Music Magazine Industry in the UK

In the music magazine industry there are more than 8000 titles published in Britain. The catagories include; consumer which are sold in newsagents, business/trade/professional for people at work, customer magazines that organisations give to their customers, staff magazines to inform them about their company, newspaper supplements which come free, part works which have a set of issues and lastly academic journals which are for university-level discussions. The consumer magazines have general well known titles for entertainment such as "Cosmopolatian" or consumer specialist titles that are set to a certain topic such as "Horse and Hound". The biggest consumer magazine publishers in the UK (by 2008 sales revenue in newsagents) have 4 main companys the include; Bauer Publishing holding 25%  of shares, IPC (Time Warner) holding 20%, BBC Magazines holding 7.8% and National Magazines (Hearst) holding 7.3%, This giving the rest of the companys to hold 39.9%. This is known as oligopoly which means domination of a few companys. The world of commercial media is characterised by a high degree of  concentration of ownership. There are over 3200 different consumer titles  today in the UK and 1.4 billion magazines are sold each year and it is known that 85% of the population reads a magazine. In 2008 is what seen that advertisers spent £745 million in magazines this showing that magazines rely highly on the advertisement procuded within the magazines. An average of £500 new magazines have been launched every year in the past decade however only 3/10 of these titles survive for more than 4 years shows the industry to be very volatile.

Process of Construction

Media Kit

Contents Page

Double Page Spread

Front Cover

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

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What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When making my products what I learnt from producing them was how to use Photoshop. My favourite process of making my magazine was creating my a masthead. I liked how I had to follow steps when making the word "Reckless". I had to learn how to rasterize an object and using a pen tool to moving the letters to make it appear in a smashed effect. I also learnt what it meant by using hue and saturation as well as using an effect of "Linear Dodge". Another technology that was new to me was the use of Blogger, Flickr and Prezi. Prezi was a very new application I had never heard of and when experimenting with the product I found to be fun to use yet the disadvantages of it was that it was difficult to move around objects after a while. The advantages of using blogger was that it was easy access and simple to use, yet the disadvantage was rely on internet access and would be a problem something where to happen to the connection. What I found a advantage about Flickr was the use of notes so that it was quick and easy to analysis without having to type everything out into a long essay. In Adobe Photoshop I learnt of the difference of hue and saturation and how to use them within images. I ended up using this tool in my main image on my contents page. Also in Photoshop I learnt of how to use layers properly in order of each other so that they can be each infront or behind an object, so that they blend easily and neatly.

How did you attract/address your audience?

DPS, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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How did you attract/address your audience?

Magazine Cover Reckless, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is the typical target audience for my media product "Reckless Magazine". In terms demographics the age of the audience is ranged from 15-25 of both male and females. The class intended is mostly students as in the age range they will most likely be in school/college as for the working class the demographic profiling with be of between D and C2. The psychographics profile of my intended audience is that they will most likely be mainstreamers as it is said in my audience research but they will look like individuals to others as you can see in this picture they appear to look different. They most likely will wear something that will stand out in the crowd and shop in clothing stores such as "dead good" which is they typical rock look to go for. My target audience are sterotypically called "metalheads" this is a link that describes them: http://www.uktribes.com/?p=tribe&id=13.

I had also made a mood board to present my target audience in the things that they would be associated with to show what they would be like. As you can see I have shown bands and clothing products as well as what they would consume. My target audience would buy my magazine as it has the typical topics that they are interested in and would be cheaper than Kerrang being of £1.50.   

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

As my music magazine was based on "Kerrang" Magazine the media institution  I think who would produce and distribute my magazine is to be Bauer Media Group. They also distribute other magazines such as "Mojo", "FHM", and "Closer". My magazine has is similar to their other brands of magazines.

As Kerrang magazine is based for any age most likely over 25, my magazine is for ages 15-21 so it would not be as if they are producing a replica of the magazine but a similar one for the target audience being younger generation. Bauer media group's concentration of ownership holds 25% of production as being one of the biggest magazine publishers (2008 sales revenue). The fact that Bauer is a major publisher the advantages of this is that it is a well known media group so the magazine would hopefully be well known however the disadvantage is that they expectations would be high, so it would be a risk and I would have to make sure that income is produced from exhibition and not be cancelled from lack of it. With Bauer media being such high distributors and 90% of consumer magazines in the UK are purchased from newsagents and supermarkets, you would need to make sure that the magazine is placed within their stock so a division of Bauer Media would need to make sure that the USP is good enough for their stock. 

