The document discusses how reception theory can be applied to analyzing the Billboard magazine. It provides background on reception theory, including that it focuses on how media content is encoded by producers and decoded by audiences, who may interpret messages differently. The document then gives an overview of the history and content of the Billboard magazine, noting it covers music charts, statistics, photos and videos. The document concludes that reception theory is relevant because readers can interpret the magazine's music opinions and facts in different ways, such as agreeing, disagreeing, or agreeing with parts but having their own views too.

1. How is Receptiontheory relevantwhenanalysing the Billboard Magazine?
My topicisthe Billboardmagazine. Iplantodiscovermore aboutthe originsof thisproductand how
my chosentheoryappliestoit. Formacro analysis,Iwill explore their history of the productitself
and howit came around,and alsothe historyof the productionandcreative processbehindtheir
product. For micro analysis,Iwill explore the technical processandhow itappealstotheiraudience
withtheircontent,includingwhatisinside the magazine,pages,detailsandmore.Iwill explainhow
my chosentheoryof ReceptionTheoryisrelevanttowardsthe BillboardMagazine.Iwill alsoexplain
howthisstudyhelpstowardsmyfinal majorprojectthisyearfor thiscourse.
My theorychoice isthe reception theory,thistheoryis “Receptiontheoryrefersthroughouttoa
general shiftinconcernfromthe authorand the work to the textand the reader.”Inotherwords,it
means“mediaisencodedanddecoded, the producerencodesmessagesandvaluesintheirmedia
whichcan be decodedandtakendifferentlybythe audience,sometimesnotinthe waythey
expected.”“Dominantreadingishowthe producerwantedthe audience todecode it,oppositional
readingiswhenthe audience rejectswhathasbeensaid,thiscouldbe because of differentreasons
if theyare a differentage,gender,have differentlife experiences etc,thisisa criticismof the theory.
Negotiatedreadingisinbetweendominantandoppositional,itiswhenthe audience acceptsparts
of the producers'views,howevertheyhave theirownviewstoo.” Itsoriginswere developedby
Stuart Hall in1973 and wentfromGermany to Americaand across the worldandit has frequently
resurfacedoverthe pastfewdecades. ItwasespeciallybiginGermany afew decadesago “every
area of literary endeavourinGermanyreactedtothe challenge of receptiontheoryatsome pointin
the seventies.”
The billboardmagazine isanAmericanmusicandentertainmentmagazinepublishedbythe
Billboard-HollywoodReporterMediaGroupeveryweek.In1984 itwas foundedbyWilliam
Donaldson andJamesHennegan,itwasoriginallyanentertainmentmagazine that coveredthe
industryinthe earlyyearsof the 20th
century,thenitfocusedmore onmusicas radios,jukeboxes
came around.Donaldsonpassedawayin1925 and was passeddowntohischildrenand Hennegan's
children,thenitwassoldtoprivate investorsin 1985 and isnow ownedbyvariousparties,mainly
PrometheusGlobal Media,acompanywithleadingassetsinthe industry.Itranksa lotof musicin
differentways includingsingles,albums,mosttrendingetcandispopularacross America,howeverit
doesrank the charts across the worldtoo,on the BillboardGlobal 200. It ranksmusic bydigital sales,
online streaming, physical salesweeklyandisalwaysupdatingtogive the readersthe newest
information onartists,albumsandwhatishappeninginthe industry.Italsogivesgoodphotosand
videostoowhichmakesitmore appealingtoreadand lookat.It originallygotitsname from
billboardadvertisementsforlive entertainmentlikefairsandcarnivals.Inside the magazine,onthe
frontcover itusuallyhasa photoof an artistand writingon the front coveraboutwhat’sinside,this
appealstothe audience andfansof the artiston the cover,it includesinformationand statistics and
alsothe layoutof the charts and rankingsare splitovera double page spreadasit isa lot of
information,thishelpsitlookmore eye catchingandeasiertoreadto the audience reading. Itis
knownto be “one of the mostcredible andreliablesourcesinthe whole musicindustry”andcalled
quite oftenas one of the “holygrailsof the entertainmentindustry”.Itstargetaudience is mainly
basedinAmerica;however,itfocuseson recordlabel executives,artists,musicretailers,and

