Music Magazine Questionnaire

I believe in the idea of preliminary research so it can allow me to see who my target audience are and what kind of preferences they prefer in a music magazine and for that purpose a music magazine questionnaire was created. This music magazine was created and distributed to various people in my college as well as outside my college. Underneath are the results I managed to accumulate from the participants and through the use of Microsoft Excel I put it into graphs.
The first question I asked was about their age. This was a question I felt needed to be asked as it allowed me to first of identify  who the target audience/consumers are as well as giving me time to research what that age group was into to help my magazine. The results showed my target audience is between the ages of 16-18.
The second question was also needed to let me know what type of genres the different age groups liked and it allowed me to assess what kind of genre I wanted to make my music magazine be based on. Thus, the results suggest that I should be focusing on the genre of ‘Indie’ in my music magazine.
For my third question I asked what price ranges the audience would be willing to buy a music magazine for. This allowed me to formulate ideas of what my music magazine price should be as well and the results show that it should be in between the range of £1.00-£2.00.
For my fourth question, I asked who were their favourite artists. This allowed me to get a grasp of what genre these artists were and helped me in constructing the music magazine. It would seem that the band ‘2 Door Cinema Club’ are favourites of those who participated and so they should be in the music magazine in one form or another.
My fifth question helped me to understand how often the participants read a music magazine. The results helped me get a sense of how many readers read ‘X’ amount of music magazines and so allowed me to plan how often I should distribute the magazine.
For my sixth question, I asked the participants what kind of colours they would like to see in a music magazine. The most common answers were the colours white, black and peach. This allowed to see what colours would be popular among the age group and therefore meaning that I should use these colours.
My seventh question was asked to see if there was a point of adding some kind of notice of competitions or something similar. The results show that the majority would participate in such competitions and so this may help boost readership.
My eighth question was to see what the participants views were of how often I should distribute the music magazine. The results suggest I should distribute it weekly and this would again help boost readership.   

This also helped me to start thinking about the social groups that this magazine is aimed at as most music magazines have a social group that they are aiming at. The ideology of this could be to try and incorporate various interests of that social group. One can also connote there may be a certain professionalism as the questionnaire seems to be professional.

Moodboard

This is a moodboard with a montage of celebrities which is associated with various genres. Due to the fact that my genre is 'Indie', I may feel that I should use the celebrities that are associated with the 'Indie' genre in one form or another to help attract the target audience. Celebrities such as Lana del  Rey and 2 Door Cinema Club should possibly be included to the magazine as it helps the consumer connote the genre of the music magazine as well as the fact they can connote how involved the singers are in the magazine by font size. In addition they are able to help give the media product give the hypodermic needle theory because the media product may be trying to say to the consumer that they should go and buy these singers albums or listen more to the 'Indie' genre.

Conventions & textual analysis of music mag

There are various conventions in music magazines as one would expect to see usually a couple of the following: a masthead, a selling line, at least one main coverline, other coverlines, a barcode, month of release and sometimes a plug.

The term ‘masthead’ means the title of a magazine which in this case is called ‘VIBE’. The purpose of a masthead is to allow the audiences to recognise and identify the magazine. The masthead itself is made even more recognisable due to the fact with all of its magazines it keeps the same font so as to make it more distinguishable for target audiences.
The function of a coverlines is to entice the target audience into buying the magazine so they want to know more about the topic. An example from this magazine is ‘stadium status behind Jay-Z’s New York takeover’.

The main cover line is usually somehow related to the main image shown and is usually something quite important to the person in the main image ‘i.e. it could be talking about their upcoming tour’. In this case the main coverline is ‘People have been comparing me to Tupac’. Also there may arguably be another main coverline in ‘Keri Hilson has been a very bad girl’ as it stands out due to the fact that the word ‘Keri’ is shown in red rather than the usual white and the text size is much bigger compared to the other words that are in red.

Taglines are usually giving the audience a very brief overview of what kind of content is in the magazine, e.g.’2010: In review, all that was cool, crazy and crass’.
The main image is used to show the reader who the major story is about and also by having a main image of a singer/celebrity, those who are fans of the singer/celebrity may buy the magazine just because it has a major story of the singer/celebrity that they like. T.I is the person in the main image and so may attract those who like his music.
The function of a barcode is to allow the purchase of the magazine from the store to the person who is buying the magazine.

