Music Genres

Music can come under many different categories, which are known as different genres. There are so many different genres of music which people listen to, and because of this there is such a large variety of music that people can listen to, so no two people like the exact same music and it gives people the person an opportunity to be an individual. There are many different music genres that are used in music magazines and so many different institutions that distribute a great range of magazines that appeal to all different audiences. Music magazines of different genres will include different conventions, so it is important that when making a music magazine you include all the necessary conventions that apply to your certain genre of music. The colour schemes of music magazines usually varies depending on the genre that it is focusing on. The artists in the main image of a music magazine will produce music of that genre and the plugs will also be focused on the target market of people that enjoy that particular genre of music.

Examples of Music Genre 

Genre Research

My Chosen Genre

The genre that I have chosen is Indie because it is a genre that I enjoy and can recognise the codes conventions that are used within the music magazines of that genre, as well the iconography that is related to the genre as a whole. The audience of this genre are often quite young people, between the years of 16-30. I would think the audience would be predominantly male, however there would be almost as many female listeners who are interested in the genre. The social class associated with the genre would be middle-working class.

As the Indie Rock music genre is becoming increasingly popular, there are many magazines which focus on this particular genre. However, the two most popular magazines from this genre are NME and Q magazine. As evident from the front cover of these two magazines, Indie Rock magazines are conventionally not very colourful, which is shown from the NME magazine shown, and my mood board which includes a lot of black and white photos of bands. They usually include a relevant band on the front cover and plugs/adverts of things like new albums and live performances from artists related to that genre of music.