It is shown that only 3/10 magazines survive within 4 years as media production is a volatile industry, the problem with my product is that Kerrang magazine already appeals to my target audience as they might wants to appear older so they might want to chose kerrang instead as it is mainly aimed at ages 25 and above, so it is very likely that my magazine would fail because of this. As my magazine has a smaller target audience than others, it would most likely be distributed in smaller retail outlets rather than larger compays such as ASDA or Tesco unlike Kerrang which is its greatest competition. Bauers distributor is the company frontline and they distibute to retail companys like ASDA, Tesco and WH.Smith and they ensure the magazines are displayed for consumers. They supplied 480m copies of our magazines to over 55,000 retail outlets in 2010 ranging from the biggest hypermarket to the smallest corner store, and are known to be the biggest magazine distributor in the UK.       

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The demographic audience of my music magazine was aimed at both male and females the reason for this was so that I wanted my audience to feel like a community as a whole, another reason for both genders was so that the advertisements of my magazine would have been aimed at everyone so that more money is produced. The intended age of audience was aimed at 15-25. I represented these groups by using mostly younger models for my images so that the audience could relate to them, I had images of both male and females to show that it is a unisex magazine. To represent within the image that it was a music magazine on my contents page I had two images having my models using guitars both electric to connote it being a rock magazine as traditionally they are used within rock bands. 

In my contents page,the journalistic written style uses taboo language and many adjectives to appeal to the demographic of my audience, as well as using "gossip" topics I found out when doing my music magazine questionnaire that my target audience liked having celebrity gossip within their magazine so I used some terms within my article. The use of adjectives appeals to the reader as it makes the article seem more interesting and exciting so that it will make them read on. The black backgrounds on each of my products connotes the idea of it being a rock magazine and how stereo-typically it shows the dark and heavy metal symbol of what I was trying to aim for towards my audience. As "Kerrang" Magazine already appeal to my target audience,to grab the attention of their readers they use brand names such as "Converse"and "Jack Daniels" these are well known and as being a mainstreaming target audience is it eye catching towards them. 

As for poses of my images, my front cover connotes being aggressive and symbolises my masthead as "Reckless". The pose of my double page spread connotes what they piece of my article is about and having the model look at the article signals the audience to read it. The psychographic of my audience is mostly aimed at mainstreamers as well individuals as when using my questionnaire most of the answers has shown that my target audience were mainstreamers. The useful thing about the psychographic audience being mainstreamers is that the produce of money would be great due to most of the currency going towards famous products. So having well known bands appeals to the readers as many of them are the intended psychographic. The clothing used on models in the images I had them wear either black or red to go with the house style of my products so that they fit in nicely as if they were to wear bright colours it would not have fit in the image I was going for. In terms of my target audience's disposable income, I asked in my audience research what they usually have each month to spent and the most common amount was seen around £40-60, what it shown in this information is that for advertisement products chosen would have to be within the price range of what my target audience (mostly students) could afford.
My products represent young females in a way which challenges some of the stereotypical representations of feminitity. In similar rock magazines such as my own, they usually present metal images and do not typically show so many women being portrayed this way. The cover image contrasts ideas of women portrayed in magazines as the image is seen as passive and not aggressive, this is also challenged as often for magazines which target males, women are sexualised and objectified. The cover image would usually be in a long shot taken of a women and mine is not sexualised, and the close-up encourages identification rather than objectification.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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Music Magazine Contents Analysis

DSCN1022, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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Music Magazine Contents Analysis

Q magazine contents page, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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Double Page Spread First Draft

Double Page Spread Paper Draft

Original Double Page Spead Photo

Music Magazine First Draft

Double Page Spread Analysis

Dps, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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Double Page Spread Analysis

DSCN1047, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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Double Page Spread Article

