Who would be the audience for your media product?

My music magazine InD would be aimed at the consumers of Indie pop music. This means they listen to indie retro music which is a culture in itself. The promotion of new artists would attract them as they do not want to listen to well-known and popular artists they want to be different and individual. The target audience of my music magazine InD are of the ages 16-24. This is because they are the main consumers of indie music and according to my market research, the most likely to buy a music magazine. Also they are most likely to be going to festivals and finding the content of my magazine interesting as I have subjects like festival reviews and artists who are likely to be at festivals like Artic Monkeys mentioned on both my front cover and contents page. In addition, the social media applications involved and mentioned are also more likely to appeal to the younger generation who are in higher education and older as they are the people who connect online and would enjoy that unique selling point of my magazine InD.

My primary audience is 16-24 year olds because of the ages of my artist’s as well, if they are around the same age then the consumers are more likely to buy the magazine. My secondary audience is 15-34 year olds.

My magazine is aimed at both genders with mutual colours with a skew towards males (60%) as the look of the magazine mixed with the colours is slightly more masculine. The pictures are also more relatable for males as the main feature is three males and the article is about how they are down to earth and normal. This makes the main article a male orientated subject slightly as they can connect with the content a bit more than females can. However it depends on the readers preference on what gender they like to read about, if an artist like Drake was on the front cover they are less likely to buy it to read but if a female artist was on the front cover for example Adele, both genders are likely to buy it.

The social class I am aiming for is ABC1. Having the target market at this makes the magazine more acceptable to the indie culture as they are of all ages and a range of classes. The way I have portrayed this is by making my article relatable to them and by setting the price as £2.50. This is not a lot of money and I tailored this around my research of students, when I asked them how much they would be willing to pay for a music magazine, the majority answered £2-£3. Also, by making my magazine a monthly release it makes the money more manageable for people as it is only once a month they will be paying £2.50. Also, my magazine offers a subscription deal so if they subscribe it makes it cheaper for them because they become a member of InD Magazine so it automatically lowers their price. This would appeal to a wider audience as the cheaper they can get a magazine, the more likely they are to buy it especially if it has good content.

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

The kind of institution I would possibly get to distribute my magazine ‘InD’ would be Time Inc Uk, formally known as IPC Media. This is because they already distribute magazine like mine for example NME and they are the biggest publishers in the UK for magazines. They publish over 350 million magazines a year ranging from Woman to Practical Boat Owner. This means they are highly experienced in the selling and distributing of magazines of all genres.

This could give me a greater chance of getting my magazine distributed as they cover every different type of magazine. Time Inc UK would like my magazine as they already distribute NME which is also a music magazine however mine is about new and upcoming artists as well as those who are already established. Also my magazine has a wide audience so they could market it to a lot of people because NME is under their Men’s target audience so mine would be under both genders, this gives Time Inc UK a good unique selling point and advantage over other magazine distributers. On the other hand I may have to compete with NME as it is a similar magazine. Also, the overall look of my magazine is fresh yet reaches out to different audiences for example indie and pop. This is a niche market so there’s not a lot of competition so a majority of sales will go to Time Inc UK and there is a lot of room for growth.

InD could be distributed through advertising in the back of Time Inc UK’s other magazines as they distribute over 60 different magazines so a small advertisement in the back of a few is putting my magazine out there to a lot of different audiences. Also, as they distribute the very successful magazine NME, this could be linked closely to it as it supplies similar content but to a different style of music audience. This would put my magazine out onto the market and appeal to a lot of people. InD is also on a lot of social media platform so would be cheap to promote online through methods like twitter, YouTube adverts on the music videos for the artists who would be interviewed, Facebook pages and campaigns and general advertising. If my magazine has a very interactive twitter page then a lot of my target audience would be able to see it and by mentioning it online adds to the promotion. I could also have promotion techniques like the first magazine to be distributed would be cheaper than the others to give the audience a taste of that it is like then if they do like it they can return for the next issue and this creates repeat purchases. Another promotional method would be to have a YouTube channel which has exclusive interviews with artists who feature in our magazine. This would really appeal to the teenage audience and therefore bring in people who may not usually buy magazines to buy InD.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My magazine is aimed at indie music fans. Firstly the title is InD, an abbreviation of indie, this will jump out to people who are looking for a music magazine. My front cover has a boy band called HA4, this is quite an abstract name which will stick in people’s minds and they are more likely to remember this, also if its abstract indie music fans will appeal to this. Their expressions on the front cover are quite stern and unfriendly which is typical of teenagers so the age group 14-19 are likely to pick this up over a smiling artist. The use of stern expressions also puts across what their music is likely to be like and what it will be about. This also projects the idea that they aren’t innocent, they are more ‘bad boy’ than nice and sweet. The colour scheme is red black and white, this makes it more mature and people aged 14+ are more likely to pick this up rather than younger because they are more attracted to either blue for boys or pink for girls at that age.

