Music Magazine Task - Test Shots

These are my test shots for my music magazine. I experimented with different lighting and angles to help me decide what would look best for my final image.

Music Magazine Task - Initial Ideas Spider Diagram

Music Magazine Task - Mock Up Front Cover, Contents, Double Page Spread (Digital Version Existing Images)

Music Magazine Task - Mock Up Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread (Hand Drawn Version)

Music Magazine Task - Mock Up Front Cover, Contents Page and Double Page Spread (Digital Version)

Music Magazine Task - Price and Frequency of Magazine Publication

I have decided to publish my magazine on a monthly basis at the price of £4.00. I have done this because I feel that it would be more benficial to the readers of the specified publication to pay £4.00 once a month to recieve a fairly large magazine rather than paying £2.50/£3.00 a week for a magazine that is only around 60-75 pages thick like the magazines Kerrang! or NME.

Music Magazine Task - Choice of Genre

I have decided to pick classic rock for the genre of my music magazine for this assignment. I have picked this because it is a genre of music I enjoy and I think the style of magazines from this genre would be fun to experiment with. For my inspiration I have used icons such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and The Who. In my previous two posts I have used examples of images and videos to show the inspiration behind this idea.

Music Magazine Task - Video Inspiration

Music Magazine Task - Mood Board (Hair Inspiration)



This is a mood board of the hairstyle I want to use on my model, Adam, for my photoshoot:

 

Music Magazine Task - Mood Board (Shoe Inspiration)



This is a mood board of the different types of shoes I am considering using on my model, Adam, for my photoshoot:

Music Magazine Task - Mood Board (Image Inspiration)

I decided to make my mood board into a video, I did this because we were encouraged to be as creative as possible in our planning of the music magazine we will be creating. My video contains pictures of artists/bands who I have used as inspiration for this task, along with a stop motion making of my mood board with a sound track reflecting the genre of my magazine.

Music Magazine Task - Uses and Gratification Theory

The uses and Gratifications theory is a theory that people seek certain media institutions as a means of escape, an emotional blanket or diversion. The theory identifies that audiences are responsible for choosing the type of media outlet or institution they seek to fulfil special gratifications. As it is the audience themselves that hold the most power it is up to the producers to create a type of media that will be bought, this is determined by help of demographical research. This model of research shows that audiences have very specific wants and needs.

Blulmer and Katz (1974), two main researchers of the uses and gratifications theory, discovered what they believe to be the four main reasons for media consumption. The reasons they found were diversion, personal relationships, personal identity and surveillance. These four were identified because, diversion would be a means of getting away from the stresses of everyday life, personal relationships would be there to offer primary socialisation on how to construct relationships between people and families, personal identity offers lessons on norms, values and behaviour and finally surveillance, i.e. weather, news, offers and bargains.

The theory has become quite dated in itself since the development of things like games consoles, the internet and social networking. Researchers decided the four main reasons for social networking were information, socializing, self-seeking and entertainment.

Music Magazine Task - Demographics

A simple definition for demographics would be Studies of a population based on factors such as age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment, among others. A business demographic would be which age, race, sex, economic status, level of education, income level and employment companies would choose to direct their product at.

This is an example of a demographics table based on social class:

It is important to know about demographics because it helps you to decide on your specific target audience and also helps businesses define the wants, needs and lifestyles of their decided customers. Having good demographical knowledge can help to boost the sales of a magazine by using research methods, such as reader profiles, and therefore truly addressing what the reader wants and giving them a special connection with the finished product. Demographics can determine the type of people magazine companies are selling to then mould their product around this example. Demographics determine the style, content and overall appearance of a magazine. For example, a magazine sold for teenagers would not contain financial advice, car insurance providers or interviews with politicians because it simply would not sell.

For my music magazine I will be aiming it at a demographic of people who range from teenagers to mid-late twenties. I have taken all other demographical factors into account and decided to not let it be gender or race specific, but to be based solely on music taste of a determined genre. I will make the magazine affordable so people from all ranges of the social spectrum can afford it but I will be careful not to advertise unaffordable brands.

Music Magazine Task - My own Reader Profile

I created my own reader profile based on the genre and specific target audience of my product.

Music Magazine Task - Reader Profile

This is a reader profile for the music magazine NME; these are created to show the demographic of their readers. This is done by showing the readers’ gender, careers, interests and opinions of their readers. From this we can see that the average reader of NME is a 24 year old male in a full time job. It also shows that their readers are fans of the internet with well over 50% having broadband, they enjoy games consoles and that 84% have digital TV. We can also see how much they spend per year on shoes, clothes, audio equipment and digital cameras, along with how many DVDs they buy a year with an average of how much spent.

The reader profile also contains a colourful and eye catching collage which contains a summary of things presumed to be liked by their demographic due to the averages discovered in the reader profile. As you can see the collage shows well known yet affordable, high street brands accompanied by games consoles, popular games, and well known alcohol, food and hair brands. All the brands and products are popular but still not ridiculously expensive because, as shown by the reader profile seen above, their demographic would not be able to afford such things as designer brands. Therefore NME has to show things that their readers like and feel like they can relate to or afford or buy, this helps keep up their sales numbers as it gives the reader a connection with the magazine.

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