Remember the enticing bad-ass Alexis? If you hadn't heard well where the hell have you been?! Well she's back! And badder than ever and she let us have an exclusive interview with her on her new upcoming gig tour and album. We should be so frickin' lucky! We had one of our own check it out asking her the scandalous questions that were all on our minds. Here is the snippets of the dazzling interview. Alexis how does it feel to back in the world of rock? "It feels great I can't believe how comfortable it was to step back in." What are the tour dates you have lined up, "Well its from April to September and I'm really excited to get back into my own role , and expose myself" We hoped she meant literally expose. "Ha ha, no no I'm not going to strip... again." The little daredevil exposed herself last June during her last festival in Glastonbury. Now that you have entered back into the rock and roll lifestyle do you think you'll fall back into the bad habits again? "No, well I fuckin' hope not, I mean it is the lifestyle but I think the less of the fun the better ha ha" We asked about her love life through the rumours of dating band member from the fantastic Muse and got rather flustered. "Er, no comment" Awkward. So tell us about the album. "I'm super excited about it, I mean since my last breakup I er.. it really helped pulling it all together and going through my ups and downs throughout my rock and roll lifestyle, I think it's my best yet, I write songs about the truth unlike other phony bitches." We really believe it will be her best yet. It sounds like and extremely busy year for you! "It really is but it will be the best yet!" Thank you so much for giving us your insight and good luck "Ha ha your welcome I'm glad to give it" Doesn't she just sound amazing, remember to buy her new album "Unwarranted" and get tickets to her gig!

Masthead Idea for Magazine

Audience Research Questionnaire Findings

Music Magazine Front Cover Paper Draft

Initial Ideas of Magazine

The working title of the magazine is "Reckless" this is because the main focus of the magazine is rock music which implies or has the connotation with breaking the rules.

The target audience demographic for my magazine is going to be aimed at both genders so that there is a wider variety of products to produce in advertisements and so that more money is produced in selling to the public. The estimated age of audience is aimed at teenagers and young adults around the ages of 15-24. The social class is unknown as the magazine will apply to anyone within the age range as most will be students I will be asking within my questionnaire the classes of their employment. 
The target audience psychographic for the magazine is aimed at mostly mainstreamers as the majority of teenagers and young adults are mainly seen to be within that field so current music within the genre will be applied.
For the price point I have estimated a price of of between £1.50 and £2.50 yet I will be asking in my questionnaire to them the price that they are willing to pay. I have decided that the magazine will be monthly rather than weekly as each issue will be able to have a wider variety of different content.

The style of the magazine will be informal yet I will be asking in a questionnaire what they would prefer, the text of the masthead will be in a shattered effect, the colours will be mainly black, white and red.  
As to the content of the magazine I have decided will have products such as upcoming music, current bands, clothing, film, hair products, gaming and drink products. The unique selling point will be a rock magazine for teenagers and young adults.

Music Magazine Mood Board

Magazine Mood Board, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Kerrang Music Magazine Cover Analysis

Kerrang Cover, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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My Finished College Magazine Contents Page

My Finished College Magazine Cover

Original image for magazine cover

 

When creating my questionnaire to find out students' opinions on what they prefer to have in a hypothetical college magazine I asked the question; 'What do you mostly spend your disposable income on?' I then made a graph on the results of the answers I was given;

 

This pie charts shows the results of the question on students' disposable income. I asked 10 students this question of which 50% of them were male and the other female so that the result came out to be more equal between the ages of 16-18 as they are currently college students. As you can see the majority of the answers has shown that 50% of them spend most of their money on clothes of both were male and female showing that the magazine would benefit on having a fashion section within it.

 

The least likely of which students spend their disposable income on was seen to be 'make-up' and hair products, although this could change as I had only asked 10 participants to complete my questionnaire so the results may vary significantly if I had doubled my amount of participants.

 

The second most popular was found to be film/gaming as 30% of the students spent most of their disposable income on these products. The results could be more generalised if I had more mulitiple choice opitions for them to choose or if I had asked them to state another opition on which they spend their disposable income on as I could have gotten a higher varierty of options. 

 



Analysis of existing magazine cover

CUE, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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Analysis of existing magazine cover

Soup, a photo by Sophie Boult on Flickr.

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