My models clothes are worn to represent indie culture, they are the high end fashion, they are a deviation from this which is what indie culture is about. This is continued throughout my magazine, for example their white tops or checked shirts aren’t the latest fashion, also the use of hats add to the effect. Their coats are also typical clothing so when there is outside shots they all either have a coat on or another item of clothing which identifies with indie pop culture.

On my contents page, one of my models has a guitar, this instrument is used very often in indie pop music which means the audience are more likely to identify with the picture. She is not looking directly at the camera but at the guitar. This shows she is mysterious and interested in her music and very little else.

Another one of my photos has Michael close up, he has the fur of his coat lining his face with the blur of cars in the background. This identifies with the audience as he is out and about on the streets so is down to earth.  My contents page and front cover both have other existing established artists used to draw attention of indie artists.

The text font I have used is either edgy or very sharp. This makes the overall magazine look professional for the target audience and not towards one gender. I have used bold pull out quotes which the audience can identify with and add excitement to my article so the target market will then read on.

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

I used several existing music magazines to base my magazine on so I was sure I had the correct style and layout to follow the codes and conventions of indie magazines. The main existing magazine I took tips and ideas from was NME as I like the aesthetics of this and the style they used. As you can see by the title of my magazine, InD is short for Indie. The use of this abbreviation is used often in music magazines, mine is also in red colouring which is a normal convention of magazines. This will appeal to the people who are interested and listen to indie music, who are my target audience. My front cover had a main sell line to go with the models I used on my front cover. This was to give the audience a visual representation of what they were going to be reading about. I used a boy band to write my article about so had them on my front cover. I took individual photos of each of them and then photo shopped them so they could be closer to each other and be a closer shot of their faces. My models on the front cover are all in clothing typical of indie culture, checked shirts and rolled up t-shirts. These are part of the fashion but not high-street fashion as indie culture is mainly to rebel against clothing norms. The sell line is their band name in bold letters to stand out, also being in a different colour helps this too. Underneath that I have a brief overview of their article, this is a convention of a music magazine. The button on my front cover advertises to “Win Reading Tickets”, this is a huge indie music festival which a lot of people buy tickets for or at least hope they can get them. If this is advertising to win tickets they are more likely to be attracted to this magazine. The music artists along the bottom are all either my models or well-known indie music artists. My colour scheme is red, white and black. This is typical of an indie music magazine for example NME often uses these colours as they are bold and stand out. The bar code in the bottom left corner is a convention of a music magazine as it is there to scan when buying it. Also the date and price are along the top of my magazine, they are in white on a black bar so the reader can see it quite fast and make their decision. Also it is there so people can see the date and if it is recent and the price is to promote it to a certain bracket of people. My tag lines are all down the left in a list with a brief over view of what the articles will be about. This is to sell the magazine to not just fans of the main article. This is a convention of a music magazine as they try to get the biggest target audience they can possible. I have used artists who I have also got in the contents page to tie the magazine together.

My contents page follows the codes and conventions of a real media product in many ways. Firstly I have contents page in big bold letters in the top left cornet with the date and issue number. This gives the audience an idea of how popular the magazine is by having a lot of issues and tells them how recent the magazine is. On the top right corner, I have a picture of the front cover to add individuality to the magazine and to show the reader where these articles have come from. The categories I have are, Regular content, on the cover, other articles, subscriptions, artist index and social media. These are typical for music magazines because they have sell lines on the front which the readers are likely to want to read so they want a category for this. It makes the magazine easier to navigate. I also have 5 photos for articles I have included in my magazine, the main article for HA4 being the biggest photo. The others are not as big so they don’t attract as much attention but they are big enough for people to notice. Each of these photos have a page number on them, this is so the reader knows where it is located and it is big like in real magazines.

For my first double page spread I have a picture that covers both pages, this is typical of a magazine as it is the opening of the article. However I have challenged the magazines conventions as my picture is outdoors. Also, I have a quote from the text. This is to attract the reader’s attention and is used in the NME magazine I researched and took tips from. There is also my introduction paragraph on there to start off the article which them continues onto the next page. On the right hand side I have a red box with the band’s name in.

On the next page I have got the band’s name in big bold letters, this introduces the main article further and the reader is attracted towards it. Underneath, my introductory paragraph is in bold compared to the rest of the text.  Also, the pull out lines used throughout the article are a convention of a music magazine. They take a bit of the main body of text and make it stand out. This is to grab the initial attention and then make the reader want to continue reading.

Past two weeks

For the past two weeks I have been doing my evaluation. I am making a magazine to display the answers to my evaluation. I feel this is a good way to display them as it is connected to my actual product. I have 7 questions to answer. I have also been making any last minute improvements to my magazine, for example I have changed the layout of my article.

Equipment

This is a collection of all the equipment and software I used for making my magazine. I tell you how I used it to make my magazine.

Lesson 19

This lesson I updated my blog and made a Prezzi about my image ideas for my magazine including things like clothing and prop ideas. I also had a problem with my magazine, one of the main fonts I used on my contents page was a custom one. This meant I had to download the font and import it on Nexus Font. This means every time I have my magazine open I need to have Nexus Font open. I have fixed the problem so my magazine is in the font I want and looks more indie and rustic.