15.My Findings.

After this questionnaire I am very happy with my choice of genre as I feel it is avery popular choice amongst the target audience I am aiming at (15-25). The individuals I asked had some great suggestions to do with what should be inside the magazine like the Uk top 40', and articals about popular artists, and the 'ones to watch' page about new artists that could become popular. I feel my magazine needs to have lots of flavour, attitude and colour to appeal to the target audience of R&B lovers. The bench pricemark appears to be around the £1-£2 mark and after doing further research it was a 50/50 ratio from £1 to £2 so I may meet the price halfway and price the magazine at £1.50.  I still have not come to a descion about the name of my magazine however I like the idea of it not being spelt right like "In ya face", as that adds to the urban vibe of the music and nature of the magazine.

 To appeal to my target audience I feel the colours need to be bold and simmeltaneous with the season for example summer will be bright yellows, greens, pinks and lilacs. Whereas in winter the colours will change to blacks, silvers, reds and purples. This will bring a fresh vibe to to the magazine appeal to youth target audience. The font should also be big and bold to first to draw attention towards the magazine in addition to complying with the confident and slightly brash personalities of RnB artists.

Nicki Minaj and Rhianna seemed to be the most popular artists thaty came into conversation, people really appreciated there music, someimes contreversial style and lyrics and how they are allways fresh and allways push boundaries. This  what I want to carry through to my music magazine through bold fonts and colours, catchy headlines and eyecatching articals.

14. Questionnaire

The questions asked:

1. Would you like the magazine to focus on gossip of current stars or new and upcoming artists?
2. How much would you pay for a music magazine?
3. Can you think of any apropriate names?
4. What do you think defines an artist?
5. What are you Favourite R&B artists? Who would you like to see on the cover?
6. Would you like the magazine to involve other things other than music? Fashion, health ect...
7. What are the sterotypes of a R&B artist?
8. Do you like R&B/ urban music?
9. What do you expect to see in a music magazine?
10. Male or female on the cover? 

The answers:
Annie- 16

1. Mainly newer stars but would like to see the new and upcoming artists.
2. £1- £5
3. Anything loud and lary- "in ya face"
4. Style
5. Nikki Minaj
6. Yes, fashion.
7. Loud, fashionable
8. Yes
9. Articals with pop artists, list of top 40, new realeases, Adverts- instruments, upcoming concerts- "Ones to watch".
10. Depends on the artical- anyone facially appealing. 

James- 17

1. Both new and current.
2. Under £5
3. No.
4. The whole package, the look, voice and performance.
5. Rihanna, Usher, Snoop Dog
6. Yes, reviews.
7. Angry, multi- racial, sexual
8. Yes
9. Interviews, ringtone page, stuff to buy, posters.
10. Female. 

Ellie- 16

1. Both
2. Around £2
3. "Dunno"
4. There look, personality, voice. (Overall package)
5. Jessie J
6. Yes
7. Chavvy, attitude.
8. Yes
9. Interviews with stars, Uk top 40'
10. Male. 

13. Niche Magazines

A niche is a sub-genre of a large genre, for example Rock music has a huge market and would appeal to a wide range of people. However the niche genres (sub genres) inside of rock would be Thrash metal, speedcore, hardcore ect ect. An example of a niche magazine is "Metal Forces" magazine which involves the niche genre of Thrash metal therefore appeals to a much smaller and specific range of people making it Niche. 
The pros and cons of a Niche Magazine


PROS:

• They are aiming to a specific target audience 
• Can be a high demand market
• Buyers interested will be able to find you easily
• You may be the first to tackle this genre therefore become a trend setter allowing your business and company to grow.

CONS:

• As it can be a really small market the income of profit may be small or very little
• Very competitive market
• May take longer to establish yourself
• Could be so unpopular and specific that no one will want to buy it.

An example of a Niche Magazine is a fishing magazine called "Trout fisherman". 

This would have come from the huge genre of:

Sport

down to 

fishing

down to 

Fly Fishing

down to

Trout Fishing 

This is an example of a sub-sub-genre making it extra niche. 

http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands/Trout-Fisherman/

"Trout Fisherman" is owned by Bauer Media, which owns huge successful, well known magazines such as "Heat", "GRAZIA", "Kerrang!", "FHM" alongside popular radio stations such as "Kiss HM" which generates millions of pounds. However you can also see that they have invested in more Niche magazines such as "Bird Watching", "Steam railway" and "Golfs world". Bauer can use the economy of scale as it can produce and print Niche magazines much more cheaply but still have the guaranteed success as it is a huge industry. Bauer media it reaches over 90 million adults in the Uk over multiple media channels. 

