Finished cover page, contents page and double page spread

Screen shots showing the editing process on photoshop and quark

Other photoshoots - contact sheet

Main photoshoot - contact sheet

Sketches and designs

Written plans for magazine pages

Cover Page Content: 'Sugar rush' interview, Amplified, exact articles titles for the cover, masthead title, all cover lines Layout information: Masthead at the top, barcode would be at the bottom right on its side, issue information next to barcode, cover lines around main image, main image will be large and in the centre. Design and editing features: I will use Photoshop and quark to edit my photos and make them look more professional Colours Schemes: Pink, purple, yellow, blue, green - mainly pastel colours for my contents and double page spread. Bright neon colours for my front cover. Fonts/Style of font: Sharp bold text for my masthead and cover lines throughout. Photos – Photo of two girls sitting on speakers posing. Picture of a boy and two girls looking 'pop like' and confident and friendly. Double Page Spread Content: Information about the artist and what they do and their music. Images of her posing and laughing. The nature of the article is informal. Layout information: Left side will have my main image of the artist along with her name and information about her. Three columns on the right hand side with a skyline above the interview and three images below it. Design and editing features: Use Photoshop to create a brush effect background and quark to create columns and the text. Colours Schemes: Pastel colours - purple, pink and green. Fonts/Style of font: Girly writing, - calibri, fonts of 'dafont' (Quandranta) Photos – Photo of a girl posing looking friendly and confident. Three photos of her laughing and smiling. Contents Content: All the articles in the magazine will be displayed here with subtitles for different topics. Layout information: The title will be contents and have the issue information next to it. It will have the twitter and instagram usernames for amplified at the top of the page. The editors note will be on the bottom right hand side. Design and editing features: I will use drop shadows and glow around the titles to make it stand out Colours Schemes: Pastel colours - green, purple, pink Fonts/Style of font: Large title and bigger titles for the article titles. Neutral text throughout the magazine, calligraphy writing for the signature of the editor. The editors text would be more stylised writing. Photos – A photo of a girl posing and a boy looking friendly and confident.

The publication plan

TITLE:    NPM, Amplified, Popped                                                                   

PRICE:  £1.20

TARGET AUDIENCE:  Both male and females from 16 – 20

POSITIONING STATEMENT: For people who want to know it all

FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION: Weekly

DISTRIBUTION: Supermarkets and WHS Smiths

ISSUE SIZE: 60 pages

GENRE OF MUSIC: Pop music and music in the charts

COLOURS USED: Bright/bold colours – Blues/Greens/Yellows/Purples/Reds

RATIONALE: A magazine for people who love to be in the know about the ‘must listen to music’ of the moment: including a wide genre of music but focusing on pop. Also, informing them on upcoming events and gigs, interviews with the most popular and up and coming artists, the weekly music charts for pop, rock and other genres.

STYLE:  Written in a fun, comical way to engage the reader, but not to comical so that the reader gets bored. Using humour to create a fun and exciting atmosphere but still adding the writer’s only feelings and opinions when necessary. The magazine will have many different columnists focusing on one genre with notes and opinions on other columnists pages giving their own insight on their chosen artists to look at in that week. It will use simple vocabulary and syntax displayed in three long columns.

DOMINANT FEATURE: Content and images.

REGULAR CONTENT• Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart
• 20 hottest artists/bands – pictures of them at gigs and from the paparazzi
• Most loved – What the editor and other people working for the magazine are listening to
• WHAT ARE THEY WEARING? - Artists latest look, where can I get that?
• Album of the month
• Upcoming artist/band to look our for
FEATURE CONTENT• Beyonce Through the years
• Hottest new artist (???)  (Front cover)
• One direction bare all - (talk of new album)
• Justin Timberlake– The come back?!
• Rihanna and Neyo list their top five style icons
• The Wanted’s album release
• Ten items you need this Christmas
• Cheryl Cole talks romance, dogs and Girls Aloud

 

Audience research - Recordings

Recordings - audience research

Audience research

Written analysis notes

1.      What would you like to see in a magazine? (Please pick 3 and circle)   Interviews              Free posters/gifts               Gossip column Chart information           Gig/tour information            Competitions

 

 

For my results I have gathered that readers would want to read interviews with bands, as it won with 15 points. However, gig information had 13 votes and free posters had 12, which shows that these were the most popular. As the magazine is off mixed genres, it would make the magazine appeal to a wider audience if gig information was in the magazine as it would attract fans of different genres to go interested in different bands gigs. The gossip column was the least popular with only 3 votes, I will take this into consideration as not many boys would be interested in celeb gossip and my magazine is for both genders so I want it to appeal to them.

