AS Media Foundation Portfolio

Music Magazine Logbook

Jack Crompton

Music Magazine Research

Masthead

Main Article and image of the band

Tag line for the Main Article

Button

Banner informing reader of other bands within the magazine.

Free posters to boost sales

Barcode with the date of release price and issue

number

Other bands featured in the magazine

Front Covers

Magazine Logo

Banner with the Magazines selling tag

line

Barcode

Image of the Band that will feature as the

Main Article

Button

Quote from the Main Article

Anchorage text, to reveal other bands featured

within the magazine.

Quotations also used to help

showcase the articles

Tag line for the Main ArticleThe phrase ‘World Exclusive’

makes the content seem more important, and therefore encourages a purchase

Masthead

Barcode

Tagline for the

magazine

Button shaped like a guitar plectrum (making it specific

to the subject of the magazine). It also

advertising a free CD in order to boost sales

Banner advertising an ‘exclusive’ article.

Anchorage text revealing the other bands featured inside

The Main Article

Images showing only James Hetfield from

Metallica

Date, price and issue number

Bauer Media Group

Bauer Media Group are just one example of a magazine publishing company. They publish two of the magazines I have used as part of my research (Q, and Kerrang!). Bauer Media Group distribute a total of 38 million magazines a week.

ConclusionIn the previous slides I have analysed and annotated three magazines that focus on the genre of rock and it’s sub genres. I have done this because rock has always been a popular genre of music for years and seemed an appropriate area to research. From my research, I can conclude that there are obvious similarities between all three of the magazines. The use of buttons in order to advertise other articles and features within the magazine was an obvious one. The use of anchorage text was also apparent on the covers of all three of the magazines, none of them appeared to be plain or lacking in detail. There were however some differences.

The first of these is how both ‘Kerrang!’ and ‘Q’ had an image of the full band that were to be featured as the main article where as ‘Classic Rock’ did not, they only showed the lead singer of the band which in this instance was James Hetfield from Metallica. I believe that this has been done because he as the lead singer is the main subject of the band and ‘Classic Rock’ want to illustrate his importance. Another difference is how each individual magazine tries to appeal to it’s target audience. ‘Kerrang!’ for example, I would estimate have a readership of 12 – 18 year olds and therefore, free posters would be a good way of encouraging it’s young audience to purchase the magazine. Similarly, ‘Classic Rock’ will have an older target audience and they are appealed to with a free CD, something from their generation, rather than free posters or a free download. ‘Q’ however in this certain issue do not try and encourage the audience, they solely rely on the fact that it will sell as it is more of a sophisticated read and that the audience know this.

For my own magazine front cover, I wanted to try and use the majority of the factors and techniques the magazines I had

looked. From my own research I can conclude that ‘Kerrang!’ is the highest selling rock magazine in the country, so they

must do something right in order to boost sales, appeal to the target audience and maintain a high readership. I wanted the

factors and conventions of my magazine to be just as successful.

Establishment of Genre,Target Audience and design of the product

This is the questionnaire I designed as part of my market research.

Market ResearchI began by designing a questionnaire about what one would want from a new music magazine. I handed out 50 questionnaires to other students at my school, the age range being 13 – 18. I then created this simple bar chart on Microsoft Excel. The first two questions were regarding sex and age, and it was the next questions that fully revolved around music genres and music magazines. I felt it was necessary to ask age and sex as I wanted to see whether these two factors effected what genre of music was most

popular and whether or not people would want to read a magazine based on that genre of music.

Using the bar chart, I looked at the next four popular genres in order to try and decide what genre to base my magazine on. It was at this point I realised that people listen to more than one genre of music, instead of having to acquire all the news regarding these separate genres from different places, why not make it possible to get news on all of the popular genres from one place? I believe that as a target audience of teenagers (ages12-19) a magazine that covered a whole range of genres could be incredibly successful. I myself know that if a magazine became available to me that contained all the news from my favourite genres, then I would buy it every week

How will your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

The unique selling point about my magazine, and the way in which it will compete with other magazines on the market, is the fact that it covers artists from a number of different genres. This is unlike the magazines shown in my research, that base articles on bands and artists from the same genre (and it’s sub-genres). This is why I chose to call the magazine ‘SOUNDCLASH’. Another aim of the magazine is to cover up and coming bands/artists, which is why the main article is based on new Bradford band ‘We Wear Togas’, I believe that by creating this magazine, I will generate a larger audience, as all teenagers (my predominant target audience) can get their music information from one place, on a whole range of genres that they enjoy. I strongly believe that this idea could compete as an actual media product on the market.

How will your magazine represent particular social groups?

As aforementioned, one of the aims of my magazine is to cover new talent and giving those that are new to the gigging circuit or those who are gaining popularity ‘a break’. I believe that by doing this,

‘SOUNDCLASH’ will give a better impression of the younger generation than many other parts of the media criticise today. ‘SOUNDCLASH’ will ensure that teenagers and those of the

audience who are older realise that this generation is a landscape of creativity, motivation and intelligence. By doing this, I believe that

more people, specifically teenagers will be more inclined to buy the magazine because of the positive content.

