Research Task Nine : Target Audience Research And Analysis

When going into deeper understanding on what my target audience prefers when  it comes to music genre, artist and preference on magazines, I had an array of different answers from the 11 people in which I asked. I asked 7 people between the age of 16-18 and all 7 people responded in saying their preference was towards house music or drum and bass when it came to a genre. 4 out of the 7 people that replied with the genre of house music were male and the 3 who like drum and bass the most were females. Based off of the responses from which genre people from the ages of 16-18 like the most I can paint an idea on which genre i shall base my magazine on. However, the remaining 3 people were aged from 19-25 and had more relaxed and less upbeat favourite genres which ranged from old school rock music to modern day pop music such as Taylor swift and Olivia Rodrigo. This means, the younger generation in which I interviewed were more entitled to follow trends to listen to music in which everyone else at that age is listening too. But, the people in which were 19 and above, listened to hidden types of music and were less likely too listen to music based on what everyone else chose. 

In addition, all 10 people in which I interviewed had answered that they had never bought a music magazine and haven't ever thought of purchasing one. The main reply in which they never have bought a magazine is that all information they need is delivered through social media nowadays so 'It would be a waste of money'. In addition, I asked all 10 people whether hey had attended a music concert before, 8 out of 10 people have been to a concert in their lifetime. The two in which hadn't said that they were too expensive nowadays to see your favourite artists, the other 8 people claimed they are worth the asking price especially I you are a big fan. Surprisingly, the 7 people in which had a liking towards the genre of house and drum and bass had never been to a concert in which they were playing that genre, they had all been to concerts surrounding rap and pop music. However, 1 person out of the group of 19-25 year olds had been to see Liam Gallagher at Knebworth last year which correlates with his passion in old school rock music. 

In conclusion, the research in which I took many people opinions into account to help me design a magazine to attract a certain target market was very beneficial in the fact of majority of people agreed with other candidate and there wasn't a distinct differences from everyone's  music taste. The help from the group of 16-18 year olds has helped me significantly in how I can design my magazine to target demographics. 

Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Independent Music Magazine Websites?

During the research into the overall design, layout and conventions of independent music magazines, I have learnt that they each follow the generic conventions which include the use of content plugs, mastheads, subtitles, hyperlinks and main images. However, each magazine in which I have studied have each got their own unique feature in what makes them stand out from the rest of the magazines. For example, the two newspapers in which I studied in detail were Metal Hammer and So Young have their own unique home pages which makes them different from the rest.

Metal Hammer for example has the details in which they use a font fore the masthead which is typically associated with the heavy metal genre, also on their main home page instead of suing an image they have a advertisement in which goes in a cycle displaying many products which is unique as many magazines have a advertisement at the top of the page or towards the side. In addition, the use of the advertisement located within the home page significantly increases revenue for the Metal Hammer overall as the company's will extreme amounts of money in order to have their product promoted. This works, very well as a niche idea from the independent magazine as it is more than one advertisement that loops round which once again significantly increases revenue.

In addition, the way in which So Young create a niche idea for their music magazine is the way in which they have small individual biographies about each artist which is mentioned within the edition for the magazine. This not only promotes the artist significantly more but also promotes the magazine that is on show as the readers are enticed by seeing genres in which they like being previewed so will be more enticed to purchase a copy. This means, that overall revenue will increase within So Young as it is promoting itself to multiple different audiences within the music magazine market. Furthermore, the way in which this makes this so niche within the music magazine market is that everyone promotes the artists, but So Young take it a step further by promoting them and giving the readers an opportunity to feel a sense of closeness to them. 

Overall, the researching which i have indulged ion within the independent music magazine market is a very niche market with a lot of room for each magazine to have unique features which entice many different audiences to purchase a copy. However, each magazine also holds many features in which that the other magazines do.

Research Task Eight : Research Into Other Independent Music Magazine Websites

Research Task Seven : Independent Music Magazine Websites

 

Reflection Point : What Have I Learnt About Magazine Contents Pages?

Whilst learning all about magazine contents pages, it has became apparent that many of the magazines follow the same conventions when publishing new editions. For example, one issue of the Vibe music magazine had all the generic conventions such as a title, main image, main cover line and many other small cover lines. In addition, this was the same when studying the sports magazine, it had all the generic conventions of that which is in a typical magazine. Furthermore, the layout in which is placed on the contents page is unique and different from magazine to magazine. The magazines in which I have studied tend to be all regular, conventional magazines, but for some magazines they do not follow the regular conventions and decide to do their own thing. 

However, the main use of the contents page is to entice the audience into reading the copy and further engage them through both use of images, titles and bold colours. The main use of all them key conventions is to keep the audience reading, the main image is typically the product inside (usually the artist, sportsmen or product) which tends to entice an average reader into more in depth reading of the magazine. In addition, use of issue numbers and page numbers allow the audience to keep up to date and on track with whatever issue is being released or what page they're on to allow them to find what section they are most attracted too. 

Research Task Six : Wider Research Into Magazine Contents Pages

 

Research Task Five : The Wire Music Magazine Contents Pages

 

Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Independent Music Magazine Front Covers?

The main ideas in which I have learnt through studying the front covers of music magazines is that they all come with the same features and follow the generic conventions in order to keep retaining customers and keep sales high whilst they continue to fall. As the sales continue to fall within the magazine industry, the key conventions of the front covers such as eye catching images and bold mastheads make the magazine stand out to catch the attention of new audiences and hope to retain them each month. In addition, the most common way in which the ownership of the independent music magazine operate is through not necessarily the distribution and circulation f the magazines, they solely focus on the production of them to insist they do not over do the amount in which they need. Furthermore, the masthead is the key way in which attracts the new customers or repeated customers in to purchasing the product again. For example, on both the Wire and RnR the mastheads are the soul focus and what catches the eyes of the audiences. 

Furthermore, the dynamic and eye catching images is what also catches the attention of readers. The Wire and RnR always have a new, colourful and music focused main image to nicely compliment their monthly magazine. For example, the month of May for both The Wire and RnR had a lovely front cover which directly linked the artist at show. The way in which this works s well is through the thought and time that the magazines take each time developing these front covers in order to increase sales and gain attention onto their magazines. 

Research Task Four : How Does 'RnR' Magazine's Front Cover Appeal To Audiences?

 

Research Task Three : How Does 'The Wire' Magazine's Front Cover Appeal To Audiences?