Tuesday, 12 November 2013

Questionnaire


  1. How often do you buy a music magazine? Tick your answer.

    Everyday [  ]      Once a week [   ]    Once a month [   ]     Not often [    ]

  2. What genre of music do you usually listen too? Circle the answers which apply to you.

    Rock and Roll        Pop      R&B      Country    Classical     Jazz     Reggae     Rap

  3. Which current magazine appeals to you the most? Circle one.

    Kerrang!
    NME
    Q
    Billboard
    Blender
    Mojo
    Rolling Stone
    Smash Hits
    Vibe
    Fader
    Mixmag
    XXL
    Paste
    Spin
    Other __________________________

  4. What does/would interest you the most in a music magazine?

    Reviews of artists [   ]
    Reviews of songs/albums [   ]
    Activities like crosswords/word searches/quiz [   ]
    Interviews with celebrities [   ]
    Competitions [   ]
    Fashion styles of artists [   ]
    Compiled lists of best new albums/songs [    ]
    List of music events [    ]

  5. What intrigues you to buy a music magazine?

    The main headline [   ]
    The price [   ]
    The celebrity on the front cover [   ]
    The name of the magazine [   ]
    The interviews inside (content) [   ]

  6. How much would you spend on a magazine?

    £1-£1.99
    £2-£2.99
    £3-£3.99
    £4 +

  7. What artists/bands would you like to be featured?

    Rihanna  [   ]
    Katy Perry [   ]
    Taylor Swift [   ]
    Coldplay  [   ]
    Chase and Status [   ]
    Disclosure  [   ]
    Justin Timberlake [   ]
    Drake [   ]
    Eminem [   ]
    Jay-Z  [   ]
    Beyonce  [   ]
    Rita Ora  [   ]
    Jessie J  [   ]
    One Direction [   ]
    The Wanted [   ]
    Ellie Goulding [   ]
    Calvin Harris [    ]
    Labrinth  [    ]

  8. Do advertisements in a magazine influence you to buy a product? Circle your answer.

                                                                 Yes                                                   No

  9. Do you like reading about new upcoming artists?

                                                                Yes                                                     No

  10. Does the price put you off a magazine?

                                                                Yes                                                      No

  11. Are you male or female?

                                                                 Male                                               Female

  12. Which name do you think is best for a music magazine? Circle one.
    Loud
    Identity
    Millennium
    Dimension
    Amplify
    Boombox
    Jukebox
    Buzz
    Infinity
    Pop
    Fusion
    Muse

  13. Is there anything else that would attract you to a magazine?

    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Monday, 11 November 2013

Magazine name ideas

  1. Identity 
  2. Loud 
  3. Millennium 
  4. Fusion
  5. Dimension
  6. Buzz
  7. Amplify 
  8. Muse
  9. Boombox
  10. Jukebox
  11. Pop

Sunday, 10 November 2013

NME magazine

NME magazine represents its brand identity as serious, punk, controversial and modern as it focuses on current rock bands and artists who are contributing to the music industry. The magazine cover is usually quite busy and bold, and the masthead is always in the top left hand corner, ‘NME’ is an acronym for new musical express and appeals to young adults/adults around the ages of 17-30, it mainly targets males due to its content and style. The core readers will have a passion for rock, alternative or indie music and be dedicated, well educated people. NME’s brand values are focused on its edgy style, its love for music, its excitement of discovering new music, and supporting current and upcoming artists. There are plenty of interviews, events and news to keep the audience engaged and interested.

Billboard Magazine

Billboard magazine represents its brand identity as tasteful and cool but sophisticated, this is because ‘Billboard’ usually uses an image dominated front cover which is bold and colourful to attract their audience. ‘Billboard’ is always across the top of the cover with the bright colours in the middle of the letters this is how it is recognised by the readers. A well-known, current star is put on the cover to attract their core readers who want to read about up to date music and see the chart listings. ‘Billboard’ is aimed more at adults between 25-54 years old, its brand values are that it’s exciting, modern and shows the future of music. The photography clearly shows that it’s aimed at adults as it’s of high quality and thought out so the right effect is presented to the audience; this is achieved through make up, lighting, costumes and camera angles. 

