Uses and Gratifications

1. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

2. Blumler and Katz (1974) suggested people
use the media to satisfy their needs. This
is called The Four Needs theory. It has four
main parts –
1. Escape and diversion from everyday life
2. Surveillance and information
3. Personal relationships
4. Personal identity

3. Escape and Diversion
• 1.Music magazines and websites can provide
an escape from people’s own everyday life;
the audience can get involved with different
artists and stories; they can get carried away
with drama or excitement and forget about
their own lives and worries for a while.

4. Surveillance and Information
• 2. Music magazines and websites provide
various kinds of information about music,
artists and the music business itself so the
audience can learn things, and find out what is
happening ‘out there.’

5. Personal Relationships
• 3. The audience can chat to each other about
music, artists, events and stories, sharing
opinions and information and so on. It
provides an opportunity for social interaction.

6. Personal Identity
• 4. Some audience members can compare
themselves with people in the stories,
imagining how they would react in similar
circumstances. Some people like to identify
with a type of music and describe themselves
as ‘Metal' fan or a 'Rap' fan, for example.

7. Mode of Address
• Look at the mode of address - language and
images that treat the readers as
knowledgeable/colloquial/informal language –
allows the audience to relate to the contents,
so they’ll be more likely to buy the product.
Obviously, this depends on the magazine. The
mode of address of Top of the Pops magazine
is different to Mojo, which, in turn, is different
to NME.

8. Interactivity
• Think how significant these points become when you
stress the interactivity aspect of your magazine -
especially point three. Magazines now tend to have
websites to take this interactivity further; you need to
think of ways that your magazine can will allow for
interaction between fans, between fans and the
magazine and, in some cases, between fans and the
artists.
So, "My website exploits Blumler and Katz' theory of
Uses and Gratifications because... "
I'm sure you can figure out the rest...

9. Interactivity
The editor of Kerrang!, James McMahon, went
on Twitter to ask fans about who should go on
the cover of their new music special. He’s also
invited demos from new bands and applications
from aspiring writers. This is a great example of
how music magazines keep their audience by
engaging them, infiltrating their daily lives and
making them feel like they have a say in what
happens.

10. Interactivity and Websites
Think what a website can offer – flash and streaming technology
allows the audience to watch videos and listen to music; music
can be downloaded, legally or illegally; sites can offer audio
interviews, links to social network sites where reviews are
posted straight after a gig or a listening session – or, indeed,
during either thanks to smartphone technology – pictures cab
be uploaded instantaneously; content can be continually
updated – even by the second; AND flash technology offers a
better platform for advertisers than the static print media.
Music magazine websites, fan and critic blogs, band websites,
social networking sites devoted to artists are part of Web 2.0
media. In other words, instead of the static pages that dotted
the early web landscape (and the pages of the print magazines,
of course), they’re interactive with the user.

11. Ideas for Interactivity
• http://heworthgcsemediastudies.blogspot.co.
uk/2013/05/ideas-for-interactivity-between-
music.html