The Music Press Exploring the Genre

British music magazines British music websites

Genre
GENRE: a type or group of something.
In Media Studies, genre means texts (films, magazines, websites etc) which can be grouped together because they have a lot in common. Typical genres include: horror films; celebrity gossip magazines; cooking programmes. Can you think of other genres? The genre of the Music Press includes magazines and websites which are completely or mainly about music.

Use your knowledge. Which of these websites and magazines fits into the genre of the Music Press? Can you explain why some fit the genre and some dont?
MAGAZINES Mixmag Metal Hammer Radio Times Cosmo Girl Q OK Mojo Top of the Pops We Love Pop Echoes WEBSITES Kerrang! Smash Hits Facebook The Daily Mail: entertainment section The Wire NME (New Musical Express) Spin.com Drowned in Sound

Genres of Music
As well as being a genre in itself, the Music

Press also covers different kinds of music.

Each kind of music is also a genre. So the genre of the Music Press covers

different genres of music such as pop hiphop metal classical and so on. one genre of music, some cover all kinds of music.

Some magazines and websites only deal with

Match texts to the genre

Texts Genre

Metal Hammer Smash Hits Mojo Q The Wire Mixmag Drowned in Sound Echoes Rago magazine DJ mag We Love Pop Kerrang!

Hip-hop / rap Alternative Dance music Classic Pop / Rock Metal Pop

Genre trees
Music Genre

Pop
Top of We Love the Pops Pop
?

Metal
? ?

?
? ?

Can you extend or add to this with other genres of music, or subgenres of music and find any magazines or websites that go with them? Are there any genres of music which DONT have a magazine or website?

Watch
How the Music Press reflect the image of the

genre in Clip 3: Designing Page Layouts (5.40 6.42)

Magazine front covers

All music magazines look like magazines! They use the basic conventions (typical

things) of magazine design and layout, so we all recognise that they are magazines.
Look at these front covers. What do they all

have in common?
http://www.mixmag.net/media-kit/about/the-worldsbiggest-dance-music-and-clubbing-magazine

Watch
The Kerrang! Editor talking about the front

cover in Clip 1 Who Does What (5.30 6.09)

Clip 2 The Front Cover (all, 0.00 - 6.15) Brand identity in Clip 10 The Word (3.15

4.18)

The Conventions
Focus on one front cover: http://cover.mojo4music.com/Item.aspx?pageNo=1838&yea r=2012 Find the Mast head (title graphic) Strap line (tells you about the magazine) Main image (usually a close up of a person / group) Secondary images (smaller images, around the edges) Cover lines (tell you what is in the magazine) Menu strip (list of extras, often along the bottom) Sweet spot (where the eye is drawn to first, generally the left side, half-way down) Institutional information (price, issue number, publisher, bar code etc)

Using codes to analyse front covers

Look again at the cover and think about: Colour codes what colours has the magazine cover used - mainly pinks and pastels? Fresh greens and yellows, or mainly blacks and reds? What do each of these colour groups suggest or connote? How does this relate to the image of the magazine, to the image of the band or musician, and to the image the audience has of itself? Non-verbal codes what are the typical facial expressions and gestures of the people on the cover? Why? What do these expressions and gestures symbolise? Are they warm, friendly, aggressive, frightening? Again, how does this relate to the image of the magazine, to the image of the band or musician, and to the image the audience has of itself? Technical codes how are the images lit? Put together? Cropped? Orientated? What kind of image do these codes create? How does this relate to the image of the magazine, to the image of the band or musician, and to the image the audience has of itself?

Sketch a plan of a front cover, blocking in and labelling the key areas
Use these labels, use some more than once. Add other labels where you need them. Add more areas to your sketch plan if you need them. Strap line Cover line Main image Secondary image Mast head Institutional information Sweet spot
1 2

4 3 5 7

Comparing genres: front covers

All magazine front covers use the basic conventions (typical things), but each genre uses them in different ways. Look at these two covers: http://www.kerrang.com/blog/newissue/ http://www.totpmag.com/
Compare the:

Layout: is it busy, cluttered, clean empty classy? What is the effect of this? Design: the use of colour codes, the fonts, the images. What impression does each one create? Aggressive? Dark? Friendly? Content: how does the content differ to suit the genre? Choice of bands / artists? The angle on the bands / artists? Other content? Mode of address: how does each one talk to the reader? Does is see you as a friend? Ideology: what sort of values and attitudes does the magazine seem to promote? Is bad behaviour cool? Is being pretty important?

