Music Magazine Stereotypes

Kerrang! magazine is a music magazine that is mainly based on rock music. It is published by Bauer Consumer Media in the United Kingdom. The magazine's name is onomatopoeic and refers to the noise made when playing a power chord on an electrical guitar. The target audience for this magazine would first and foremost be teenagers (mainly those 16+) and also those in their 20’s. Some of its viewers would be approximately in their 30’s (the same age as the people featured in the magazine).

Or simply, people who admire rock and loud music as the magazine mostly centres on rock and punk music. You can tell that the target audience is mainly teenagers because the bands featured in this magazine have got principally teenage fans, and also the title itself appeals to teenagers and people in their late 20’s (the design of it is edgy which appeals to them). I have been carrying and investigation based on whether the famed magazine Kerrang conforms to genre conventions. According to my research, I personally believe that Kerrang does conform to genre conventions.

The reason for my theory is pretty clear as nearly all the magazine covers for this magazine simply suggest the fact that it’s a rock magazine, starting from the name of the magazine, to the singers featured in it and finally to the layout of the magazine’s cover. Normally, most magazine, especially rock and punk magazine, try their very best in order to make their covers attractive and appealing. Magazine use well known singers or bands in order for it to be much more noticeable which will attract various kinds of audiences.

Order custom essay Music Magazine Stereotypes with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Furthermore, magazines like to include special offers in their covers, as well as secondary images (apart from the main image) so that it would lure in audience. Normally, if they include secondary images, magazine attempt to put an image of a famous musician that is well liked by the audience (see figure one) so that it would attract people into buying it. Kerrang has used nearly all the conventions in order for them to symbolize the genre they’re representing.

The name of the magazine suggests the fact that it’s a rock magazine due to the fact that it’s a sound made my an electrical guitars, and since most rock bands use electrical guitars rather than using an acoustic one or a piano, this verifies the fact that it’s a rock band. Moreover, Kerrang mostly feature well known rock bands such as Metallica, Paramore, Green Day and My Chemical Romance (See figure 2, 3, 4, 5,). Additionally, they normally include so many headlines, secondary pictures and special offers like other magazines such as NME to exert a pull on the audience (See figure 7).

This magazine also includes a PLUS! section like NME magazines has, this is done to tempt the readers and to increase the immensity of the advertisements. Kerrang has a lot of similarities with NME regardless of the fact that they both are rock magazines. They both feature a lot of rock band such as My Chemical Romance in addition to the headlines and secondary images. This shows that they both conform to genre conventions. (See figure 4 and 8). They share other similarities such as the fact that they both try to cover up the all cover using additional headline as well as secondary images.

Kerrang covers are almost all alike. All of them include a main image in addition to a special offer to increase the sales. Although, some of Kerrang’s covers don’t include secondary images or additional headlines. Some of their covers may be a bit dissimilar to the others as it could either be an exclusive edition or just some other reason. If you take a look at Figure 4 and Figure 9, you could spot the very noticeable difference which is firstly, there is only one image in Figure 9 whilst there are more than one (excluding the main image) in Figure 4.

Other differences such as the fact that Figure 9 is a bit less messy than Figure 4 also stand out. Even though there are differences between the two, they is still a various amount of similarities between them such as the fact that the name is written in the same font and the same style, in addition to the fact that they both feature special offers as well as main images of famous rock musicians. From the front cover we can only see that their interests are conventional rock groups.

Most of the front covers have a header listing some mainstream bands; the main image on most the front cover is of the lead singer of a mainstream rock group, and on the side they list other mainstream rock groups that are going to be in the magazine and also are advertising that they have posters of yet more majority rock groups. If we wanted to find out any more of their interests we would have to look inside the magazine at the table of contents. Furthermore, the font used to write the name of the magazine is filled with cracks and different, which suggests the idea that it’s rock music magazine.

In addition to the colours used (black and white, orange and yellow) which are LOUD colours, which represent the magazine as a loud magazine. In conclusion, I think Kerrang magazines are very much similar to other magazine who also feature rock music. Like other magazines, Kerrang includes a main image, additional headlines, and secondary images, buzz words such as ‘FREE! ’ and also special offers. The magazine matches a lot of genre conventions because like other magazines, they try to represent heir genre through their cover and they succeed in a clever way.

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer