Arkade Music Magazine Evaluation.

Tamaki Flynn

The group I aimed at was more specifically students, and possibly even more self-sufficient students with lower income, Young adults/teenagers who enjoy going to

less popular gigs/concert, those who enjoy discovering new artists. This music genre is typically based in areas like south to east London however more accurately the east

end in areas like shoreditch and Brick Lane as these areas are well known for their bars/clubs and set up for young dj‟s and creating upcoming or underground artists

and music. I included several phrases or sayings to address or attract the attention of this target market, for example on the front page, the headline reads “ Student Special: Learning the basics to Living the High life” I included this as I felt it was relevant and

would appeal to my demographic. Through this I was able to represent this type of social group.

The magazine I created is named „Arkade Unlimited Magazine‟, which is a electronica music based magazine targeted towards young

adults, specifically aged between 16-21 year olds. The age group is appropriate as it reaches out to all age groups and types of people who are

interested in the music genre. I chose this age group or to address this group as it is relevant towards the different characteristics included within the

magazine. It is also somewhat hard to define the age group and a 16 year old is very different to a 21 year old, however I feel this group is appropriate

in terms of those who enjoy this genre.

A detail I decided to include was the festival wristband. This is a minor piece of imagery included but in the picture with the article readers will notice the artist is wearing a

Reading festival wristband, which is somewhat distinctive. This shows that the artist has been to a festival, and more appropriately reading festival that is very popular. This minor detail allows the viewer to engage and relate to the artist as thousands upon

thousands of young adults attend this festival each year. From research it also shows this festival in particular has a large significance to the demographic of my magazine, as the festival is most well known for it‟s indie/alternative genre. It also shows the artist‟s love

of music.

There were various techniques I included which are also included in popular magazines like NME, Mojo and Kerrang. I took these details as inspiration for my own magazine. For example I included a bottom bar, which lists similar artists within the genre to interest the reader. I included the artists “M.I.A, Late of the Pier, Prodigy, Passion pit and Hot chip” These are all well known artists and are famous for creating dance music and a few for starting off in smaller areas (i.e. M.I.A who started out in Elephant and Castle). These artists in particular were also chosen as they are enjoyed by a very large percentage of the population and will therefore open the market towards more people as more people can relate and enjoy. Another social group my magazine taps into especially with the front cover is those who enjoy disco music as it includes elements of features from the 1970‟s, most obviously her hair. I took photos that would make sure her hair was the main focus and would capture the readers gaze, I made sure of this by using a minimal background and a mid shot or medium close up. I also made sure her hair took up a good amount of the photo. “Goldilochs‟” hair is reminiscent of famous dance idols like Diana Ross and Cher. When the public sees an image like this, the hair brings back memories of these artists and therefore further opens up the market to the older generations.This nostalgia is also seen in the bright colours and vivid patterns, which were popular in the 1980‟s, colours like bright yellows, blues and greens and patterns like animal and geometric prints.

I included and challenged forms and conventions of real medias products; I did this by sampling small sections from existing magazines. For example I included a small review in the corner of my article on a recent gig in

relation to the artist talked about in the article. This is something included more towards the back but I felt it was important to include it here or at leaste in my magazine as it includes stereotypical language used by magazine writers. I felt it did this as it included a good amount of humor which many magazines do use but it also make

references to more popular artist and in some ways almost criticizing them for being so popular: “We hope to see artists like Beyoncé or Kanye West in one of her dingy pub sets in Shoreditch.”

This plays on the idea that you have to start somewhere even if it is less appealing and suggests the artist in not afraid to too stuck up to getting „down with the kids‟ this allows readers to relate as they feel she can be similar to

them.I also included a feature from NME Magazine which was „Twitter‟s Thought”. I thought this technique was clever as a huge population of the UK have access to the Internet and especially twitter. This social media in particular is

now very popular for voicing the public‟s opinion and magazines like mine are able to access this and take opinions from this to use in their magazine. It also creates the opportunity for readers or those who like to voice

their opinions to be included in the magazine.This I also found was a new form of technology that has had a highly positive effect on the magazine industry. From my own market research I found that 14% of those who took my survey chose to access music magazines through tablets, iPhones, iPods and computers. Although the majority choose to purchase tangible magazines that are more traditional there is still the availability to access magazines through forms of technology that are

still very new, which continues to open up more opportunities for the industry.An institution that might distribute my magazine is IPC as they responsible for distributing many other

magazines like the NME. It is also the UK‟s leading digital publisher. However it seems the more appropriate institution would be Bauer Media as they publish magazines like 4Music, Mojo and Q, which are all magazines

that can be related to mine.

I also think it is important to mention the types of store that would distribute a magazine like mine. However this in some ways is a contradiction as magazines like mine would often start up and

freebies, e-zines or zines. This is because it would in some ways be a „pilot‟ issue as the demographic is smaller than most magazines. Magazines like mine would often be seen as small handouts on the way out of stores like vintage shops in Brick Lane or possibly even larger stores

like HMV. After the magazine does take off they would often be sold in small corner shops or other stores that would distribute magazines.

From the preliminary task I have learnt various new skills that helped to create my magazine. Firstly I have learnt how to use and understand programmes like Photoshop, InDesign and other

relating adobe workshops. I was also able to learn how to take items from the Internet, for example fonts and include them in my project. These were all techniques that were previously new to me

and I did not understand with the School magazine however after many hours of work put in I am now able to create my own magazine. I was able to lean techniques like rendering, creating an

invisible background and making the main person on the front cover overlap the masthead which is a technique used a lot in the music magazine industry. I also learnt how music magazines were able to specify, interest and have a particular relationship with their audience. For example many magazines have an interesting way of communicating with their audience in terms of the meta-

language they use and tones they use to address the reader, often a music magazines articles will include humors and references to other medias and music‟s. They also make reference to current issues and events to keep up to date with the reader, like information about their favourite artists

or surrounding news within the area.

To improve I think I could have included more pictures of other artists and more references to these other artists. I also feel the front cover picture came out less

refined than what I would‟ve liked, but after the final product I am happy with the outcome. There are some other small details that I would have liked to tweak but

with the project over I know what to look out for if or whenever even I make another magazine, which will be less of a challenge with the new skills I have

picked up from this project.