine typical genre conventions

• Aimed at young adults 17+, and the use of more female artists than male artists as a main image suggests that they are aimed more towards a target audience that mainly c
• The barcode is positioned on the left hand side of the cover, usually in the bottom corner. It is either positioned horizontally or vertically depending on the positioning of the cover lines
• Less formal and professional , as evidenced by the swear words - 'this ones not a bastard' and 'noisy git' 
• High production value - the backdrops are plain colours which makes it look like a studio has been used to photograph the celebrities. White seems to be the most common colour to use as a backdrop
• The text is usually all white or white and black. There is not a wide variety of fonts, and the fonts used are all in capital letters to gain attention from the audience 
• The main image is usually a close up of the featured celebrity, this makes the audience feel like they have a more personal connection with the celebrity. The direct address used also adds to the audiences feeling of a personal connection with the celebrity
• The large cover lines are positioned around the main image to stand out effectively as an individual element, rather than take attention away from the celebrity 

Hip Hop music magazine typical genre conventions

• Aimed at young male adults 18+
• The close up shot of the featured artist directly addresses the audience by making them feel more personally involved. The camera angle gives the impression that the artist is maintaining eye contact with whoever looks at the front cover 
• The main colours used are red, black and white
• High production values, as the backdrops featured are plain colours, which suggests that a studio has been used
• The front cover uses a range of social media to gain a wider audience. They have included a website link and QR code to give their audience the chance to interact with their interest of the hip hop genre online
• The language used consists of a mix of capital and non capital letters, to show that their magazines aren't too formal
• The artist featured is usually wearing dark colours and/or a silver chain around their neck to represent their genre. In terms of race, many of the hip hop artists used are black, which fits in with the racial stereotype, which supports Stanley Halls theory (1981) because black people are seen as 'the social problem'. This could also show support for Medhurst's theory because 'they ae awful because they are not like us'
• The barcode is commonly at the bottom of the front cover so as to not take attention away from the main image
• The magazine titles are commonly very short, usually consisting of one short word
• Alliteration is sometimes used for emphasis and effect

My choice of sub genre

After researching the different sub genres and their typical conventions, i have decided to create an Indie music magazine. To make it as interesting and appealing as possible, i will be carefully following typical genre codes and conventions for Indie magazines. 

Here is an example of a Indie music front cover, contents page and double page spread: