Codes and Representation by

Melissa Storey

I started researching about the
indie/rock music genre in magazines
to perceive and identify many
interesting similarities and
conventions within each product. I
looked at specifically three
magazines; these were Q, NME and
Rolling Stone. By doing this I
discovered an understanding of the
codes and conventions within and
their importance for this.

Each music magazine I looked at had
a similar target audience. They were
mostly targeted towards a male
audience all between 16-25, with
about a 75% ABC1 social grade. This
can be identified by the interest
covered on the front covers and
inside. For example a lot of festival
coverage was talked about in NME
and Q and inside they both cover
British summer festivals. NME cover
Reading and Leeds festival heavily
and created a special edition issue to
cover the whole festival. They have
their own NME stage at Reading and
Leeds. This creates a specific social
group who would read this issue;
people who went or who wanted to
go. The images are all action shots of
the festival, this makes it feel like it
has actually happened which is what
people want who want to re-live
their weekend or for people who
couldnt go and wanted to
experience it. Common interests are
sub-lined on the cover to interest the
audience straight away this is a
common convention on all
magazines including music
magazines. The Rolling Stone is an
American magazine aimed towards a
more mature group. This is shown
from the common interest of politics
on the front cover, (American
politician, Mitt Romney.) This is an
unusual feature to include in a music
magazine for teenagers; therefore it
will be aimed specifically for a small,
older audience.

Although connections can be made
with all three products there are
some cultural differences because Q
and NME are both produced and
distributed in the UK and Rolling
Stone is produced and distributed in
the USA. You can see the common
conventions and codes more
between the British magazines than
you can when you compare the two
different cultures. Both countries
have a huge music industry but each
culture is different. The USA is very
religious and does not tolerate
obscene language or actions; there is
no reference to sex, drugs or alcohol
on the front covers of magazines. But
in the UK do not feel offended by
inappropriate and humorous
language and it is commonly used in
music magazines. For example on
the March 2012 issue of Q, the front
cover talks about Heroin, hookers
and mental hair and uses words
such as bastard and git. This
shows that music magazines in the
UK are more laid back and they have
a different humor to the American
humor. Yet the USA do know how to
attract their target audience; males
in their 20s, by making women
sexualized on the front cover, as long
as they dont use offensive words.
But in magazines in the UK they do
this the other way round. We leave
indecent images for magazines such
as Zoo and Nuts. But the use of
improper words and jokes are used
a lot in English magazine to bring
humor into it and make it light
hearted. Different cultures may
make a magazine look the same,
with similar layouts and fonts but
the context within can change
depending where the product is
distributed and whom it is
distributed to.

While looking at the three
magazines, I came across many
common conventions such as the
image quality, colours and the
content. The colour used on these
three issues is a basic red and white.
The red contrasts with the white and
small parts of blue to make things
stand out like names of popular
bands and the name of the magazine.
The colour red connotes with the
danger within the indie and rock
music genre therefore it is used a lot
to represent the genre in print. The
colours are not heavy as this is
usually used in heavy metal music
magazines but similar colours are
used, minus the use of black because
the genres are quite similar.
Another thing similar on each
magazine cover is the quality of the
images. They are all high quality on
the cover but inside they are usually
images taken at gigs, therefore they
are low in quality but it looks and
feels like the audience has been
involved in the actual audience at
the gig. Taking the image on the
front cover of NME, it includes a
good quality image of the Kings Of
Leon in a long shot position. This is
commonly used in NME, as well as
other magazines. The way they are
stood says a lot about their power in
the industry. For example the
camera is at a low angle to the band
therefore they have more power
because the audience has to look up
to them. Also the use of guitars in
photographs with males represents
the phallic symbolism, which
suggests the larger the guitar the
more power you have and leads the
imagination to a what else the guitar
represents and how they can be a
sexualized object. This is how males
can be sexualized in a subtle way.
Inside the magazine similar
interviews and articles are written
about, things like festivals, gigs,
merchandise, new bands and albums
are what the audience like to read
about and will attract them to read
the issue.

People buy magazines for
entertainment and to escape the real
world, therefore when the Rolling
Stone printed an issue in August
2013 just after the Boston Marathon
bombings with a photograph of the
bomber on the front cover many
people had something to say about
this. The members of the public said
things like it glamorize terrorism
and people who were hurt in the
bombing should be covered more
than the criminal. I do agree with
the public, terrorist should not be
published and placed on the cover of
popular magazines. I understand on
newspapers but people buy music
magazine for entertainment and to
escape from the real world. The
editor of the Rolling Stone had this
to say about the issue, The fact that
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in
the same age group as many of our
readers, makes it all the more
important for us to examine the
complexities of this issue and gain a
more complete understanding of
how a tragedy like this happens.
Although the magazine thought it
was important to examine the
complex issues because the bomber
was the same age as the target
audience for this product it is still an
uncomfortable topic to publish,
especially front page on a magazine.

The people who buy indie music
magazines are represented and
stereotyped in many ways. Positive
representations may include the
person to be adventurous and
outgoing. When the negative suggest
the audience to be wild, out of
control and interested in alcohol,
smoking and drugs. The first words I
saw on the NME product were knife
fights! This could represent a
violent and unpleasant genre instead
of a play on an album name. The only
issue that I looked at that doesnt
mention festivals, gigs or violent on
the front cover issue is the Rolling
Stone, but they do include it inside.
This is because of the culture it is
usually published in the USA and
they are largely religious therefore
drugs, alcohol and violets is not
tolerated. Although the name of the
magazine was from the song Rollin
Stone by Muddy Waters which was
where the band The Rolling Stones
got their name from which contrasts
the whole representation of the USA
because The Rolling Stones are a
huge rock band around drugs and
rebel.

To conclude the genre of indie music
magazines suggest a mix of good and
bad representations. The more they
include rock music I think the heavy
the context becomes. But with the
front covers and articles I choose to
study it is shows a light-hearted,
slightly humorous genre, interested
and proud of their music. Music
magazines can be defined from the
crowd of other magazines as they
have common conventions to each
other such as the content, layout,
colours and style that is what a
specific small genre needs. Music
magazines are usually placed in the
eye view of the audience in shops so
they can be easily seen, as there are
not many popular ones out there in
the UK.
The small audience group who are
represented as being different and
unique and keen on their music
influences are mostly influenced by
the articles written in magazines like
NME Q and Rolling Stone. Each one
of these magazines has their own
unique way of attracting an audience
but they will always follow the same
conventions.

-Melissa Storey