Humayra Suleman

Research Summary
Summary of Research done into general information about music magazines
In order for a music magazine to be successful, it has to store relevant and up to date information of when the magazine is released. In order for the magazine to sell, you must give the readers what they would like in their magazine. In order to do this you must speak to members which would be the target audience and you could ask them what they would like read about, what imagery would they like to see and also what types of artists which can be included on the magazine seeing as its a music magazine. The articles in the magazine have to be linked to the genre of the magazine and this has to match the text inside of the magazine too. Conventions of a magazine can be picked up by looking at existing magazines on the market and you can create and develop ideas through existing conventions. My individual magazine and its style have to be unique and have its own style so that it stands out from the rest of the magazines in shop shelves. My magazine should catch the audiences attention, through bright colours and imagery, which tends to be the main aspects the reader, can see instantly. The content of the magazine must be entertaining for the reader so that they keep buying my magazine. It should include exclusive informative data such as gossip about celebrities or the latest trends and dramas or exclusive interviews with the famous and favourite celebrities making the magazine exciting to read.

The most important thing that magazines must be aware of is something called AIDA: A Attract, the audience, the use of bright colours, images and text. I Interest, articles and sell lines should persuade the audience to buy the magazine. D Desire, lure the reader in by giving free gifts, competitions, posters etc. A Act, motivate youre the audience in purchasing the magazine e.g. create something that shows urgency such as having a limited offer.

A. Research into Music Magazines (A summary of my findings) Generic conventions of a music magazine
Front covers must have: A masthead at the top of the page. A barcode and the price of the magazine. The issue and the date of the magazine. A dominating image that takes up most of the page; matching the genre of the magazine. A few sell lines telling us what the magazine holds.

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Contents Page must have: The word Contents at the top of the page establishing what the purpose of the page is. Two or three images which are matching the genre. The title of the magazine has to be in the page somewhere; in a smaller text. Page numbers with what is on each page with subheadings such as band names, gossip, concert dates etc. The contents on the contents page have to be linked with the genre of the magazine. Double Page Spread: The text to be written in smaller paragraphs. The title to be catchy and play on words. The image to be on one half of the page and the article on the other side. The title to have a dramatic heading and have a sub heading informing us of what the article will be about. It should be about a particular artist or band, interesting to the reader. Elements that the whole magazine uses: Continuous colour schemes throughout the magazine. The title and/or slogan will be on all of the pages, stating subject of the pages. Same font style and text size used throughout the magazine containing about 2-3 different types. Same type of attitude throughout. For an example a rock magazine consist of artists being represented as being rebellious and breaking the rules. The content of the magazine is consistent throughout the magazine. For an example a pop magazine will feature pop artists/ pop music/ concerts. Summary of Research into My Chosen genre: My chosen genre is chart music consisting of a number of the most listened to music genres. A few examples of these genres are, pop, R&B, hip hop, indie, rock. I found out that: The clothes that the female side of the audience would wear would be casual clothing but the female audience would be more into dresses and skirts, emphasising the gender as being girly. Most females would be into pop and hip hop. They might wear sexy but casual clothing trends from their favourite famous artists such as Rhianna and Katy Perry. The clothes that the male side of the audience would be more interested in the hip hop, R&B side to the music, they would probably wear snapbacks, low jeans and baggy tops and jeans with expensive branded trainers. Males would be addressed as a typical urbanized teenager because of the low, chilled out clothing they would wear.

Humayra Suleman

Summary of research into the magazine that I am using as an example Below are images of Billboard magazine, which is the magazine that I would like to base my magazine on.

Below are images of the contents pages that I would like to follow And use as similar example for my music magazine:

These are articles that I would like to use as an example for my music magazine articles as they similar styled:

I have also found out from my questionnaires that my target reader audience would be likely to purchase the magazine within the price range between the prices of 12. They would prefer to see attractive artists on the covers of music magazines according to the questionnaire results. Reade gave a response that they would like to see large text and images on the music cover magazine. This is to attract the reader and to portray the magazine to be interesting to read rather than consuming
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in masses of texts which can bore the reader. I would like to include these types of elements in my music magazine which have been requested in the magazine. A reason for this is because it would make the magazine tailored specifically for their target audience, increasing the amount of interest and purchases of my music magazine. Billboard magazine also includes large images and text. The images are usually unique and not average images which are found in any magazine. An example of this is where a pale woman with bright red hair and wearing a red stripy onesie outfit is posing with her arms and hands waving in the air. This emphasises around the word fun, as she is smiling and her actions are suggesting she is free and happy with fun due to the fun stripy clothing and themed red colour. This is the same sort of portrayal I would require for my music magazine as I would like to base it on Billboard; a similar style of magazine.

C) Target Audience Research

Overall I believe that the target audience of my music magazine consist of both genders; men and women. They could be aged between 16-32 years, as music is a huge part of society the target audience range is wider because masses of people in the world listen to all types of music, which my magazine will tailor for. I received this information from my research that I did on the questionnaires. Below I will now summarise how this will affect the creation process of my music magazine. 1. The Cover should: Feature a popular music artist. Consist of bright colours making it interesting compared to the other music magazines on the market. Include attractive/unique images of the artist/ band. Offer freebies, such as posters of favourite artists which remain at the top of the music charts or either band merchandise. Have attention grabbing sell lines that include the latest gossip about the artists in the magazine. 2. The contents page should: Portray a much serious attitude, as it is to help the reader find the specific pages of the magazine they are interested into reading. Have a guide about concert dates and prices, as well purchasing details such as online payment or post. Include the latest gossip about the artists featuring in the magazine. Show a variety of images of artists which are seen to be more popular according to the music charts, also with a bit of information. Have information about what other artists/bands which also will feature in the magazine.

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Indicate which artists they have had interviews with, such as Drake, Beyonce, Flo Rida, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj.

3. The double page spread article should: Talk about the music that the artist produces, and what types of music they will be releasing in the future, such as new albums. Be informal, chatty as it isnt serious because the magazine must relate to the reader like a friend, instead of being formal. Gossip about relationship statuses, this may include who the artists are dating, who they are divorcing or who they are engaged to. Have a main dominating image on one side of the page, to represent the article through imagery and not just text, increasing the methods of communication indirectly. Be written in small chunks of paragraphs, so the reader is engaged. Use different subheadings to separate the writing or topics. Talk about the fashion which artists wear and the trends they bring out. 4. General Information Through my questionnaire I had found out that 80% of my target audience buy music magazines to keep up to date with the latest gossip and the hottest music albums on the market. 35% of respondents answered that they purchase Billboard magazine, which enables me to carry out a magazine in resemblance to the music magazine Billboard. However the majority of the other 20% responded to say that they dont purchase music magazines because they said that the content of the magazine can be found online for free. This means that I will have to work towards my magazine to be unique so that its content cannot be found in any other way except through the purchase of my magazine. The audience responded to say that they would make the purchase of a music magazine which would be within the 1-2 price range. I have to attract the audience into buying the magazine, and I think that I could aim my music magazine at males and females aged 16-32 years. As I have already analysed my questionnaires, so I know what the audience expect to see and what they want to see in a music magazine. Using the target audience preferences I will use these concepts and ideas and I will adapt these changes to be inserted into the music magazine I will be creating. As I have summarised my results and I am now ready to create my formal proposal, and also to start planning my unique creation of a music magazine.