What I can denote about this is that it is using a dark background mixed with a light coloured text. The effect of this on the reader is that they are able to see the words more clearly and may attract them to the coverline. The consumer would also be able to denote the brand 'VIBE' due to it having a red colour font. The gaze from the model may seem to suggest that they are calm and collective about what they are doing and so makes the consumer feel as if the model is in charge and so may make the reader want to buy the media product. The genre seems to be on rap and pop as the model is a rapper which would make the reader connote that there is a big story on the rapper and this may interest them. Also they have 'Jay-Z' in the coverline which also indicates that there is more than one story on rappers which again may interest the reader into buying the media product. The hypodermic needle theory may also be used here in that there may be an underlying message in that the front cover could be trying to say there is lots of information that is very interesting evidenced by it saying 'all that was cool, crazy and crass'. This may intertwine with its ideology of trying to make it seem more attractive by using these selling lines. The mise-en-scene is that it's in a dark background and the model is wearing a snapback (hat) which may be stereotyped with rappers as they are seen in the media to always be wearing them. 

Reader's response:
The reader's response to this magazine was that they found it easy to read due to the colours working well with each other. The coverlines were in the colour white and red because these were bright colours it stood out against the dark background. They were also able to identify the main coverline due to the size of the font. Furthermore, there is a close up shot of the model so as to let the reader identify who the model is and what the main coverline is about. Also having the brand's name at the top in red allows the reader to identify what magazine this is and they thought it was a good colour scheme. In addition, by having a box that has a white background, this attracted the reader and made them want to see the contents inside that box. Overall, the reader believed it was an effective front cover that highlighted the various aspects of what a music magazine is expected to have.  



Main image – The main image on the contents page is of the singer Adele which immediately lets the reader know that they have some big news on Adele. In this case it is about the way she lives.
Title – As with many other music magazines, the title on the contents page is ‘CONTENTS’, for the plain reason of letting the audience know what this page is about. They also have their signature logo on it to allow the readers to identify with magazine already if they have not seen the front page.
Release date –shown to target audience to let them know when the magazine was published.
Website – this is shown close to the release date in order to advocate people into tuning in to their websites and in the long term persuade them to subscribe to them.
Format – With Q magazine their format is not set in stone because they have changed their structure a couple of times but always have their logo on the contents page so as to not confuse the reader into thinking it may be another magazine. In this case they have a typical format whereby they have a main image and a smaller image as well as a few sub headings and articles and their pages under the sub headings. This contents page generally uses the colour scheme of red, white and grey. I think the use of a set standard grid format helps the reader to look at the magazine and gives it a sense of professionalism.
Subheadings –These are used for the sole purpose letting the reader know what all the articles under it have in common. In this instance, one of the subheadings is‘women in music’, this lets the reader know it is going to be talking about female singers and females who play instruments and sing. Also, all the articles under the subheadings are in bold which again helps the reader to know what the article is mainly about is a very useful technique to engage the reader into buying the magazine.
These are all various forms of denotation because I have said what is on the contents page. The effects of this denotation is that it makes it more easier for the reader to see the different categories on the contents and it makes it easier to identify the with the emotions of the model.
The consumer can connote that there is a big story on Adele because there is a big image of her and this may interest the consumer into buying it. They can also connote that there is several interviews/information about women in music as it is clearly seen in the contents page. The conventions of this contents page is that there are two images of models in them. This is conventional because there is always at least two image in a contents page to let the consumer know what is in the magazine. Another convention is that there is a column styled contents page which is generally employed by all music magazines as it is seemingly professional and is easy for the consumer to read and find out what page they want to read about.

