Choosing a genre for a music magazine

I looked at a selection of music magazines in order to make a final decision on which genre to base my magazine on.

POP

 
This is one of the pop music magazines I looked at , it's extremely popular and well known. When looking at the codes and conventions I noticed that though the masthead is fairly unique in this magazine, most pop music magazines are very similar. They seem to be mostly marketed at females, using feminine colour schemes and female features as displayed in this magazine such as fashion and make up tips. I wanted to create a more unique magazine and am not particularly interested in the pop genre anyway so I ruled it out.

HIP HOP



When researching hip hop magazines I came across "VIBE" magazine. I really liked the codes and conventions used, and the cover appeals to me . I liked the simple layout and the bold fonts used. But again I don't know a lot about the genre itself.


Alternative



I really like NME magazine because it covers a range of genres. Images are usually very unique and the stories are purely about music , it's aimed at both sexes and features exclusive information. I considered creating a music magazine of mixed genres such as this but ultimately for this task I think it would be better to stick to one genre and keep a continuous theme.

ROCK MUSIC


I decided to pick the rock/metal genre for a number of reasons. It is personally my favourite genre, so I know a lot more about it. I also purchase this genre of magazine, so I am used to the codes and conventions that they use. Main colour schemes usually include red,white and black as they stand out, exclusive news and posters are almost always featured. The other thing that is mostly unique to the rock genre is dates for gigs and concerts, and reviews of live shows. I particularly like that aspect.

       

 I also find that main images in rock magazines are a little more unique, when I take my main image I feel that I will be able to experiment with it more as a rock theme than I would have been able to with for example a pop magazine.
    
I will create a questionnaire about this genre of music magazine to gain feedback on what I should include and conduct further research.