 

What price would you be willing to pay for a monthly magazine with around 50-60 pages?

50p – 99p      12

£1 - £2           8

£3 - £4         0

 

In my questionnaire I asked how much would people be willing to pay for a monthly magazine and the cheapest option, 50p – 99p, was the most popular with 12 votes. However I think I will price the magazine in the second most popular option £1 - £2, as the magazine would seem too cheap and I want the magazine to seem popular so pricing it in the medium price bracket would make my target audience think it is a successful magazine. Also considering my main target audience is female and males from 16+, they wouldn’t want to spend £3 - £4 each week on a magazine; considering that option that no votes it was clear nobody would be interested in paying that much.

 

 

 

I thought I was important to ask my audience what genre of music they were most interested in. Pop was overall the most popular with 14 votes and then alternative being the second most popular with 11 votes. This shows that my magazine would be popular and successful if it had a few different genres mixed throughout the magazine, but still focusing on popular chart and pop music. Country and classical music were the least popular, which I will not be including in my magazine as there is such a small selected audience for those magazines. Dupstep and rock music were quite popular which I will be including in my magazine to make the magazine seem more interesting as it has different genres of music all in one magazine. Also, seeing as different genres of music are popular in the charts I couldn’t just include pop music in my magazine.

 

 

 

 

I thought this question was one of the most important questions as it shows how often people would prefer to buy a magazine. Weekly was the most popular option with 11 votes were quarterly only got two votes. I will take this into consideration and publish the magazine weekly considering that I would be including a music chart, which changes daily and comes out weekly. Also, publishing the magazine weekly would ensure I always had enough space in the magazine to put what I wanted in it where as if I published the magazine monthly I would be cutting out important information, where as I wouldn’t be stuck for space if I published it weekly.

 

Would a free gift such as a CD or free poster influence you more to buy a magazine?

Yes  20

No    0

 

As all of the people that filled out my questionnaire, all twenty people said that they are more likely to buy a magazine if it has a free gift attached to it. I will be taking this into account and once a month have a free gift such as a CD and fortnightly have free posters inside the magazine to interest my target audience to buy my magazine more regularly.

 

Case study notes on 2 existing music magazines

Case study 'Top Of The Pops' from 07sm04809416

Case study magazine mixmag from 07sm04809416

Questionnaire

1.     


What are your preferred genres of music? (Please circle)

Pop                    Alternative                 Rock               Heavy Metal

Dubstep                        Country/Western                Classical

2.      What colour scheme would appeal to you most? (Pick 3)

First colour:                    Second colour:              Third colour:

3.      How much money would you pay for a fortnightly magazine?

50p – 99p               £1 - £2                £3 - £4

4.      Who is your favourite artist/band?

...........................................................

5.      Would free magazines or a free CD influence you more to buy the magazine? (Please circle)

Yes                      No

6.      What would you call a new pop magazine?

................................................................

7.      How old are you? ...........................

8.      Are you male or female? ....................

9.      Would you prefer a magazine that was published:    (Please circle)

Weekly                   Monthly                         Quarterly

10.  What would you like to see in a magazine? (Please pick 3 and circle)

Interviews              Free posters/gifts               Gossip column

Chart information           Gig/tour information            Competitions

Researching the music magazine market-place

Internet research of music magazines

 

