Exploring Values and Ideologies of Other Magazines

I looked at two magazine websites, NME and Smashhits! I explored each of their ideologies:

• New MediaTechnology
• Past Music
• Cutting Edge/ Modern
• Non-Mainstream, alternative artists
• Quality Music
• Wide interests
• Business-like

NME give out the impression that they are individual, but they are run by IPC Media, a global magazine publishing house. This suggests that they are not in fact individual, but part of a group of other magazines trying to show the same thing. They are trying to attract an audience, individual people whose music tastes differ to the usual. But the fact that they are part of a huge magazine publishing house contradicts their promise of individuality. This is a show.

 

Young

Feminine

Colourful

Mainstream Artists

Interactive gaming

Simple

Non-political

SmashHits is all about looking pretty, which could be interpreted as a representation of the music it supports. It uses bright colours like pinks and purples to attract their audience. Pop bands these days, are more interested in looking good than producing quality music. For example, if there was a new boyband out whose voices were stunning, but their looks weren't too great, they wouldn't get very far. Image is everything. SmashHits reflects this fact in a less-obvious way.