Uses and Gratitfications Theory

The uses and gratitfications theory has an audience with a hands on approach. The theory is that it is centered around the audience by seeing what they do with the media, rather that just seeing what media is doing to the consumer.
This then allows the audience to take a active role in finding out what the media is and how it is affecting lives. The theory makes the audience responsible for chooseing the type of media that meets their needs, with an example of a consumer enjoying Indie music, they then would'nt go out and buy a girly magazine, this means that they can choose the genre of magazine by the image of a celebrity, font, colours and the text sizes on the cover. The approach suggests that people use the media to furfill the specific gratitfications, so this theory would then imply that the media compose against other information for the viwers gratitfications. It shows me how effective a front cover of a magazine is to the audience and this will help me in designing and creating my music magazine.