Reader's response:
The response from the reader was that they felt that by having a main image of the singer 'Adele' they could tell that there may be a main story about her. They also felt it was easy to navigate as they could see what each section had in store and what page it was so they could get there if they wanted to read it. Although, they felt as if there was to much content on the contents page and so made the contents page less attractive to them to read. By having the words 'women in music' in italics, this also attracted the reader because of the fact that they wanted to see what female musicians would the magazine be talking about and why they what was interesting about them. By having a website on the top left corner, the reader felt that it was a useful thing to have but they personally was not interested in visiting the website but they understand why it is there. Also by having some of the words in bold, this attracted the reader and it was these bold words that the reader looked at in the column section to see what there is to read about. There is also the 'Review' section which the reader found interesting as they felt as if it was not conventional for a music magazine to have in the contents page. In totality, the reader felt that the contents page had the main components of what a contents page should have (i.e. columns, at least two images, sub-headings and sub-sections).

The Q magazine double page spread is usually set with a picture of a musician on the left side of the page completely devoted to the image with the right half devoting to content about the musician. They also have their logo imprinted at the bottom of the right side page. Their style of how they do their double pages is even more unique because of the fact that they generally have the musicians’ first letter in red and written in the background of their article.
The pull quote in this double page spread can be located at the bottom right on the left page (“Everyone trying to do something new is going to come up against a Noel Gallagher figure in their life”) where it gives the reader an insight as to what this article may entail.
The title of this article (‘The most exciting people in music, Jay Z’) is unexpectedly not very big compared to other music magazines but is made known with its bold writing as well as the text being bigger in size compared to the text size of the article as well as it being at the very top of the article.
The way the text is set out has a professional feel about it because of the fact that it is structured as if it was in a newspaper. The first letter in each new paragraph being made prominent by having the size of the text very large in comparison with the next letter as well as the letter being bold, to add to the professional feel it is written in columns which connotes that the maybe the rest of the magazine is in some way professionally structured.
The main image itself is of Jay Z where he is wearing sunglasses (possibly ray bans?) which may be seen as a signature item of his as he can be seen wearing it quite often. The sunglasses connotes some kind of mystery as you cannot see whether or not he is look at the audience and may attract the reader into reading the article.
There is also their website at the bottom right of the right page which is there to attract audiences into visiting their page.

What I can denote from this is there is a model who is wearing sunglasses (mise-en-scene). This may try to give the effect that the hypodermic needle theory is being used in that it is trying to tell the reader than the model is cool person. Although you can also connote that they may want to keep their feelings to themselves which makes them even more interesting to the consumer because you cannot see their whole face. Another denotation would be the big red 'J' which makes it more attractive to the reader and is conventional in its own way because it sometimes does this with other models by imprinting the first letter of their name in the same manner as this one.   
Reader's response:
The reader felt that the image of Jay-Z that took up one whole page was nothing surprising as they have seen this done in various other music magazines. They felt that by having the letter 'J' in the background and in red was a signature move of Q magazine as they have done this sort of thing before in their previous magazines. The reader felt, there was a substantial amount of text as well to keep the read thoroughly immersed in the content of which they would be reading. They also noticed the red text on the bottom right of the page on the right, this allowed them to have a taste of what the text was about and they read this before reading the full content. 

Music Magazine Flat Plan

Preliminary college magazine

This is the final product for the preliminary task. The front cover seems to show an array of conventional content that one may expect to see in a front cover of a magazine. One feature that you would expect to see is the brand of the college magazine which is very clearly expressed by having a font and colour which goes well with the white background. The magazine seems to have a colour scheme of red and white in terms of text which seems to go well when used in the appropriate areas, the colours were due to the popularity of them when there was a questionnaire posed to others about what colours they thought would be attractive in a front cover. The coverlines used are those which would be expected from a college magazine as it talks about various aspects of college life and other interests of people who attend these places. By having a black circle in the magazine with content inside, this may attract the readers as the circle and the background is very contrasting to all the other colours that are posed in the front cover and so therefore it would attract the reader. Also, there is a selling line at the bottom of the magazine (may not be conventional as they are generally shown at the top of a front cover) which is in capitals with the intention of entrancing the reader into having a look at the magazine. Moreover, it seems to be conventional by having a barcode and the price shown. The conotation of this magazine is that there are various interests that college students have through the fact that there are various topics in the coverlines.

