MUSIC MAGAZINE GENRES

What is a music magazine?

A music magazine is a type of magazine that is totally dedicated to publish music related content. This content could include posters of musicians, interviews, photo-shoots, news, up and coming music events and more. The main target audience of a music magazine is quite simply the fans of that music genre of any age or gender. In addition to this if a particular musician is a special feature to the magazine then the fans of that musician would also be interested.

Genres

Pop

Pop magazine usually have a very bright colour scheme consisting of mostly neon colours. These neon colours are usually stereotypically feminine such as pink and purple meaning the magazine is aimed a young girls. The common conventions found on these type of magazines include large and small images, puffs, masthead, cover lines, anchorage text, slogan, skyline and more. These particular conventions are usually coloured vividly to quickly attract the young audiences attention. Because the magazine has a young audience informal language is used so that they can easily read the text. Sometimes even slang is used so looks as if the magazine has been written by someone of a similar age. This also makes the magazine appeal more friendly making the reader feel like they are talking to a friend rather than reading information written by someone much older. These magazines will usually feature a popular and current pop star on the front cover whose interview or photo shoot will be inside of the magazine. Also inside of the magazine will be celebrity gossip, articles about new songs or albums as well as beauty tips suiting the target audience.

Rock/Heavy Metal

Rock/heavy metal magazines use very dark shades of colours and lots of black and white. These colours connote the darkness and heaviness of the music that the magazine is about. The target audience for this particular magazine ranges from teenagers to middle aged adults. However I would say usually this genre would appeal more to men than women as women would stereotypically  prefer lighter and more happy music. The age range is very wide because rock magazines usually include a wide variety of musicians from different eras that appeal to different ages. These different musicians can appear on the front cover at anytime where they will be the main image positioned centrally and boldly in the page. The masthead is usually in a big bold font at the top of the page with the name of musician featured on the front cover, positioned along the center of the page. The structure of the front cover is usually quite busy and unorganised with lots of cover lines and large titles across the page. This is done to reflect the audience of the magazine who usually dress quite untidy and casual. The contents of the magazine will include interviews, news, photo-shoots, events that are usually advertised on the front cover.

 

Classical

Classical music magazines are very different from rock/heavy metal and pop magazines. These magazines are mainly aimed at the older generation who enjoy enjoy listening to calm and slow music. Because of this the front cover does not look too chaotic or busy instead it is very organised with little text. They follow a subtle colour scheme consisting of browns, black, reds and white. These colours are not obvious or loud keeping with the relaxing mood that the reader wants to feel. The contents of the magazine will include historical and factual articles about previous composers, up and coming musical events, crosswords/quiz's and more.

Some magazines may even include music sheets so people can learn to play the music themselves as well as gaining advice given by professionals. The language tends to be formal as it designed for older people to read meaning they will not be able to understand modern slang. The conventions this genre generally follows are cover lines, masthead and main image which are the basic necessities.

Hip-Hop 

The target audience of hip-hop magazines are usually teenagers of both genders as this is the generation that mostly listens to the genre. This is also reflected from the language used which consists of slang and the way it is informally written. The colour scheme consists of dark tones giving the magazine a harsh and edgy feel reflecting the tough music genre. The main image on the front cover is usually of a current rapper which is commonly a mid shot or head and shoulder shot of the artist. The artists generally pull sturdy and tough poses showing off their tattoos or jewelry making them looks powerful and strong.However some of the main images can be quite explicit and rude echoing some rap lyrics. The font is very bold and straight making it clear to read. The text on the front cover is written in capital letters so it feels as if the magazine is shouting to you which is quite aggressive.