GENRE OF MY MAGAZINE

As most editors believe, specifying a genre is the most important part of creating a magazine. With the genre determined, the content of the magazine can be sculpted in order to convey the appropriate ideologies of the target audience. As explained in previous posts, different genres have different stereotypes attached to the audience. I feel that is essential for me to determine the genre of my magazine so that the magazine can display content related to the target audience. This therefore increases the amount of readers due to the fact that that the magazine appeals to their norms.

It took me a while to think about which genre I should use. I narrowed it down to three genres:


Punk                           Pop                             Grime


PUNK-

Characteristics:
The punk genre was created in the United States during the mid 1970s. The genre was originally named 'Punk Rock' due to the strong link with rock music. However, the sub-genre of rock soon developed in to a genre in itself. The genre blew up and became extremely popular in the 1980s. Despite losing popularity in the 21st century, the genre is still extremely popular and well recognised in the music industry with large bands like Green Day and blink - 182. Stereotypes of the genre is crazy hair styles, tattoos and leather jackets. The target audience ranges from 16-35.

Reason why chosen:
- The genre has a large amount of sub genres attached to it. Examples are garage-punk and beach punk. The sub genres all have various stereotypes attached on to each one. So creating a magazine highlighting the whole spectrum of the punk genre means I have a greater chance of gaining the readers interest.
- Punk has a massive audience.
- I can use the sandy beaches of the island to portray beach punk and surf punk.
- Personally, I enjoy listening to the punk artists and this experience will help me create an accurate representation of the magazine.


POP-

Characteristics:
Pop music or 'Popular' music is the most common form of music. It promotes a mainstream audience of 7-18 and stereotypes the audience as white, British and mainstream. The genre has adapted since it first became apparent and nowadays, the music is usually from single artists and the beat of the music is usually electronically created. The artists are also attached to the oligopoly of record labels that promote their music.

Reason why chosen:
- For me, the main attraction to this genre is the fact that it is the most popular genre. This therefore means that the magazine has the ability to attract the largest audience.
- Like most people my age, I am most familiar with this genre and listen to it regularly through the radio, TV and other technologies.
- The majority of the magazines I have analysed convey the pop genre. This means I am already familiar with the layout of the magazine.


GRIME-

Characteristics:

Grime originated in London during the early 2000s. It was negatively looked upon by the media due to the fact that the lyrics were raw and honest. The music also contained a large amount of racist/ negative lyrics that were controversial. The genre has recently exploded and some songs have made it in to the charts. Artists like Stormzy or Skepta have grown a large following similarly to the followings of pop artists. The audience characteristics include being a 'chav' and dressing in a tracksuit. The target audience age has significantly decreased due to the growing popularity. It is now around 15-24 year old people.

Reasons why chosen:
- Grime is increasing in popularity and the magazine has the potential to sell.
- The audience seem to be extremely dedicated to the artists and the community seems to be very tightly linked.
- I am familiar with the genre.
- There are not very many grime magazines and the production of one could be very effective in drawing an audience.



After taking note of all the positives and negatives of each genre, I have decided to go with the Punk genre due to the reasons listed above. I will now start my research to determine what content should be included in the magazine.