One typical convention of an alternative music magazine cover I have used is a bold and recognisable title in colours such as red and black as these are common colours to use in alternative music magazines, therefore I am following convention. I did this because it creates a strong brand identity for my magazine and the reader creates a familiarity and emotional attachment to the magazine and is therefore more likely to continuously buy it. Another typical convention I have used is using a musical artist on the front cover to attract the audience – however one way in which I have gone against convention is that I have done a full body shot of the band as opposed to the typical upper-body/head shot studio photography that most magazines use. I have done this because a more laid back and informal photograph shows that the magazine is not as serious as other magazines – which is key in attracting a younger audience as younger audiences do want to read interesting and fun music magazines to hold their attention. As well as this, if my magazine was on sale next to these magazines my unique photography may stand out more to consumers and give it a competitive edge.Another convention of a music magazine that I have used splashes to further draw in the reader i.e the chance to win tickets/reviews of live performances as these are typical things that you expect from a music magazine. I have done this because once the main feature artist has already captured the attention of the reader and these splashes would further grab their attention and make them want to buy the magazine.

I have not used many conventions when making my contents page. For example, other alternative music magazine have very cluttered and busy contents pages, whereas I have kept mine simple and concise as younger readers tend to ignore big chunks of writing – therefore I have used as little text as possible to hold their interest. Another convention I have used is a letter from the editor, while not all music magazine do this I chose to have one in my magazine because it creates a bond with reader as it addresses them directly – this makes them feel involved and part of the magazine and as if they are somehow involved. Another convention I have used is a picture of my main cover feature band to further capture the attention of the reader – however one difference is that I have included pictures of earphones and vinyl records. I have done this because I wanted to further express that my magazine is all about the music (new and old) and the earphones represent the new, modern music and the vinyl represents the older music. I think this is effective because it shows that my magazine will always be interesting because it includes a variety of music from across the years for those who appreciate older music, but also includes lots about new music for the more modern alternative fans.

One convention of an alternative music magazine I have used is darker colours. I have done this as it is typical of most alternative music magazines as most mainstream pop magazines are brightly coloured so they do this to show individuality. I decided to follow this convention very closely to establish to consumers that my magazine is in this genre and fits in. However, one way in which I have differed from these other magazine spreads is I have broken down my questions so that my writing is not in one large block. I have done this because my target audience is younger therefore they will as a rule not want to read through large blocks of text to get the information that they want, whereas if it is broken down they can just read the parts that they are interested in without losing interest. Furthermore, I have also used a bold title including the name of the band and pictures of them to grab the attention of the reader and know that this article is all about this artist. I have done this as fans of the band or artist are more likely to read on and find the spread interesting if they know it is about a band they like. Also, instead of using one big image I have used two smaller images. I have done this so that the different images on different angles create a sense of chaos and disorganisation which adds to the point I am making about how my cover band are. Also, my younger audience would appreciate more images to look at along with the text.

For the most part I think that I have achieved the necessary conventions of an alternative music magazine as I did some audience research into what people expect from an alternative music magazine and this what they said:“Be bold and make a statement”

“Lots of pictures”

“Bold fonts, dark colours, info about what is inside the magazine”

“Dark colours, band pictures, bold font”

“Live music reviews, interviews with bands about controversial issues, album reviews”

“Interviews, reviews of CDs and gigs, merch”

I then asked: ‘Does this magazine meet those expectations?’

100% of the responses said ‘Yes’