"Trout Fisherman's" average target audience is a 51 year old male . They aim it at ttraditional game fishermen with much higher than average income, who spend a lot of money on gear and are looking for high quality equipment. I think this magazine is aimed at experienced fishermen – more than half have been fishing for more than 20 years which again is a very Niche target audience. However those really interested in the hobby will probably buy this magazine to accompany there box of fishing tools.


"Trout Fisherman ( Bauer Consumer Media ) : 17,565 ; -
5.6%"
In the last 6 months of 2011 they sold 17565 copies of "Trout Fisherman" which is 5.6% less than the same period in 2010. This could be due to  the economic crisis alongside the average reader of this magazine which is 51 this is around the age retirement so therefore they may not have the money to spare to spend on this magazine. Also I presume in this modern day of technology fishing is becoming less and less popular as a hobby and certainly very few people in my generation go fishing so you could question as the generations die down sadly so does the hobby. Also Fly fishing is a very techinical way of fishing and requires a lot of skill and is not the most popular way of fishing so maybe people do not want to buy it. Companies would usually worry about having a 5.6% loss however as Beauer Media is such a huge company they can afford to keep the Niche magazine. 

12. Magazine deconstruction

I originally wanted to look at a R&B magazine as that is the genre I am going to do however I found it ridiculously hard to get hold of one and I am running out of time so I have had to settle for a Rock magazine- "KERRANG!". At the end of a day a magazine is a magazine and they all have the same conventions so I thought this might help me even more as I can take what I like from this and what I don't like without a biased opinion.


Title
 The title of the magazine?- "Kerrang!"
Why is it called that? - It is the onomatopoeic sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar.
What are the significant words?- As it is a one worded title this is only the significant word which is catchy and becomes a recognisable brand name for the magazine. They even feel confident enough in there brand name that they have covered up half of it with the main image. This shows how well known the magazine is as the general public still know that they are picking up a "Kerrang!" magazine without seeing the title. It is as if they have developed there own genre of magazine that is typical of"Kerrang!" Another significance about the title is the exclamation mark, the obvious reason is to emphasise that it is an onomatopoeia, and to show its a loud and Leary magazine they takes no nonsense.
What connotations do they have?-  Definitely has a rocky connotation, although the font colour is surprising bright yellow and not the obvious judgement of black, red or grey. Yellow, in my opinion connotes sun, summer, fun and childhood, this is of a huge contrast to what you would typically think a rock magazine would use. However the sub heading is also in yellow and saids ""Young guns" so I think that the colour yellow has been used to connote the youth of today. There are big cracks through the bold font to show its a little rough around the edges, and this connotes the no fuss no nonsense heavy metal lifestyle of a rock star.


Readership 
What type of reader is it targeting?- On wikipedea it saids its target audience is aged 16-25 which is around the student bench mark and the themes and price of the magazines also show its age range. Most of the images and articles are about new and upcoming bands or insiders on popular bands, this gives a fresh vibe again that shows the Target Audience would be youth orientated. Also the images of the rockstars are all 30 years under this also shows that "Kerrang!"are trying to aim towards a younger audience. Also I feel they are targeting neither sex as they have made the magazine very unisex for example there is about 6 pages of posters that you can cut out and stick on your bedroom wall and there is the same number of pictures of males to females. However I feel the genre of rock music is more male oriented due to its violence and sexual nature although more and more females are becoming fans and so therefore would read this magazine.
How does the reader 'interact' with the magazine?- As the magazine is mainly aimed at students it shows past gigs that have been a huge success making them want to come and see one. They have a crossword, various adverts, a competition to win a T-shirt and an "life of agony", an agony aunt page all these would involve the reader. Also as this is an Valentines issue there is a page all about the best tips and tricks in the bedroom and how to woo the girl you have always fancied. The magazines informal and friendly tone will make the reader feel relaxed making them able to read it in there own pleasure.


The Cover

Analyse the images on the front cover; what types of facial expressions, body language, clothing...?- The main image is of the band "Young guns" and that involves 5 band members all dressed in T-shirts and standing in a diagonal line with the closest band member to the camera and fading down to the right of the page. The closest and most prominent band member is wearing a red T-shirt whilst all the others wear white, the red could be used to promote the "Valentines Issue" heading as it can connote the colour of love and passion. All 5 men look pleasant and masculine as a heading states that they are "Rock 'N' Roll Romantics". To the left of the front cover there is three images of the three main inside exclusives. The one image that draws my eye is the image of "Slipknot" as he has a horror movie esq mask on and is pulling a face of pain this is a shocking image that immediately draws attention making the reader want to find out more.