Applying Theory to MarketingIn the previous slide I made a point about how my audience will be more inclined to buy it if the magazine not only covers a number of genres, but also shows up and coming, new, young bands and therefore feel more positive about their generation. This is evident in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and has strengthened my confidence in marketing my product. Notice how on the 4th tier, self esteem, confidence, achievement etc can be applied to my target audience. Seeing success within their generation, not only makes an interesting read but also makes them personally feel better about a group of people that are incessantly targeted negatively by the media

It was also during this time that I began to think about target audience in more detail. As aforementioned, the reason I was to create ‘SOUNDCLASH’ was to unite all teenagers, reading one magazine, for all of their favourite genres, and I therefore needed a price that would be suitable for my target market. When thinking in terms of socio-economics, the divide in class does not matter, as everyone listens to music. I did some brief research on music magazine prices across the UK and here’s what I found;

Kerrang! (weekly) – £2.20 NME (weekly) – £2.20 Q (monthly) – £3.99 Classic Rock (monthly) £4.50 Mojo (monthly) £5.50

Notice, how I have pointed out the distribution rate of the magazines. This is because I can confirm from these statistics, that a monthly magazine with more content than that of a weekly magazine, can charge more. I feel that my magazine can be a weekly magazine as it will cover a number of genres meaning that there will be enough information to release the magazine once a week. Considering the prices of the above weekly magazines, I am going to set the price of my magazine at £2.00. The first reason I have decided to do this is because; firstly, at such a low price, teenagers are more likely to buy it, therefore competing with the other weekly music magazines in number of readership and secondly because £2 is affordable for everyone, no matter where they are in the socio-economic hierarchy.

Target Audience

Ideas for Front Cover

This is my front cover plan for my music magazine ‘SOUNDCLASH’. I have annotated the front cover showing all the standard conventions of a magazine that I am going to use. I have included taglines for the main article, colour of font, positioning of buttons and other anchorage texts and based the article on ‘We Wear Togas’ a local band who are friends of mine.

Ideas for Contents Page

These were the initial sketches for my contents page. I have tried to use factors and conventions that other magazines on the market have used such as the ‘note from the editor’ and using an image to further advertise the main article.

Ideas for Double Page

These pages are only vaguely detailed, but this is because I knew what the actual content of my article would be (an interview) and I therefore only needed to draw what images I wanted on the page and how I wanted them to be positioned.

Creation of the Final ProductHaving designed each of my pages I began the full creation process of my magazine. I began by arranging a day for a photo shoot and interview with the band. This proved to be difficult as it was hard for them make time for an interview as well having to go to the recording studio or rehearsal, but this was soon resolved and the photo shoot took place in the media editing suite at school. I took multiple pictures of the band together and each member individually to ensure that I had enough pictures to test and experiment with when seeing how they looked on the actual magazine page. After the photo shoot, I sat down with the band and recorded the interview on my mobile phone. Admittedly the sound quality was poor which is why I have not put the audio file on this presentation but I managed to type up a transcript to show here and to be used in the magazine. I felt the interview went really well, and the answers to the questions were as good and insightful as I had hoped for them to be. The next slides will be the transcript of the interview and an analysis of the pictures from the shoot.

‘We Wear Togas’ InterviewHow would you describe your musical style?

Rhys: I suppose the main sound and direction of the music is a newer wave of indie music which bands before us have named ‘Math Rock’. We want to try and push the boundaries of this genre as far as we can, create new sounds and hope that others enjoy the genre as much as we do. What do you think people will like about your music?

Fozzy: Well although the genre is an alternative style of music, the standard components are still there. Our lyrics may been seen as a little abstract, but the subject of them will not only appeal to people our age, but those a lot older as well. We write about the usual stuff, just from a different angle. How do you approach writing a new song?

Adam: It all really depends on whether the lyrics for the song, or the music comes first. A lot of the time Rhys and Fozzy will have a thing going on with the guitar and drums, and I’ll find a way of working into that with the bass. The pace and mood of the song often determines the lyrics. What reaction have you had at recent gigs?

Rhys: We’ve had some good and some bad, it’s all part of the process. Our fans that have been with us a long time always make our gigs what they are and we appreciate that more than anythingFozzy: Yeah, I also think that the venue can affect the gig. We’ve played some right shitholes!

Where would you as a band like to be in 5 years from now?

Adam: I just want us to be the biggest band we possibly can be. We want as many people as possible to hear our music and say ‘yeah that We Wear Togas band are pretty good.’

Rhys: Yeah, selling out two nights at Wembley would be pretty good too.

Analysis of pictures from photo shoot

These are the six pictures I took as the possibilities for my front cover. I also wrote in my planning that the other images that were not to be used on my front cover, could be later re-used on my contents page and double page spread. The 3rd image with the red frame is the image I decided was best to use for the front of my magazine. The other pictures are practically the same but with minor faults such as part of Rhys’s face cut from view and too much shadow. I do however like every single one of these photos as they reflect the calm, natural and relaxed vibe of the band and I know from my research that a photo shoot and it’s set design should mirror the music and attitude of the band.