Non-verbal codes: the gaze

Non-verbal codes include facial expressions, posture and gestures. Non-verbal codes are particularly important to magazine front covers because they usually have a person or group as the main image. The person or people in the main image nearly always gaze at the reader. This catches the readers eye, and is more likely to make them notice the cover. Compare the way the person or people gaze at you on the two different front covers. Think about:
Do different kinds of performers use different kinds of gazes? Who uses the provocative or sexual gaze? Who uses the cheeky or mischievous gaze? Who uses the challenging or aggressive gaze? Who smiles? Is the smile sexual or friendly, cheeky or self-confident? Who doesnt smile? What is the effect of this?

What do these expressions and gestures tell us about the performer? How does this relate to the image of the magazine, to the image of the band or musician, and to the image the audience has of itself?

The conventions of websites

All music websites look like WEBSITES! They use the basic conventions

(typical things) of website design and layout, so we all recognise that they are websites. Look at this home page: http://www.mixmag.net/ Focus first on what is above the fold what you can see without scrolling own. Identify the

Grid (the layout of the frames - the frames are areas for specific content) Banners (horizontal sections of the page, often across the top and bottom, sometimes with adverts in) Sidebars (vertical sections, usually at the side of the page, often containing separate or additional content) Links (to navigate between different pages of the website, and to link to other sites) Flash content (moving image content such as film footage and animations) Interactive content (where the audience can interact and contribute) Graphics (logos, design elements, images) Main image, secondary images Headings and sub-headings

Sketch a plan of a home page, blocking in and labelling the key areas
Use these labels, use some more than once. Add other labels where you need them.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Grid Banners Sidebars Links Flash content Interactive content Graphics Main image, secondary images Headings and sub-headings

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Comparing genres: home pages

All website home pages use the basic conventions (typical things). But

each genre uses them in different ways. Look at these two home pages:

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/ http://www.welovepopmag.co.uk/
Compare the:

Layout: is it busy, cluttered, clean empty classy? What is the effect of this? Design: the use of colour codes, the fonts, the images. What impression does each one create? Aggressive? Dark? Friendly? Content: how does the content differ to suit the genre? Choice of bands / artists? The angle on the bands / artists? Other content? Mode of address: how does each one talk to the reader? Does is see you as a friend? Ideology: what sort of values and attitudes does the magazine seem to promote? Is bad behaviour cool? Is being pretty important?

Watch
Website design and image in: Clip 3:

Designing Page Layouts (3.31 end)

Compare a front cover and a home page

for the same title.
Try: http://www.kerrang.com/

and http://www.kerrang.com/blog/newissue/
Layout: how are they similar or different? How do they organise the content for easy reading? Design: do they both have the same house style / brand image? Content: What content do they have in common? (Masthead? Main image? Headings? Copy?) And what content is different? (a web page can hold a lot more content than a front cover) Mode of address: They both want you, the reader, to go further into the website or magazine. How does each one encourage you to read more? Ideology: is this the same in the magazine and website? The website might be less regulated than the magazine, so have less controls over its content.

Page layout
It is not just front covers and home pages that follow conventions.

Most magazines include a two-page spread for their main articles. Look at a two-page spread: http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=8&title=florence_rules_t_in_t he_park_inside_this&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1 Which of these conventions are used? Primacy of image (the image, not the copy is the main thing on the page) One, two or three column layout (keeps the copy organised and easy to read) Multiple points of entry (lots of different places to start reading) Sidebars (vertical content to add extra info, break up the copy (writing), another point of entry) Lots of headings and sub-headings (helps organise and break up the copy, draws the reader in, provides more points of entry) Pull quotes (parts of the text taken out and used as headings) Copy bleeding into image (writing covers part of the main image)

Watch
The Kerrang! Team talking about feature and

news articles in Clip 1 Who Does What (6.10 14.17) Clip 3 Designing Page Layouts (0.00 3.30).

Comparing genres: page layouts

Compare two double-page spreads articles from different genres of magazine. Layout : is it busy, cluttered, clean empty classy? What is the effect of this? How are the conventions used? Design: the use of colour, the fonts, the images. What impression does each one create? Aggressive? Dark? Friendly? Content: how does the content differ to suit the genre? Choice of bands / artists? The angle on the bands / artists? Other content? Mode of address: how does each one talk to the reader? Does is see you as a friend? Is it amusing? Or mocking? Ideology: what sort of values and attitudes does the magazine seem to promote? Is bad behaviour cool? Is being pretty important?

Summary 1
Explain the following terms:

Genre The genre of the music press Genres of music Conventions Design Layout Mode of address Ideology

Name 5 things you would typically find on a magazine front cover Name 5 things you would typically find on a website home page Name 5 things you would typically find in a feature article