Who decides how musicians/bands are represented in music magazines?

Many people with in the music industry decide and influence how a band is represented to the public. But in some cases the fans and the public also contribute towards the styling of the band or musician.

To show this I have decided to analyse the band one direction (who was in one of the magazines I analysed previous to this). This is a band made up of young boys; they also have a fan base of young girls. The audience (fans) help to create the bands image in certain ways. For example you never see photographs, or when they are on stage, of girls draping themselves over them in a provocative way. This is because as there audience is young girls it is not appropriate to show this also many fans are obsessed with them and, in their minds, really want to become their girlfriends so this will then take there fan base away from them as they think they have no chance with any of the band members.

The record label who the band is signed to also have a say in how the band is represented to their audience. For example they have the main decision of what songs the band can release to the public as the words in the songs will affect how people see them. This then affects how they are seen in their music videos. The music videos is one of the main contacts they have with their fan base as they see them singing the songs but also it may seem like they are singing to the person who is watching it. This will draw in the audience especially by singing love songs such as “little things”. This is also important for the record company as they will sell more copies of their songs thus making more money.

I think many people think that stylists and photographers have the main say in what the band looks like. In many cases this is right as they tell them what to wear, in their case they dress quite smartly, which gives them a crisp and clean image. But the stylists could be told what to do by the manager or/and their record label. You could also argue that the band have a say in what they wear and look like as they are young and that is typical of what they do wear and

look like but not necessarily of how they act which I think is mainly controlled by the people around them.

Lastly the genre of their music, pop, plays a big part in how they are represented. As if they were dressed in leather, all black and wear make-up then that would represent rock and not pop. This is because pop is generally clean and may represent how everybody should act in their case teenage boys.