Individual photos of each member

For Adam (bass) I decided to use the second of these two images to use on

the double page spread. I like the direct eye contact and the fact that he is leaned forwards slightly, making him

look comfortable and confident.

For Rhys (drums/backing vocals), I chose the middle one of these three photos. The fact that he is smiling again shows comfort and confidence and also implies a sense of

success for the band.

For Fozzy (guitar/vocals) I used the third image of these three. The picture definitely provokes a sense of mystery

and uncertainty and I liked that contrast between the three chosen

images.

Finished SOUNDCLASH Front Cover

Finished SOUNDCLASH Contents Page

Finished SOUNDCLASH Double Page Spread

Front Cover EvaluationMy front cover follows all the expected conventions of a magazine; masthead, tagline, issue number and date, price, barcode, anchorage text etc. After deciding on the image I would use for my front cover, I realised that I would need some sort of background. I decided a stage door would be appropriate, as it implies the bands rising success. As it was a black and white image, I then used Photoshop to turn my image of the band black and white, using the grey scale option. Then using the Polygon Lasso tool, I removed the band image from the original background, and placing it in front of the stage door image. Although the Polygon Lasso tool is more effective than the magic wand tool or using the eraser, parts of the outline and hair of the band members looked sharp and obviously super imposed. I quickly resolved this by using the Smudge tool, to help the band image look more a part of the background.

When doing my research I really liked the idea of having a banner to show the other bands and artists that would be featured in the magazine. Below is an example of ‘Kerrang!’ magazine. I like the idea of using a cross shape as almost like bullet point, and I therefore used small circles.

One of my favourite factors about my magazine is the tagline. ‘Kerrang!’ for example have the tagline ‘Life is Loud’ and I felt that ‘all people, all music’ was the perfect tagline for my magazine, as it’s entire purpose it to unite all music fans and bring them to one place for their musical news.

Contents Page Evaluation

I am generally pleased with my contents page. Again I used ‘Kerrang!’ magazine as inspiration for my contents page layout. Underneath the word ‘Contents’ there is a small list of just some of the genres SOUNDCLASH covers, reinforcing the purpose of the magazine. Rather than splitting my contents page into sections, I have page numbered the articles that will have the most interest, for fans from different genres. This is why there is a Rock related article, Foo Fighters History and a Dubstep related article, Skream Album Review. I have done this to help consolidate the idea of different genres coming together resulting in a SOUNDCLASH. I have also used small thumbnail images to advertise the article, this is common in many music magazines. In my research, I also liked how some music magazines (and magazines as a whole) have a note from the editor and so I used this in my magazine also. Using Photoshop, the contents page was the easiest to create. Using the auto shapes I was able to create boxes where I needed them.

Note from Editor

Thumbnail images

Double Page Spread Evaluation

My double page spread is my least favourite set of pages from my magazine. Although the actual content is good; background information and an interview, the way it is presented could be better. As shown in my original plans, I like the 3 boxes containing each member of the band and I know I made the right decision including this in my end product. My double page does generally follow the rule of 3rds and I have created columns to a reasonable standard that I am moderately happy with. I have also used colours as an easy way for the reader to distinguish between the interview questions and the answers. There was a minor problem with my introductory paragraph in that, the yellow font was difficult to read against the black and white background. I simply added a drop shadow to the text, giving it more depth and outline, therefore improving the visibility and solving the problem,.

Conclusion

Overall, I am happy with the end product. I have tried to incorporate all of my music magazine and market research in order to create the product I initially designed. I feel that all four of my pages are respectably close to the designs and I therefore feel that this whole process has been a success. At the start of the unit, especially in my preliminary task, my Photoshop skills were minimal, but over the time of this course I feel I have gained a good knowledge, overview and understanding of the program and I feel I could use this program again with a lot more confidence.

The purpose of my magazine was to have one place for music news of all genres and I feel the content I have used for the magazine does this It is instantly clear from my front page and contents page that the magazine covers a number of different genres. I genuinely feel that if this idea was to be worked with at a professional level, it would sell and compete in the market.

Using the comments I got from my Audience Feedback helped me feel a lot more confident about my product overall. The next slide shows some of the comments given.

‘I thought the whole idea and purpose of SOUNDCLASH was really good. I’d love to see an actual magazine like that on the market.’

‘The fact that it covers so many genres just makes it more of a worthwhile read. Most people enjoy more than one genre so it definitely has a widespread audience.’

‘Parts of the magazine are a little odd, in terms of how they have been edited on Photoshop. But the overall quality of the product is good.’

‘Having so many genres in one magazine is a strange idea, and I think it will be hard to sell’

I am overall happy with these comments. I can understand and appreciate why some people would think that the idea of having a

combination of genres would not work, but me designing and creating my product to an extent disproves this as I and many others believe

that this product does work. The best thing about this task for me was the overall improvement of my Photoshop skills and creating a product

that I myself would buy.