MUSIC MAGAZINE AUDIENCE RESEARCH

QUESTIONNAIRE

The following questionnaire is a study that I am undertaking for my media coursework, to see what people would want in a music magazine. Please tick the appropriate option.

1.       What is your age?

o   16

o   17

o   18

o   19

2.       What gender are you?

o   Male

o   Female

3.       What price should a music magazine be?  

o   £1.00

o   £1.50

o   £2.00

4.       Do you think a music magazine should have information about alternative things aswell as music?

o  yes

o  no 

5.       How often would you like to see new editions of a music magazine magazine?

o   Once a week

o   Once a month  

o   Once a year

6.       What do you like magazines to have more of?

o   Pictures

o   Text  

o   Mixture of both

7.       What colour scheme should the music magazine have?

o   Orange and silver

o   Blue and black

o   Red and black

o   Green and black 

o   Other (please specify) __________________

8.       What genre of music do you prefer?

o   rock

o   pop

o   hip hop

o   Other (please specify) __________________

9.       Do you think the music magazine should contain freebies and additional content?

o   Yes

o   No

10.    What genre should the music magazine be?

o   Urban

o   Gothic

o   Preppy

o   Other (please specify) ___________________

11.   Do you think the music magazine should contain advertising?

o   Yes

o   No

12.   Where do you usually read magazines?

o   At home

o   At school

o   On the bus

o   Other (please specify) ____________________

Thank you for your time, your opinion is appreciated.

TEXUAL ANLYSIS OF DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD

The double page spread has a coloured photograph of a group of black men and one young black girl in a beaten up, deprived looking area, similar to a shanty town. One man in the photograph is striking quite a fatherly pose with the young black girl, whilst the other men are either posing or busy doing something else. 

Beside the picture there is a lyric from Movado which reads “Everybody wanna see, whats Movado gonna do? Who’s goin’ up against Movado? Who’s gonna die? This quote is in a bold red font, with each line in a different size, which makes it stand out from any other piece of text on the page. The rest of text on the page is in columns and is only sectioned off by green coloured subheadings.

The quote from Movado is obviously meant to stand out as it is unique in both font and sizes; however I am of the impression that the red also represents the aggressive nature of the lyric as red is a colour often associated with rage or anger, whilst the alternating font sizes could symbolise the tune in which the lyric may have been performed. 

In the photograph the attention seems to be on the man who is with the young girl. This is Movado an established Jamaican Reggae Singer who grew up in a tough Jamaican ghetto and often collaborates with hip – hop artists such as Jay Z and lil Wayne. The pose he is striking with the young girl suggests that she is a relative or at least close to him. This challenges the stereotype that people in the music industry are self – centred. In addition Movado seems quite comfortable in his surroundings which challenges the stereotype that celebrities forget their roots and only appreciate the finer things in life.

PROFILING MY AUDIENCE

This is a reader’s profile of NME magazine and it is of a similar genre to the music magazine I intend to produce. The NME magazines readers consist of 69% men and 31% women whom average out to 24 years of age. This supports the majority of sponsors they have as they will mainly appeal to men. E.g. Larger, Cars, Games consoles and jack Daniels (bourbon)  

NME also found that 94% of their readers use the internet which will encourage them to advertise online. Also they found that their readers spend £152 on footwear per year, £532 on clothes per year and £1229 on audio equipment per year.

All of this information tells me that I would need to target my magazine at an audience of 16 – 24 years of age and include information on the latest fashion trends, latest music and maybe competitions to win electronic items.



TEXUAL ANALYSIS OF MUSIC MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

 

This magazine front cover is made up of a medium close up, colour photograph of a man looking straight at the camera, with his head slightly tilted to his right side. The man has a black t-shirt on with the word “unstoppable” printed on the front in white. He is also wearing a black baseball cap which is also tilted in the same direction as his head. Around his neck are two necklaces of Islamic symbols. The photographs background is plain back.

Behind the man’s head is a bold, white, san serif font masthead “VIBE” accompanied by the names of African-American celebrities, those involved with music in white whilst others are in yellow. Surrounding him are 5 cover lines and 1 puff. There is also a vertical barcode visible in the bottom left corner.

The masthead “VIBE” is defined as a feeling or a flavour which almost suggests that the magazine is full of zest and will appeal to people looking for an urban magazine with an extra kick. This idea is further supported by the san serif font used which is a fresher and more youthful font than a serif font which may be used by other magazines.

The man in the photograph (Drake) wearing mainly black and being in front of a black background could represent the magazines African - American heritage. In addition the black baseball cap also gives the idea of gangs and gang culture in hip hop, as baseball caps are usually seen as gang attire. The man’s pose is quite a “come and get me“type of pose which goes together with “unstoppable” printed on his t-shirt to represent him being at the top of his trade and challenging other rappers to match his standards.  It also makes a reference to one of his pieces of music called “Unstoppable” (released in 2009).

One of the cover lines refer to Drake (the man in the photograph) being “hip-hop’s new religion”. This statement represents the magnitude of the rappers fan base and the following he has as religions are centred on icons that impact the world in a big way. This links to the t-shirt Drake is wearing as the “Unstoppable” could also symbolise his career as well as his character.

The puff on this magazine front cover reads “Resurrection, The legacy continues”. This refers to the closing down of the magazine in 2009 but recent buyers, Inter Media Partners, a private equity investment firm revitalizing it. The quote in the puff is also similar to a quote from Inter Media Partners on buying the magazine who said they "feel privileged to purchase and resurrect such a storied brand....."(Wikipedia)  

The celebrities mentioned above the masthead are all of African-American decent which pushes the idea that this magazine is of black heritage and celebrates black talent.

Two of the cover lines on the front cover suggest that despite this being a music magazine it does offer alternative news and features such as sport (“Serena Strikes Back”) and Fashion (“....Cross Dressing with Amber Rose”)  

Taking all of the points above into account, I believe that this magazine is targeted at black males and females, who are aged 16-25 and are up to date with the latest music and Artists.

INTRODUCTION (MAIN TASK)

The following posts will be for my main task, which is to create a music magazine front page, contents page and double page spread.

CONTENTS PAGE

 



COLLEGE MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

Here is the first part of my preliminary task, which was to create a college magazine front cover. The picture on the front cover is one i took myself.  The required camera shot was a medium close up.