Amber Reohorn

TASK 8 – AUDIENCE RESEARCH-QUALITATIVE-AUDIENCE PROFILE AND FOCUS GROUPS

TASK 8 – TARGET AUDIENCE RESEARCH USING QUALITATIVE METHODS SUCH AS FOCUS

GROUPS

Based on her research interests indie/rock. She wanted to target an indie audience to the

mainstream one currently targeted- her target audience was both male and female (aged

16-24) interested in indie/rock music. The main ethnicity I have target would be everyone

but would probably appeal mostly to the Caucasian minorities. Of the audience would be

from She begins her research by identifying the stereotype associated with indie/rock

audiences, and then she moves on to focus on her particular target audience

The stereo typical audience profile

Who mainly listens to that music – the genre of this music is mainly for indie styled people.Gender -maleAge - 16-24Social class – middle class.Ethnicity – Caucasian.Interests – individual style, guitars, festivals, gigs and parties.Dress sense – skinny jeans, jackets / leather jackets, baggy tops, jewelry (bracelets), and clothing with bands names, converse, and boots.Why they listen to indie / rock – they listen to it because it has a lot of deep meaning; the songs are original and not over played like mainstream.

How often – they listen to the music very frequently, as it can be away to relax them.What they would like in magazines – they would the magazines to contain current artist who refer to the genre, interviews, latest news of the stars, gigs and festivals and current trends.

Amber Reohorn

My target audience

Summary of results

General backgroundName – Jess Age - 16Ethnicity – Caucasian Lives in Solihull, West MidlandsCurrently is a student.

Feelings about music magazinesShe doesn’t buy them and didn’t really know about them. Thinks they’re interesting to look at. She likes the look of Q magazine and fashion magazines, so if I mixed them up.

She likes keeping up with fashion, so would like to see that featured in my magazine because you don’t get that in any current music magazine she has seen on the market.

Would like to know about the latest gossip and keeping up with indie/rock news.

How she uses musicShe attends concerts but mainly festivals quite regularly between the summer months and is a fan of indie/rock music, but thinks ticket prices are too expensive really.She uses iTunes to download her music instead of buying CD’s because she has more choice of singles than songs she doesn’t want. “I couldn’t live without it”.

Her music magazine preferencesShe has decided that she would like to find out how to get to cheaper festivals and discover more artists and bands. She would like to see her favorite artists/bands featured into the magazine and learn more about them.

Amber Reohorn

Section 1 THE FRONT COVER

1. Front cover – what images would you like? The image on the front of my magazine will be very effective and bold, the model on the front of my magazine can be from both genders because my magazine doesn’t target a specific gender, they will also be from the music business, for example bands and artists from the indie/rock genre. They don’t have to be from a specific ethnic group either because my magazine is targeting the people that like the exact music genre not the gender or ethnicity of a person.

2. What would like to see on the front cover e.g. sell lines? For the indie/rock genre magazine, it should include features like sell lines which would interest the audience, such as the artists or bands names to attract the audiences looking at the magazine rack. Also the sell lines should include other aspects of the magazine like interviews and fashion stories to show the magazine has more to offer than other music magazines on the shelves.

3. What colours would be appropriate? For this specific genre of music, I think the colours on my magazine should be calmer colours to represent the tone of the music, like blues, reds, use of monotone etc. instead of neon colours like pink used for the hip hop genre, although the colours used should still be bold to attract the audiences eyes and make it appealing by having matching colour schemes throughout.

4. What type of language would you expect? The type of language used throughout my magazine should be not being too formal but not the type of language used in magazines such as nme, which uses slang in its magazine.

SECTION 2 –THE CONTENTS PAGE

1. Contents page - what type of images would you like and how many? There should be more than one image in my contents page, because usually the images are an effective way of showing the reader what’s featured in this issue. There is normally one main image of a band/artist on the front cover and then smaller images in the contents page so it doesn’t upstage the front page.

2. What would you want to be contained within the magazine? The magazine should offer the reader a wide range of things, all of which should relate to the indie/rock genre and show the audience my magazine focuses on more than just music, to keep the audience interested and to compete with all the other magazines already on the market. For example my magazine will include features such as fashion trends, gigs, interviews and latest gossip, which should be categorised and clearly numbered so the reader finds it simple to find in my magazine, with images to attract the reader to the page

.

Amber Reohorn

3. How much image and text would you expect? On my contents page the text should be structured to help the reader get around the magazine, I also think my contents page should include an editor’s note; because I think it gives the magazine some personality and allows the reader to feel like they are involved. However there should be a variety of images to keep readers interested and to show them what else will be included in the magazine, this is a good feature to a magazine because images are a good way of adding colour and an effective way of promoting the magazine and the page.

4. What type of language? The language should correspond to the genre. It should be more informal rather then formal, due to the target audience because you want to make the audience happy and because they are a younger target audience they will be attracted more to an informal calm magazine, so it’s not too heavy going for them.

SECTION 3- THE DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD ARTICLE

5. Double page – what choice of images would you want? The images should reflect the artists persona, for example the indie/rock genre has a typecast of calm and relaxed style my double page spreads/articles should reflect this through the images. A range of different shot types should be used, to show there face but also their body, to give away their body language and tone of music and personality.

6. What would you prefer the article to be about? I would prefer my article to be about a popular or interesting band/artist that will attract a wide audience of people, someone who is a rising star that no one really knows about yet, discussing their music, tone and persona.

7. How would you expect the language to be? The language should reflect the artist that is being featured, if it is an interview, the language tends to be more informal as it is mainly speech. The language should also be direct and allow for readers to follow it easily by understanding it.

8. Would you prefer more image or text based articles? The double page should be balanced between images and text; there should not be too much text, as this can allow the reader to loose interest in the article and that is something you want to try and avoid. It should also get straight to the point and easy for the audience to understand. The images need to be fun and exciting to give the reader something to look at and give them a break from the writing.

Amber Reohorn