Indie Music Contents Page Analysis

KERRANG

The contents page shown to the right is from Kerrang magazine, another popular indie/rock magazine in which generally has the same target audience as NME. Analysis of the circulation of Kerrang and NME shows us that the target audience is 16-24 year olds but the readership extends as high as 34 year olds, the gender split between the readership is primarily male however their still is a recognisable female audience. The design of the contents page does not give us a representation of this dominant gender and may be because the magazine as a whole wants to remain open to both gender in order to attract the highest possible audience.

Masthead: The masthead of this contents page simply says "It's A Riot!" It is large and wants to be seen, it is exciting and makes you want to read on. What is a riot?
This is actual a reference to the album name that Paramore at the time had recently released. The grungy and rough looking red background to the white text is effective in representing the recklessness of the indie and rock society, supporting Stanley Hall's theory made on the youth of society.

Layout: Straight away, at a first glance it is clear about what is standing out. Overall the layout of the magazine is similar to that of a torn out piece of paper, it looks rough or careless, maybe giving a representation of the kind of lifestyle people that are part of the indie society live. The layout of the contents page strays from common conventions of other popular music magazines, similar to the common conventions of indie music itself, it strays from common conventions set mainly by pop or rock music and other popular genres.

Typography: The typography is very bold and uses a reverse in order to make the important features stand out also the add depth to the contents page, in this instance the reverse is used primarily to highlight what story is on a particular page which is effective as this is what people look for in a contents page, the font used is bold and simple in nature, once again showing male dominance in it's readership as they may prefer simple and bold text rather than an elegant or complicated font which may be more favoured by females.

Colour: The main colours used to build up the background are white and black again a very minimalist combination of colours, the use of red is seen again to highlight features of the contents as well as the use of a combination of reverses. As previously mentioned the colour red denotes the feelings of love, passion, anger and sex, emotions that sub consciously have an effect on the reader and can influence whether they read on or not.

Images: A contents page is commonly thought of a list of numbers corresponding to a particular page however this contents page breaks this convention by the heavy use of images and also gives us background story into one of the feature stories. The entire left side of the contents page is used for listing contact numbers for those who are in charge of production of the magazine and also gives the reader information about who to contact regarding advertising in the magazine and also subscription information. The institution is obviously wanting to generate revenue primarily through the use of advertising and subscription services. The images shown are primarily from the band paramore, as this is obviously some sort of special issue dedicated to a particular band in order to attract a particular fan base to Kerrang. The images are very roughly put together almost in a collage design, to me this represents a quick and careless decision in order to represent the lifestyle of the rock and indie society. A collage is something that is simply chucked together, you would not expect to find photos of an indie band performing surrounded by a pre Victorian times frame. A collage is more easily recognised by the readers of Kerrang and the indie/rock society.

Q

Masthead: The second contents page is from Q magazine, another popular magazine within the indie culture.
The mast of this particular contents page is rather sophisticated and this theme does not contrast well with the casual nature of the majority of the images within the contents page. The logo of the magazine Q is clearly visible, the shortening of the word question to simply one letter, Q, is a bold move made by the institution to show their understanding and portrayal of the youth of society who stereotypically favour abbreviated words in order to make everything more simple.

Colour + Typography: It is clear of the colour palette used within this magazine contents page, red and white, ironically this is the colour of the logo as well. Whether this is a recurring theme throughout all of Q magazines is questionable and would be interested to look further into. Red acts as a stimulus for passion, love, sex and anger. The white acts as a plain background upon which the red primary colour and also the images presented can stand out upon. The font used is more feminine compared to that of NME who used a bold font in order to possibly represent masculinity due to its dominant male readership. Use of a more elegant feminine font may suggest that the readership within Q magazine is more balanced between both male and female.

Layout: Q magazine looks rather sophisticated in the way that it is laid out, there are a lot of parallels between text boxes and images which gives us a sense that it is professional, however would this be popular within the indie society, an attempt to keep things exciting and different from total conformity common conventions is the slightly angled layout of two of the images used in the contents page, possible to show that the production of the magazine is not meticulously perfected and still represents some raw and gritty unique style to it.

