2. For my music magazine I intend for my target audience to be the
16-25 age boundary.
I want to primarily target females, however I do want it to be
appealing to males as well.
Before I start planning and designing my magazine, I want to
make sure I have accurately researched the likes and dislikes of
my target audience.
3. 16 – 25 favourite music genre
Generally pop and rock are the favourite music
genres for this age group. Looking at the pie charts
that I created from my music magazine
questionnaire, I found that 7 out of 15 people chose
pop and 6 out of 15 picked rock. Everyone who
picked rock was between 16 and 18 years of age.
This shows that rock is the favourite music genre in
this age range.
For my music magazine I want to base it on rock
genre, as although both pop and rock prove to be
popular amongst the 16-25 age range, rock music is
favoured more by males than pop music.
So to keep the male audience interested as well as
female, rock music is the best one.
4. Music Magazine Gender preferences
NME magazine is targeted at men from the age 17-30. 73% of
NME’s readers are male, so the magazine must have some
qualities that are appealing to female. I want my magazine to
do this, however the opposite way around. I want it to target
women however still appeal to men.
As the most popular and best known music magazines are
targeted at men, I think it makes my music magazine a little
different for it to be targeted at women. By targeting my
magazine at women, I need to make sure it has content that
appeals majorly to women and choose mainly female models
for my photos.
5. However
It is important to recognise the interests of the
readers. For example, as shown, magazines
targeted at young men, sometimes feature young,
attractive female models. This is because magazine
producers have got to know their target audience,
and know that a stereotypical young male is
interested in looking at the opposite sex, and this
would appeal to them on a front cover.
I think that this can be used also in the place of
women, however a little less, as when reading a
magazine women look for something to relate to,
people who relate to them, this would be other
women, where as men aren’t as interested in this.
For my front cover I intend to use a female model,
someone for the readers to relate to, and be
interested in. Although I will include male models in
my contents page so the magazine is not gender
bias.
6. Billboard magazine is targeted at young women. The majority of their magazine
covers feature young, popular, glamorous women, who female readers can look up
to. Also what I have noticed is that the models in these photos are all styled, with
glossy hair and make up done, and seem to be styled in the latest fashions and
hairstyles, the models all have direct contact with the camera, meaning contact with
the reader. As a female, I know that when looking at a magazine model, I am instantly
drawn to the way the model is dressed and how they look, so I find this very
important when I plan out the photo for my front cover. I also think the way a model is
styled, says a lot about the audience targeted and the genre of the magazine.
7. The main focus and aim when producing a magazine, is to get
lots of people interested wanting to buy it. Through my
research of magazines and music magazines, I’ve found that
quite a small percentage of magazine buyers, buy music
magazines. So, taking this into account, I intend to use some
features of magazines that are more popular. Gossip proved to
be the most bought magazine by young females, so by looking
at the way a gossip magazine is lay out, I may be able to apply
some of this to my music magazine, however still keeping the
basis of a music magazine. .
8. After looking at the front covers of gossip magazines, I have seen that the
majority of headlines are striking and feature (as said) gossip. I think that
when writing the headlines of my magazine and the other cover stories it
is important to think about gripping stories and headlines that will make
people interested and grab the readers attention. If I do this, then It will
appeal to more people and not just provide lots of music information and
updates, but provide the latest stories about the most popular music acts.
Wording is also very important when designing a music
magazine cover.
Persuasive words such as these, entice the reader.
9. Likes and Dislikes
Typical 16-25 female character profile
•Further education, University, weekend jobs
•Perhaps starting to move into a career
•Working out what they want for their future
•Likes: fashion, up to date music, make up, hairstyles, famous
people, romantic films, funny films
•Social events
•Parties
•Dislikes: politics, authority
•Could have money troubles
•Magazine ideas suited to these traits –
•Nothing too bright and colourful, colours that fit in with the latest
fashion trends
•Nothing too busy, they may not have the time to stand and look at
covers with lots on
•Photos – posed close ups, female models, fashionable clothing.
10. Pricing
The pricing of magazines is very important, although you want your
magazine to make a profit, you do not want your magazine to be too
pricey.
As my target audience is aimed at 16-25 year olds, they may be in
further education or buying their own flat or property, and may not
be able to afford to pay high prices.
Music magazines such as NME, Q! and Kerrang cost £2.20, £3.99
and £2.20. The reason for the difference in price is because NME
and Kerrang are weekly magazines and Q! Is monthly.
This is important when deciding the price of magazines, as weekly
magazines cannot cost too much otherwise people could not afford
them every week.
As a magazine company you would want people to buy your
magazine regularly, I think by having a monthly magazine, it is less
commitment for your readers and ultimately less expensive.
I want my magazine to be monthly but not as expensive as Q!
Magazine, as my target audience is fairly young and I do not think
have the money to spend £3.99 every month on a magazine.
I think for my pricing I am going to choose something around
£2.50 - £3.00.
11. My magazine ideas
• Target audience: Female aged 16-25
•I will keep male readers interested by: including male bands and
acts in the contents page, including content interesting to men, and
relating the stories to male readers.
•The genre of my magazine is: Rock
•The frequency of my magazine will be: monthly
•My magazine will cost: between £2.50 and £3.00
•Important features of my magazine will be information on gigs and
upcoming music, I will have a regular section, and a review of the
latest music.
•It is important that my magazine is up to date and features the
latest artists and chart topping hits.
12. I think that this task has helped me recognise the
important features of magazines and what attracts
the readers. I t has helped me establish the target
audience and how I’m going to relate and appeal
to this target audience.
I now have much more of an idea of where I am
going next with my magazine ideas and what the
end product will look like.