2. obviouslythe musicfans. There aren’tmanycriticisms of the billboardmagazine,overall, ithasvery
positive reviewsandstrongcredible sources andisenjoyedbytheirtargetaudience,whichisone of
the reasonswhyit istrustedand reliable. Notsurprisingly,ithas millionsof customerseachmonth,
evenover4 millionpeople whobuyandreadthe magazine.Italsohasits ownwebsite online to
reador watchvideos,aswell asthe billboardphysical magazinesyoucanpurchase.
The colour scheme of thisbillboardmagazinedependsonthe image onthe frontcover,theyalways
have theirlarge billboardmastheadonthe frontcoverto attract the audience sotheirbrandis
memorable toanybodythatseesitagaininthe future,soitis effective forthemsotheymaybuyit
again. It isusuallythe same size textandsame fontbecause itistheirbrand.They have a
photographytakenimage of the mainartiston the cover,and itusuallyfollowsacolourscheme.
Thisis appealingtothe audience especiallyof the artist,due tobillboardbeingareliableandbig
brand especiallyinAmerica,theycan getin contact andspeakto some of the biggestartistsinthe
worldfortheirfrontcover andtheirmagazine asit isgood promotionforthe artistsand helpsbring
innewaudiencesand revenue forthe billboardmagazinewhichmakesthemgrow asa business
more and more. The camera shotsof the artistsare usuallyamediumshotor close upof the artist
posingor lookingtowardsthe camera,thisisappealingtothe audience becauseif you are looking
online,orina shopand see an artistyou enjoylisteningtoor somebody youare interestedinona
full size A4frontcover,you will be interestedtoreadmore aboutthem, thisisa mainway how the
billboardmagazine layouttheirfrontcoversandhow itattracts theiraudience.One mainandvital
part of a goodmagazine layoutisa contentspage at the start if the magazine,sothe audience know
where tolookand whatcontentsand informationare inthe magazine andwhatpage theyare on.
Billboardhasa similarlayoutfortheircontentspageswhichare clearandeffective.Theywillhave
charts and numbersonthe leftside,whichiswhatbillboardcanbe knownfor,and the pages
numberswithcontentsinthe middle of the page,whichiswhere most people wouldlookwhen
openinganewpage whichmakesiteffective.Theywillhave imagesof differentartistsandpage
numbers inthe corners so the audience canskipto the pagestheywant tosee.It alsohas events
and online exclusivesatthe bottomtab to make itmore interactive andtogrow theirbrandon to
differentmarkets,online andateventsatplaces. Ontheirinside's pages,they’re mostlyspread
across a double page,withalarge image of an artist withlarge subheadingsandtitlestostandoutto
the audience,withlotsof informationandwriting.Thisisgoodbecause itisa mix betweenlotsof
writing,butalsoimagesandcolourto make it easiertoreadand informative,soitworksforpeople
wholike toread a lot, and forpeople whopeople don’tlike toreadmuchor maybe don’tlike
lookingatbigparagraphs of texts.
My chosentheoryisthe receptiontheory.Itappliestothe Billboardmagazine because people can
interprethowsongsare on the billboardchartsanddisagree andalsohow the author writesabout
thembecause “itisunnecessary thatthe audience will decode the messageencodedbythe author
justthe same.”Sometimesthe audience canbe readingthe magazine aboutmusicorentertainment
statisticsoropinions anddisagree oragree withit,andsome of the audience candominantly readit,
and encode ithowthe producerwanted, oroppositional reading,whenthe audiencedoesn’tagree
withthe writersopinionsatall,evenif itisa musicstatistic andtheycoulddisagree andsayit isnot
correct or disagree withanopinionof anadjective orwordusedto describe asongor albuminthe
magazine.Orit couldbe negotiatedreading,where theyacceptthe opinionof the readerandagree
withit,howevertheyhave theirownopinionsandviewsonittoo,a goodexample of thiswiththe
billboardmagazine couldbe whenasongcouldbe at the top of the billboardcharts,theycouldread

3. it onthe magazine andacceptthat it has done well andagree whyitdidwell,butdisagree butnot
personallylikingthe songorhavingtheirowndifferentopiniononit.
I will applythe receptiontheorytomyfinal majorprojectthis yearand how the audience couldreact
withdifferentreadingtypesthatlinktothistheoryincluding,dominant,oppositional ornegotiated.
In a videoprojectformyfinal majorproject,itcan be appliedby havingameaningbehindit,
especiallyif itisa documentaryorsomethingthatisfactual,I was goingto do a tourism
documentaryof the area I live in,andthe audience canencode mymediaprojectanddecode itin
theirownway,thiscouldbe bylikingthe areaor dislikingit,decodingitbasedoff the wayIportray
the area to be like.If I doa printprojectformy final majorproject,advertisingmydocumentary
product,theycouldinterpretthismediabyeitherwantingtowatchit or not wantingto.
In conclusion,thisresearchaboutreceptiontheoryandthe differentpartsof it hashelpedmy
knowledge andwillhelpme withmyFMPandhow I interpretamessage ina mediaproduct. Ihave
discoveredlotsof differenttheoriesduringmyresearchanddifferentreferencesincludingbooks,
websitesandothersIhave lookedatduringthisproject. So, the receptiontheoryisrelevantwhen
analysingthe billboardmagazine because the audience caninterpretthe musicopinionsandfactsin
differentwaysbydifferentreadingtechniques.
References:
Anon. (2021). ReceptionTheory. Available: https://revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/media-
studies-level-revision/reception-theory. Last accessed 09th Sept 2021.
Anon. (Anon). Reception Theory. Available: https;//www.communicationtheory.org/reception-theory.org/.
Last accessed 15th Sept 2021
Robert C. Holub (1992). Crossing Borders: Reception Theory. Anon: University of Wisconsin Press. P7.
Anon. (Anon). Billboard (magazine). Available: https;//rockyout.fandom.com/wiki/Billboard_(magazine).
Last accessed 6th Oct 2021