Images: The images used are all different to each other and personally I think this is an attempt to cover the whole of the indie lifestyle rather than just the musical side of it. The man in the suit looking rather serious may be an attempt to attract those classed as indie but also are in a higher social grade. Below this image shows an actual page from inside the magazine regarding Dean Martin a popular mid 20th century american singer and entertainer, possibly representing that the indie society still care for music from the past, possible because their interpretation of old music fits their description of indie music, it is decreasing in popularity, so is the indie society resurrecting the popularity of music from the past, simply because it is not over produced or mainstream in today's modern society. The bottom image shows what many of us would interpret as a member of the indie society. It looks as though it is taken from a festival, a popular event within the indie society as it proves that singers can actually sing and entertain, proving they are talented and it is not all just the tactical use of an auto tune button. The shot is mid performance and is specifically of a white male, This supports Marxist (1984) theory that white second class males are in control of society and the media. It also gives us a view as to who the role models within the indie society are. The central image is obviously the feature of the contents page, a woman dressed in non conventional clothing, making a bold fashion statements is seen as a norm in the indie society who are constantly trying to stray from the norms of society. It could be argued that the use of a female could be supporting Laura Mulveys theory, that females are simply used in the media in order to attract males. However this could be seen as an attempt to attract a higher female audience or at least give them something in the magazine that would possibly interest them.


NME

The last contents page I will analyse is from NME, arguably the most popular magazine within the indie music society.

Masthead + Typography: At a first glance the iconic NME logo stands out as well as the word "Contents". All in bold and capitals, similar to Kerrang magazines use of this, it is most likely used in order to attract and excite the males who make up the majority of the readership and the indie society. Once again the colours used are white and red and it really does seem to be a recurring theme that is easily picked up upon during analysis of indie magazines, personally I think that the white and black give a minimalistic feel to the magazine and the use of red is simply used in order to excite the reader with the stimulus of sex, anger and love. The font again is primarily bold in order to represent masculinity and also used to highlight particular parts of the contents page that the institution has decided is important. Throughout the magazine the use of a reverse has been used again, the overall layout is simple and easy to understand, hinting again of the male dominance in the readership as they may care less for complicated or elegant attempts to try and gain their attention.

Images: Once again we see the use of a white, arguably middle class male, Marxist (1984), dressed unconventionally, with long hair to represent his statement towards the breaking of convention and societal norms. This representation of role models in the indie genre seems to be a recurring theme within the production of indie magazines and is a key factor that I will take into consideration when producing my own cover/contents page. Throughout the magazine the use of a reverse has been used again, the overall layout is simple and easy to understand, hinting again of the male dominance in the readership as they may care less for complicated or elegant attempts to try and gain their attention. The picture is taken at night which adds to the mystery and joyous thoughts over the indie society.

Layout: This particular contents page is rather text heavy which is not a feature that is popular within indie magazines, frequent uses of images that represent the indie genre are usually present. However the one image used is powerful in the way that it represents this genre, it covers aspects of lifestyle, fashion and also portrays a potential role model within the indie society. The advertisement to the bottom of the page stand out well as instead of using red as a feature colour the institution has used yellow, this easily recognisable colour change in an otherwise colour conformed page definitely stands out and this is an effective method of advertisement. Compared the Kerrang magazine NME has a more professional look to it in the sense that there are apparent parallels between text and images which is certainly not clear in Kerrang's contents page, who's attempt to represent the rough and edgy lifestyle led by the indie society was moulded into their design of contents page. NME may appeal to the higher social grades because of this and those in social classes D and below may not care for this meticulous use of parallels and may prefer and more rough design. Those in the higher social grades C and above may care for this design as they may simply just be more interested into the music and not the careless and reckless lifestyle that comes from being "indie".

Colour: The same use of colours are present again, red white and black, occasionally the use of yellow is present primarily in features of advertisements, this really has been staring me in the face since the start of indie music magazines. These colours are obviously popular in representing the needs and thoughts of the audience and their lifestyle. This will help me greatly when it comes to producing my own indie magazine. Bentley (1997) ‘The making of the new and rearranging of the old’.

Overall I feel confident in be able to identify the common conventions of magazine production within the indie genre after analysis of three different cover and contents pages from leading magazines that are popular within the indie society, I would also now be able to produce a piece of work that clear represents the indie society.