Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Sub-cultures:
Goth: Emo: Punk:

Mod:

Hipster:

Rocker:

Goths
The Goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the Gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The Goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify. The music of the Goth subculture encompasses a number of different styles, including Gothic rock, deathrock, postpunk, darkwave, ethereal , industrial music, and neoclassical. Styles of dress within the subculture range from punk, and Victorian styles, or combinations of the above, most often with dark attire, makeup, and hair. I believe this subculture of people may be interested in my magazine as their music tastes of gothic rock and deathrock may be used in my magazine, although I dont think they would be constantly interested due to the other music tastes that would not be featured.

Emos
Emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World and Dashboard Confessional and the emergence of the subgenre "screamo". In recent years the term "emo" has been applied to a variety of artists, including multiplatinum acts and groups with unlike styles and sounds. In addition to music, "emo" is often used more generally to signify a particular relationship between fans and artists, and to describe related aspects of fashion, culture, and behaviour.

I do not think the emo subculture would be particularly interested in my magazine on a regular basis as their music interests are more focused on the screamo subgenre rather than rock or alternative rock, which is what my magazine focuses more on.

Punk
The punk subculture, which centres on punk rock music, includes a diverse array of ideologies, fashions and forms of expression, including visual art, dance, literature and film. The subculture is largely characterized by anti-establishment views and the promotion of individual freedom. Music tastes include garage rock, punk rock, heavy metal and reggae. Ideologies include anti-authoritarianism, a DIY ethic, nonconformity, direct action and not selling out. Fashion tastes include tattoos, piercings, Mohawk hairstyles, drainpipe jeans, boots and using everyday items such as safety pins or tape to hold together rips. Punks could possibly be interested in my magazine as it has elements of punk rock and heavy rock, but is not the main subculture my magazine is aimed at.

Mod
Mod is a British youth subculture of the early to mid-1960s and was briefly revived in later decades. Focused on music and fashion, the subculture has its roots in a small group of London-based stylish young men in the late 1950s who were termed modernists because they listened to modern jazz. Significant elements of the mod subculture include fashion (often tailor-made suits); music (including soul, ska, and R&B); and motor scooters (usually Lambretta or Vespa) I dont think the mod subculture would be a common audience for my magazine due to the fact that is has pretty much died out and the music tastes of mods are not focused on rock music at all.

Hipster
Hipsters are broadly associated with indie and alternative music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility (including vintage and charity shop bought clothes). Hipsters are typically described as affluent or middle class young Bohemians. The term in its current usage first appeared in the 1990s and became particularly prominent in the 2000s, being derived from earlier movements in the 1940s and are mostly white 18- to 34-year old people. I believe this subculture of people may be interested in my magazine as their music tastes of indie and alternative rock subgenres means they would probably be interested in the sorts of music featured in my magazine. Also, as many of my questionnaire respondents identified their favourite music genre as being alternative rock, so I therefore focused my magazine on much of this music.

Rocker
Rockers, leather boys or ton-up boys are members of a biker subculture that originated in the United Kingdom during the 1950s. It was mainly centred around British cafe racer, motorcycles and rock and roll music. The rockers' look and attitude influenced pop groups in the 1960s, such as The Beatles, as well as hard rock and punk rock bands and fans in the late 1970s. I think that the rocker subculture would be interested in my magazine as it would include rock bands: classic and new. I think this subculture of people would appreciate the more classic rock bands that would feature in my magazine and not so much the more heavy metal bands. Therefore, I think they may be a significant part of my audience.

Examples of how my magazine is appropriate for different subcultures

This magazine is only 1.50, which is relatively cheap for a magazine. This would attract people for example from the Hipster subculture, as they are often younger people who would not have much money. I think Hipsters and Rockers are the types of people who enjoy going to gigs and concerts, therefore the fact that news on upcoming tours is featured in my magazine, they will be attracted to buy it.

I believe the Hipster subculture will be especially interested in hearing about new artists, therefore this will attract them to buy the magazine. This cover line will appeal to people of the Goth and punk subculture as they are often very focused on fashion and the way they look.

These artists will all attract people of the Rocker subculture as they are all rock bands who they would be interested in.

Race/ethnicity:
The majority of the people in my magazine are white as these happen to be the typical ethnicity of people who fall into my target audience and the subcultures that my magazine is aimed at. However, I have featured pictures of an Afghan male and an Asian female in my contents page, just to show they are not excluded from being a part of the audience, they are just not the majority.

Gender:
The main image on the cover of my magazine is of a female. This helps to attract both male and female audiences, which is what I wanted to do, due to females being interested in hearing about female celebrity information, whereas males like to look at the female celebrities. There are only females featured on the double page spread as it is meant to be an article about a new girl band, which I believe attracts the audience to hear about a rock girl band as this is not very common.

Social class
All of the people featured in my magazine are of a lower middle class as this represents the type of people I am aiming to attract to buy the magazine. This is due to the idea that these are the types of people who would be most interested in my magazine as they are more likely to get into subcultures and go to festivals and gigs compared to an upper class person for example. The magazine is also priced at a reasonable price for lower middle class people to be able to afford on a regular basis. If the magazine was priced much higher the magazine would probably only be available to higher social classes as the lower classes would only be able to afford it every now and again.

Disability
The issue of disability has not been addressed in my magazine. This is not because my magazine is not aimed at disabled people, as they are just as likely to be interested in rock music as anyone else. However, I should imagine that stereotypically, disabled people are less likely to be involved with different subcultures and therefore would not be appropriate to use in my magazine as a form of attracting my target audience.