Conventions of a Rock Music Magazine

The conventions of a music magazine are pretty much the same as the conventions of any other magazines, but music magazines do have their differences;

Language:

• Masthed situated at the top of the page
• Edited pictures (blemishes removed, for example) to make the cover models and over models look perfect.
• Most common camera shot is a Medium Shot
• Almost always use Mise en Scene in their front cover image to represent the genre of music they are delving in to.
• Items often used in Rock Music magazine pictures include Guitars and Drumsticks.
• Mise en Scene is not always used on main images; instead, the cover models hair would be used to demonstrate the music genre.
• The lighting is often from one of the sides of the camera; lighting up only half of the cover models face. This has a connotation of a dark side to the artist, and refers back to the genre as rock is often regarded as evil.
• You would expect to see the cover model wearing a hoodie of some sort, often black in colour (or a similar dark colour) with the hood up. This varies between a certain bands style choices, but you would find the cover model(s) wearing either black, 'skinnie' jeans, or a normal pair of well-fitted jeans. Another item of clothing would be wristbands. These would be multicoloured and are worn to express yourself as a one-in-a-million person (basically to show you're different from everyone else). These costumes would effectively attract the target audience. These all fall under the category of 'Costume', but the wristbands could be contested as being a part of the costume or a Prop. Either way it still a form of media language.
• The camera angle is often a straight-on shot so the artist's face is clearly visible; afterall, it's the face that would sell the magazine.
• The layout of a contents page would conventionally be:

Institution:

• The publishers of most Music magazines are often large companies, which may, or may not, be owned by a conglomerate. For example, the people in charge of the publishing of Kerrang! Magazine is Emap, a British Publishing company.However, Emap is owned by Bauer Consumer Media; a large publishing company based in Germany. BCM publish in over 15 different countries and have stakes in Radio and Television. Because BCM own Emap, you may say that BCM is a conglomerate company as it is hidden away in the background. This is probably the same case in other Music Magazines.
• ALWAYS have a website or telephone number; means of which the audience can contact the magazine or get extra information.
• The people in charge of production would be young so the target audience is better understood and catered for. This would have been a concious decision by the production company as the production company as a whole doesn't control the process of creating one magazine - it would be left to a small detachment of the company.

Ideology:

• The cover model will always be represented as 'cool' and 'hip'.
• The cover model is ideolised as an artist worthy of your listen, seen as though they'd be on the front cover of your favourite magazine.

Audience:

• Teenage Male and Females
• Emo/Mosher/Indie social groups
• Cater through music interests
• People with low income

Representation:

Individuals that would appear in the magazine:

• Emo/Goth artists/bands
• Rock Bands
• Lead Singers
• People who write in and feature on the contents page along with their letter
• Heavy Metal/Death Metal bands
• Bands about to release an album/record or single
• Artists with an infamous reputation are more likely to be on the cover

Individuals excluded from the magazine:

• Social groups such as Chavs
• Adults unless they look cool or have a bad reputation

[Based on Kerrang! NME and Q]