Prezi- Detailed analysis and textual reading of a music magazine

Thursday, 7 November 2013

Brand Identity and Brand Values

Brand identity is how a business wants a brand's name, communication style, logo, fonts, house colours/style and other visual elements to be perceived by consumers. The components are created by the business itself so their customers/audience can recognize the brand.

Brand values are things that are deemed important by a brand, the things that it stands for and it represents.

The brand identity for my music magazine will be quite sophisticated but will be young, modern and tasteful too. This is because I must establish a clear brand identity which will appeal to my target audience. It’s important for my front cover to look professional but contemporary and fresh, and the other conventions of my front cover must make it look cool and interesting. My contents page will follow the same house colours as the cover which helps the audience recognize and remember how it’s matched. Depending on the questionnaire feedback I will either make my magazine image dominated so it is more visual or 'blocky' which involves more text as well as images.

The brand values are the fact that my music magazine is original, youthful and stylish. It’s important that my target audience find my music magazine supportive of new talent, genuinely enthusiastic about new songs and albums and most importantly value the reader. If my audience is going to be passionate about their love of music, my magazine must reflect this too. This is why  I have created a questionnaire to do some market research by asking my target audience some questions about my music magazine and what attracts them to certain magazines which will give me constructive feedback to improve my magazine with.

Target audience research

What genre of music magazine are you going to be constructing? 
I will be constructing a magazine with the genre of pop, I have chosen this genre because I like the music, I listen to it daily and it is popular and current

Will it be for a mainstream or niche audience? Why? 
It will be quite mainstream as it will appeal to people who like current, new pop music which is in the charts at the moment. Therefore my magazine would appeal to a mass audience as pop is seen to be conventional and is enjoyed among many people. It will cover different aspects of pop music; styles including urban, dance and rap as well as different artists so it will be interesting for more people rather than if it were just focused on female solo artists for example.

Is it similar to any existing products or is it going to be different? Explain how and why.
My magazine will be similar to ‘We Love Pop’ and ‘Top of the Pops’ magazines however this is more of a child’s/ young teenager magazine therefore I will make mine more sophisticated so it will appeal to my core reader. ‘We Love Pop’ has a target audience of 13-15 year olds which only covers a small range of age; I need to extend this so it appeals to 16-21 year olds. Also ‘We Love Pop’ appeals to more females than males due to its bright feminine colours and content, so I need to ensure it appeals to both genders to cover a wider audience.

Who will the core reader of your magazine be? What will their age ranges be? What will be the gender mix?
The core reader of my pop magazine will be young people and mainly teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-21. The magazine will be suitable for both males and females due to the colours and the content must be suitable for all of the ages between 16 and 21. It will cover current, popular artists and bands that are in the charts which will appeal to this target audience as they listen to music most days on the radio (e.g. Capital FM) and will be interested to read reviews and opinions on the latest tunes.

Who will be your primary and secondary audience?
My primary audience is the core readers who are the teenagers and young adults, between 16-21, these are the people who are most likely to purchase my music magazine. My secondary audience will be (drop-in audience) the core readers friends and family who probably won't buy the magazine but will read it, therefore there content must cover a wide range of things to appeal to them as well.

What will be the socio-economic mix?
The socio-economic mix refers to the JICNAR scale, therefore my music magazine will mostly appeal to Grade E which includes students, who will be my core readers therefore it must be suitable for them and cannot be too expensive. However young adults could be from the socio-economic group D, C2 or C1, they are not as likely to be in Group A or B. The secondary audience may be from either A, B, C, C1, C2, D or E socio-economic classes as they may read the magazine from another person e.g. their friend, however the main focus is aiming my music magazine at students and young adults (core readers).

The JICNAR scale

Group A (Professionals)
Upper middle class, e.g. Barristers, Doctors, Executives

Group B (Managerial)
Middle class, e.g. Bank Managers, Teachers

Group C1 (Non-Manual)
Lower middle class, white collar workers, e.g. Office Workers

Group C2 (Manual)
Skilled working class, Blue collar workers, e.g. Car Mechanic, Machine operators, Construction workers

Group D (Partly Skilled)
Semi or unskilled manual workers, e.g. Assembly line worker

Group E (Unskilled)

Casual workers, dependent on state benefits, students