Audience and Research 2

Task 2

A typical reader of my magazine

My typical reader is John Smith. He is 19 years old and his hobbies are playing instruments, listening to his favourite pop-punk music and going to concerts with his friends. His favourite films are  

• My target audience is aged 16-19. This is because the bands in my magazine will all be made up of young people, which allows my target audience to relate to the bands, and for the younger readers, idolise them.
• My target gender will be males, although I won’t alienate female readers. This is because most Rock bands are made up of young males who can, again, relate to the bands. My female audience will also like these bands but I will focus on males.
• They will be from the C-D demographic. My magazine will be low cost. I will not compromise on quality in my magazine, but I am setting my price lower because I am appealing to a younger audience who will not have as much disposable income to spend on magazines.
• Their hobbies are playing musical instruments, reading music magazines, and going to concerts. These interests will be covered in my magazine, encouraging my audience to buy it. 
• Their musical tastes are Pop punk, All spectrums of rock and alternative music. My magazine will reflect these tastes.
• My target audience's fashion style will emulate the bands that appear in my magazine. They will wear the brands Atticus, Macbeth and Famous stars and straps for example. They will wear casual " Rock" attire. 
• As my magazine will be lower cost,  my target audience could be either employed or unemployed. Both will be able to afford my magazine and the magazine will appeal to them both because of the gritty style and rock look. 

The Music Magazine Industry

For my media exam revision I have been researching Music Magazines, both online and physical media, and also researching media Institutions.

The Vinyl Factory

"The Vinyl Factory is an independent British music and arts enterprise. In existence since 2001, the group encompasses a record label, vinyl pressing plant, gallery spaces, record shop and music magazine.

The Vinyl Factory manufacturing division, which is centered around our vinyl pressing plant, located on the site of the century-old EMI plant at Hayes, Middlesex, prides itself on crafting the best records in the world. Once the cornerstone of the British music industry, this is the plant that produced era-defining records by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Sex Pistols and more.
The Vinyl Factory also publishes FACT magazine, one of the world's most popular and influential music websites, with readership in excess of 3 million page views per month, and owns the iconic Phonica Records, one of London's best-loved yet globally renowned record shops.The Vinyl Factory record label collaborates with musicians and artists to produce and release limited edition vinyl, as well as create accompanying exhibitions, events and audio-visual shows. Our label roster includes releases with Massive Attack, Dinos Chapman, Florence + the Machine. Christian Marclay, Pet Shop Boys, Martin Creed, Bryan Ferry, The xx, Duran Duran and Jeremy Deller." 

- An extract from the Vinyl factory website

IPC Media

IPC media  is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.

"With more than 60 iconic media brands, IPC creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events.  As the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher we engage with 26m UK adults - almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. Our award winning portfolio of websites reaches over 25 million users globally every month"  - ipcmedia.com

IPC Inspire is IPC's men's division. Its portfolio of 38 brands covers a huge spectrum of interests and includes famous names from Country Life and The Field to Nuts and NME.


Wenner media

Wenner Media, LLC, a privately held company headquartered in New York City, publishes Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal magazines. The company's three brands collectively attract a gross monthly audience of 58.1 million – including 41.9 million readers per month in print, 9.8 million monthly unique visitors to its websites (UsMagazine.com, RollingStone.com and MensJournal.com), and 5.9 million gross mobile monthly unique visitors – and 5.3 million followers through social media outlets.



I will consider all of these Media institutions when creating my magazine, as I will need to choose a publishing institution that will represent my magazine well.

Audience and Research

Task 1

I have researched the target audiences of various different high profile, high selling music magazines. This research will help me narrow down my audience and aid in advertising my magazine to them.

The first magazine I researched was NME.

• NME’s readers are 69% male, 31% female
• The average age of their readers is 24
• They circulate 40,968 from January to June
• The magazine has a readership of 369,000

NME readers have a lot of disposable income

• On average they spend £532 on clothes per year
• They spend £1229 on audio equipment per year
• 52% of the readers own a digital camera.
• 94% of the readers use the internet, and spend 2.4 hours per day browsing the web
• They spent £108 on games and £197 on games consoles.

