Uses and gratifications

This is about what people do with the media rather than what the media does to people. The theory assumes that members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. It also holds that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs. The approach suggests that people use media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory can be applied to music magazines as people take an active role in which magazine they choose to read.

There are four primary factors for which one may use the media:

• Diversion-this is something to do in order to escape from reality/problems. So people may read music magazines to escape from their problems so they can feel better.
• Personal Relationships-using media to discuss with friends afterwards (e.g. last nights Eastenders) and also as a subsitute for real contact (e.g. Facebook). This could also fit into another theory which is the two-step flow. The first step is that the media introduces us to ideas and then the next step is that we discuss these ideas with others and an opinion. In other words, we read or hear something in the news/magazines and discuss about the topics raised with others.
• Personal Identity or Individual Psychologyy-defining yourself by your media texts, building your sense of self. So, for instance, someone who reads NME magazine would be defined as a Indie person.
• Surveillance-finding out about the world and finding out info. For example, people may read music magazines to find out about their favourite artists or whether they are going on tour.