MY CHOSEN GENRE

There are several genres of music which I could choose to base my magazine around. For example I could use jazz, country, heavy metal, house, dance, pop, etc. 

However I have decided to use the genre indie rock as I feel this can be explored in several ways. The term indie rock is derived from “independent” as it is used to describe the small and low-budget labels which release the music and the bands or artists with the do-it-yourself sort of attitude. “Indie rock” was first used as a way to describe the music artists who did not gain commercial success. The music which often falls under the category of indie rock is a combination of punk, rock and roll, and heavy metal.

Indie Rock music comes with an individual style which has evolved over the years. Bands or artists who fall into the indie rock category have a different style to other musicians, for example

• Sky Ferreira
• Grimes
• Wavves
• Diiv
• Arctic Monkeys
• Crystal Castles
• Swim Deep
• The Cure
• Mystery Jets
• Haim

Each artist has an individual way of dressing as well as music style and therefore i must consider this when i take the pictures to feature in my magazine. 

CONVENTIONS OF A MUSIC MAGAZINE

When creating a magazine I must consider the conventions which I must include. On all magazines there are five key things which aid the audience in knowing that it is a magazine: 

• Photography- Most magazines use an A4 image of an artist who is inside which features as one of the main articles when designing the cover as this will catch the audience’s attention, other magazines use multiple images on the cover in order to widen the target audience 

• Headline- Usually short and catchy, this will link with the main artist and therefore be something related to whoever may be in the main image

• Price/Barcode-  Including a price and barcode makes it clear that this is a magazine, a barcode appears on every magazine, also if the magazine is on offer they will often make this stand out to gain more buyers 

• Masthead- All magazines have a masthead; this is the name of the magazine. This is always written in the same font and on the same area of the page so it is easily recognised 

• Colour Scheme- Several magazines will use a colour scheme when designing a front cover to enable the reader to see continuity when flicking through, and also so they have the ability to easily distinguish the main features to other areas of the magazine