The contents page may be seen as unorthodox in one way or another but in many respects is conventional. One such way which shows it is unorthodox is by having an image of only one model and the image takes up the whole page. On the other hand, it is still set in some sort of fashion which looks similar to columns that are usually deployed in most content pages. Also, the text is still kept to the same colour scheme as the front cover showing that the two are linked. The sub-sections are highlighted in red to alert the reader of the section as well as the fact that each section is clearly separated by a line of space which adds to the clarity of the contents page. 

Other college magazine candidate photos

For the first image, I decided that I would not use it in my magazine because the image seemed to be taken a bit too far which would therefore mean that the audience could not identify with the person. Also the mise-en-scene may be seen as not ideal as it does not suggest anything to do with college life or studies.
The second image I chose, I had considered using that on my front page because of the fact that it was a college magazine and the image shows a student with the college in the background therefore helping the audience to identify with the magazine as well as the image. In the end I chose not to use it because there was other clothing in the background which would not be professional to use in a front cover. Also the positioning of my model in the image did not seem as if he was ready for the image to be taken.
For the third image, I did not choose the image because I thought the mise-en-scene (background) was dull and dark which may not make a good impression on the reader and make it unattractive. The mode of address can also be used in that I may want the person to see what a 'standard' college person may look like.
The fourth image I believe was a decent image except for the fact that the natural light blurs the model slightly as well as changing their expression, I liked the image due to its use of props, namely the student card which can't be seen clearly.
For the fifth image, I did not use it because there was a person in the background and so I believed it was not ideal to use. The mise-en-scene is also not ideal because of the fact that there is another person in the image.
The sixth image, I considered using as it had props that suggested that it had something to do with education but I required a shot which would be a bit more closer than this image as I felt there was just big gaps in the background which look unattractive.

Questionnaire for college magazine

 

In the questionnaire, there were ten questions and I picked out the main five to briefly analyse. The questions were:

1. ‘What kind of content do you enjoy reading about?’

44% of the people replied saying that music was their favourite to read about suggesting that music is a key factor needed in order to attract my target audience.

2. ‘What colours do you like in a magazine?’

The most popular colours that the participants replied in the questionnaire was white, grey and red which suggests that finding the right mix between these colours is essential to the article based on visual attraction.

3. How long should a magazine be in terms of how many pages?

It seems that half the participants in this question believed that a magazine should not be longer than forty pages which may imply that anything above might put them of a magazine.

4. What would you expect in a college magazine?

Fifty percent of people believe that it is typical of some form of news to be written in a magazine and this could mean it’s what they expect and want.

5. ‘What type of music would you like to read about?’

There were thirty three percent and thirty four percent of votes for the genre of RnB and House music which indicates the type of music the participants liked the most in the questionnaire.

6. What type of video games would you like to read about?

Hand to hand combat as well as adventure games was the most popular selection among what participants indicated they wanted in a college magazine which suggests that using these genres may attract more of the target audience.

7. What type of fashion would you like to read about?

The majority of participants liked the idea of a magazine giving tips of places giving good deals between high end and high street fashion as it shows that they either like a mixture of the types as well as possibly showing that they may be tight on budget so they may want to buy things for good deals.

8. ‘Would you want anecdotes on people who raised to success and their secrets?’

This garnered 80% of participants who said they also wanted it to be in the magazine which seems to show that they’re interested or want to get tips on how to be successive themselves which may also attract readers which should also be on the front cover of my magazine.

9. ‘Would you want to know about upcoming university taster days?’

Everyone said ‘yes’ to this question which implied that they was thinking about possibly continuing into higher education and so there must also be something on my own front cover talking about university taster days.

10. What type of events in London would you like to read about?

Sporting events, festivals as well as voluntary work was what participants most wanted to know in the list which shows what they like to do in their spare time or how to get their UCAS statement looking good (voluntary work).

The effectiveness of this questionnaire would be that it helps me understand what the people want and so I would try and include it in my final magazine product. This is useful as it may help me be able to use the hypodermic needle theory by trying to give the subliminal message that college life is has various different aspects and that it is interesting to complex. By having a questionnaire it will give me ideas as to how I want the consumer to connotate the magazine and what denotations there are which may be conventional in a music magazine.