Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Independent Music Magazine Websites?

During the research into the overall design, layout and conventions of independent music magazines, I have learnt that they each follow the generic conventions which include the use of content plugs, mastheads, subtitles, hyperlinks and main images. However, each magazine in which I have studied have each got their own unique feature in what makes them stand out from the rest of the magazines. For example, the two newspapers in which I studied in detail were Metal Hammer and So Young have their own unique home pages which makes them different from the rest.

Metal Hammer for example has the details in which they use a font fore the masthead which is typically associated with the heavy metal genre, also on their main home page instead of suing an image they have a advertisement in which goes in a cycle displaying many products which is unique as many magazines have a advertisement at the top of the page or towards the side. In addition, the use of the advertisement located within the home page significantly increases revenue for the Metal Hammer overall as the company's will extreme amounts of money in order to have their product promoted. This works, very well as a niche idea from the independent magazine as it is more than one advertisement that loops round which once again significantly increases revenue.

In addition, the way in which So Young create a niche idea for their music magazine is the way in which they have small individual biographies about each artist which is mentioned within the edition for the magazine. This not only promotes the artist significantly more but also promotes the magazine that is on show as the readers are enticed by seeing genres in which they like being previewed so will be more enticed to purchase a copy. This means, that overall revenue will increase within So Young as it is promoting itself to multiple different audiences within the music magazine market. Furthermore, the way in which this makes this so niche within the music magazine market is that everyone promotes the artists, but So Young take it a step further by promoting them and giving the readers an opportunity to feel a sense of closeness to them. 

Overall, the researching which i have indulged ion within the independent music magazine market is a very niche market with a lot of room for each magazine to have unique features which entice many different audiences to purchase a copy. However, each magazine also holds many features in which that the other magazines do.