An example of a double page spread!

11. Mood board

.

To try and get more of a feel for my magazine I decided to do some research on the artists in this genre.  I have come to the conclusion that they all have there individual style ranging from Beyonce's fairly classic glamorous style to Rhianna's risque grunge angle of R&B and never afraid to push limits and boundaries. As I have stated before fashion is going to play a huge part in my magazine alongside music as it has became obvious to me that all these artists would not be individuals without there unique style.  Just from this mood board you can see the different fashion styles and individuality amongst the artists. 
Therefore this will help me create this style through the magazine which generally gives off a fashion concious, cool, edgy style. 

10. TO DO POST!

• Buy a music magazine
• Start designing front covers
• Do a questionare on what sort of things people want to see in the front cover
• Mood Map
• What adverts I would have?
• Finalize a price

09. My Target Audience

As I have decided what genre of music I am going to create my magazine on (R&B/ Urban street) I thought I would do some planning on this to appeal to my target audience. 

History of R&B/ Urban street

R&B is the street abbreviation for the term Rhythm and Blues, and is a popular genre of African American music that originated from the 1940's. The migration of African Americans to the urban industrial centers of Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1920s and 30's created a new market for jazz, blues, and related genres of music, often performed by full-time musicians, either working alone or in small groups. The term "urban" is also heavily associated with African-American music, particularly for Contemporary R&B in African-American contexts. Thats why I have conjoined the two genres to make one as there conventions are so closely linked anyway. 

The type of artists and musicians in this genre:

• Christina Aguilera 
• Beyonce
• Chris Brown
• Drake
• Ne-Yo
• P!nk
• Nicki Minaj
• Rhianna
• Sean Kingston
• Snoop Dog
• Taio Cruiz
• Jay Z
• Kelly Rowland
• Tinie Tempah
• Destinys Child
• Little Mix

Target audience

• Ages 14-21
• Mod/ current interest in music
• Party lovers
• Fashion conscious
• Socialites
• Either gender- more aimed at females as it incorporates fashion and lifestyle.

I eventually want my magazine to have a really cool and current vibe to it attracting attention of R&B lovers and celebrity gossipers.  I haven' t as yet decided on a price for my magazine but I am thinking around the £1.50- £2.99 mark as my target audience is mainly students and obviously does not have much disposable income, to spend on luxury's like magazines. However I feel if it was this is a fair price to ask for a professional action packed magazine. 

08. Comparisons and Decisions

As I am trying to decide which genre of music to use for my magazine i thought I would do some research on the two I am stuck between, which is Rock and Hiphop/ R&B/ urban street. 

Rock Magazine "KERRANG!"-

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music. It is published by Bauer media Group and was  first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Its named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.

• Editor- James McMahon
• Issued- Weekly
• Founder- Geoff Barton
• Country- United Kingdom

The front cover is very busy, with lots of different size fonts and images. Both the font and images have connotations of grunge and rock to appeal to there target audience that I believe would be a minimum age 15 upwards for rock music genre lovers and males. Purely because this episode states about explicit themes such as "sex, drugs and violence". 

I am still unsure weather or not I would like to make this genre of music magazine as I actually dont agree with what it is advertising and I am not particulary expert at this genre. I feel I would have to be more passionate about it in order to appeal to a target audience and for it to be successfull. 




Hip-hop/ urban/ R&B magazine "FLAVOUR"

I actually found it allmost immpossible to find a magazine that had R&B urban traits, which tells me that there is a gap in the market for this.
 However I managed to find "Flavour" magazine which is a free bi-monthly urban entertainment and arts magazine in the United Kingdom. The publication targets men and women 18–34. It presents interviews and discussions on people in mainly music alongside  art, TV, film, beauty and fashion.

I personally love the cool, clean and professional look about this magazine and the fact that is combines other arts like fashion and beauty. Which for this genre of music I feel that they combine together as the artist is very expressive through there clothing and image as well as there music to combine to make one. They have used the meme and tropes of being very blingy and high fashion. 

There is one main image to focus on which I personally prefer and that is what I tried to do in my music magazine. The only thing that I don't like about this magazine is the fact that the cover is not that busy, so I would make mine more busy.

For me this magazine is current, fresh and new and I feel more passionatley about this type of music and style. However instead of aiming the magazine at women and men at the minimum age of 18, I would rather aim my magazine at the age 16 upwards and more at women than men. Focusing on music, fashion, image and self-confidence. 

I have come to the decision that I am going to do a street/ urban/ R&B magazine. 

07. Different types of the main music genres.