My chosen music genre

For my music magazine, I have chosen to design my cover around the genre of 'Indie rock'. I have chosen this genre as I believe that the idea of indie music is very abstract, and  can reflect this in the layout and design of my cover. This genre of music is very unique to other genre's and has no limited boundaries in regards to the content and style of the genre being a very 'different' style, this will allow me to use less mainstream ideas, and use ideas that would not necessarily be related to any other genre of music. Also I am very fond of the fashion aspects of indie music that are directly related to it, this influence could also help with my magazine cover.

The history of the 'Indie' genre:

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980's. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include 'indie pop'. Originally used to describe record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. As grunge and punk revival bands in the US, and then British pop bands in the UK, broke into the mainstream in the 1990's, it came to be used to identify those acts that retained an outsider and underground perspective. In the 2000's, as a result of changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the Internet, a number of indie rock acts began to enjoy commercial success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.


The term indie rock, derived from "independent," describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although distribution deals are often struck with major corporate companies, these labels and the bands they host have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences.


 The influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, rock and country. The terms "alternative rock" and "indie rock" were used interchangeably in the 1980's, but after many alternative bands followed Nirvana into the mainstream in the early 1990's, "indie rock" began to be used to describe those bands, working in a variety of styles, that did not pursue or achieve commercial success. Many people identify this genre as not being compatible with mainstream tastes. Many countries have developed an extensive local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country, but virtually unknown elsewhere.

This once extinct genre of music is now one of the world's leading genre of music. And there are now more artists of this genre than any other, some of these include;

Bombay Bicycle Club

Bombay Bicycle Club are an English indie rock band from Crouch end, London.

Florence and the Machine 

Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band.

Kasabian

Kasabian are an English Indie rock band formed in Leicester.

Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons are an English Indie folk rock band.

Vampire Weekend 

Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006.

Two Door Cinema Club 

Two Door Cinema Club are a British Indie rock band from Bangor and Donaghadee, County Down, formed in 2007.

Foals 

Foals are an English Indie band from Oxford, England.

Fashion has also had a huge influence on the indie genre, and this is largely due to the styles of bands such as those listed above.  The fashion liked to this gene fits  the unique style, and can also be inspiration for the design of my own cover. Some examples of style liked to the indie genre are:

After looking at all of the aspects that combine to create the 'Indie' genre, I now feel as though I have many ideas that link with this trend in style, and would make an unusual magazine cover. My next stage is to start thinking about the layout and how this could compliment the style and design of this genre.