Magazine Title	Genre of Music	Target  Audience
Big Cheese	Punk/Metal/Rock	Older teenage and adults that are a fan of punk and rock music.
Black Velvet	Rock	Mainly a teenage audience for male and females. Fans of rock music.
The Fly	Indie/Alternative/Rock	Teenagers who like a large variety of music, mainly the alternative genre.  Mainly male audience.
Hip Hop Connection	Hip-hop/ R&B	Male Teenagers who enjoy hip-hop and R&B music.
Kerrang	Rock	Large age range.  Fans of live rock music. Male and female audience.
Metal Hammer	Heavy metal/Rock	Teenagers/adults who enjoy heavy metal music. Mainly male audience.
Mixmag	Dance/Pop	Girls/teenagers who like pop music. Mainly the latest popular music.
Mojo	Rock/Metal/Indie	Older male audience who like rock music and enjoy live music.
New Music Express	Alternative/Indie/Rock	Teenagers who like a wide variety of rock and alternative ‘indie’ music. Male and female audience.
Q	Rock/Indie	Older teenager audience/adults. Enjoy reading and rock music. A lot of detailed information about the bands. Male and female audience.
Terrorizer	Extreme metal/rock	Older male teenagers who like extreme metal and rock music.
Dj Magazine	Chart/Hip-hop/Dance	Teenage boys who enjoy popular chart music and dance music.
Top of the Pops	Pop/chart/dance	Younger female audience who like pop and chart music.
Uncut	Rock/Indie	Wide teenage audience, maybe young adults who like indie/rock music. Both male and female audience.
The Clash	Alternative/Rock	Older male audience who like girls and rock music.

 Publishing Groups

IPC is a consumer magazine and digital publisher. It has more than 60 iconic media brands; IPC creates content for multiple platforms, across print, online, mobile, tablets and events. IPC reaches over 25 million global users every month. IPC deals with New Music Express and Uncut.

Future plc is an international media group, listed on the London Stock Exchange and founded in 1985 with just one magazine, whereas now they have over 200 specialist publications, apps, websites and events. It has more than 38 million monthly unique visitors to digital properties websites and sell's 2.2 million magazines every month. It also exports to 89 countries, which makes Future Publishing’s the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content. Future Publishing’s deals with Metal Hammer

Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group. Bauer Media spans over 80 influential brand names covering a diverse range of interests. Bauer Media is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. It offers over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media deals with Mojo, Kerrang and Q magazine.

Circulation Figures.

Magazine	Circulation Figure
The Fly	8.4%
Mojo	-2.4%
Properganda	68.8%
Q	-19.7%
Uncut	-4.5%
The Stool Pigeon	N/A
Kerrang	-6.6%
NME	-17.6%

The indie/rock magazine, Q, has a -19.7% slump in sales which is the highest dip in sales out of the eight magazines. Closely following is their rival magazine, NME, taking a -17.6% fall. However, Properganda taken a 68.8% rise in sales, although it is a free magazine.

Ideas for new magazines

A new pop magazine suitable for all ages and genders would fill a gap in the market. Currently there are no  'pop' magazines other than 'Top of The Pops' ,whose main target audience is a teenage female audience; which doesn't apply to a wide target audience. I feel that a pop magazine suitable for all ages would be quite popular as it would be suitable for everyone. As there will be a wide target audience it would mean more money, which would make it popular as everybody would be reading it. Artists such as: One direction, Katy Perry, Take That, Rihanna, lady Gaga and many could be featured in the magazine. Considering the pop genre has so many popular artists it would draw the audience’s attention to the magazine as there would always be a popular band or singer on the cover of the magazine.

A 'Dubstep' magazine would fill a gap in the market as there are no magazines focusing on this genre of music. The main target audience would be teenagers, maybe more males than females, although it would be suitable for both genders. Young adults may be interested also as it would be aimed at older teenagers from 16+. On the cover there could be bright, neon colours and pictures of people dancing, which would make people aware it was a dance/dupstep magazine. Teenagers and young adults are more likely to go out and buy this magazine than older adults because it would be new and exciting.

 Another gap in the market is a country and western magazine. As it is so popular the age range could be from 14+ which makes a large target audience aiming for both males and females. A younger audience would be interested in the magazine as popular country singer Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus are in popular chart magazines although she is categorised as country. The magazine would interest a younger audience to broaden their horizons about music. And an older audience would be interested in the magazine because of the older generation of country and western singers such as Faith Hill, Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. I think a country and western magazine would be popular as the music its self is popular and with a wide variety of artists, young and old, it would appeal to a wide target audience.