The second magazine I researched was Kerrang!

“Kerrang! will ensure that we are constantly appealing to our spectrum of readers. From the younger teenage readers who are more open to different genres of rock music – from emo to thrash etc, to the readers who respect Kerrang! as an authority when it comes to our scene’s heritage bands. Each issue will include a balance of bands and scenes to guarantee that we’re providing for our readers’ need for variety and their passionate appetite for their favourite bands as well as their desire to be introduced to new music within our world. We will focus on the BIGGEST things that are going on in our world each week, as well as guaranteeing that we are giving our main base of younger readers everything they need to get into, on top of this the interest in older, harder bands, cementing our role as an educator.” - Kerrang’s mission statement.

Breaking Conventions

Although music magazines follow generic conventions, some magazines make exceptions and break these conventions. In my research, I looked at special editions of magazines, and the conventions that they break.


For instance, this issue of Mojo is a John Lennon special. The Magazine features the main Image of John Lennon, and one Main cover line. The reason for this is because of John lennon's iconic status in the music industry. This issue of Mojo will attract readers just with the image of John's face. The masthead is in a transparent font to place emphasis on the image, and the cover line also uses a minimalistic font to compliment the image.

Generic Conventions of a Music Magazine Prezi.

Research and Findings Continued

Mode Of Address

Mode of Address is the way that the magazine addresses the audience. For example, if the main image is of a person looking straight at the reader, it is a direct mode of address. This draws in the reader because the image is at eye level. If the person is looking towards the side of the magazine, it will draw the reader to the cover lines on the side of the magazine.

House Style

A magazine's house style is the main theme that runs throughout the magazine. The House style ties the magazine to the brand by utilising the same colours across every issue, or uses the same colours for one specific issue in the case of exclusive issues. This magazine has a house style that uses blue, red and white

Strap line

A Strap line is a smaller headline attached to the Masthead or Main cover line. These give more of an insight into the contents of the article.

Main Cover line

The Main Cover Line is the main article on a page. Main cover lines are bigger than cover lines, and often use a different font or colour scheme to make them stand out.

Main Image

The main image is the most prominent image on the front cover, and is usually placed in the centre with the cover lines placed to the side

Cover line

Cover lines are used to show what contents is in the magazine. Content used in cover lines is not as important as the main image or main coverline, but still an important part of the magazine/

Date and Price

The date and price are sometimes placed on the barcode, or placed near the top of the magazine next to the masthead.

Research and Findings

I researched the generic conventions of a music magazine using this text. From the website, I compiled a list of conventions used on the front cover of a magazine.

Masthead
The Masthead is the title of the magazine, placed at the top of the page to attract readers when placed on a shelf. They are linked to the house style, and stay the same in every issue.

Barcode
Barcodes contain all the information about the magazine. They are placed on the front of the magazine usually, so that it will be easier to scan on a barcode scanner in a shop.

Pull Quote
A pull quote is a quote from someone that has been extracted from an article and placed on the front. The quote usually has important information that gives and overview of the article. The pull quote attracts readers because it shows a famous artist is featured in the magazine, and also entices them with what the article is about.

Selling Line
A selling line is used to promote the magazine. This could be an offer of a free CD, free posters or offers inside, or it could be in the form of a cover line with an exclusive interview. These are unique to the magazine, and use words such as "World Exclusive" and "______ interviewed inside!"

Researching Magazine Conventions

In preparation for my Main Task, I have been researching different genres of music magazines, and comparing and contrasting their conventions.

These are the two magazines I used for my presentation. They are both from different brands, Kerrang! and NME. I used these two because they are similar but still make use of different conventions for different purposes.

I also researched magazines with special issues, such as this John Lennon Mojo Special. I researched this because it breaks the generic conventions of a magazine. For instance, it does not use cover lines.