Initial Ideas

Originally, I planned on following the music video brief, however during a trial run of my ideas, I realised doing a music video would be impractical. I couldn’t easily access a performance space, or the instruments required for my music video, however I do have the necessary equipment needed for a music magazine. 

Looking at the brief, I have decided I would like to name my music magazine ‘IDOL’, centred around the k-pop genre. 63% of 16-25 year olds agreed they listen to new music to discover new perspectives and cultures, explaining the rise in amount of people interacting with k-pop within the target audience. I would like for my magazine to have a diverse coverage of k-pop as a whole, catering towards the audience’s generic interest, alongside ensuring they are entertained. 

Planning: Pitch Feedback

 

From the pitch process, I have learnt that I need to ensure that my ideas are practical. Since the presenting my brief, I have found talent to be within my music video. 

From here, I am going to produce videos to check if my song is able to be lipsynced, alongside take photos of locations to initiate more ideas. I am also going to create a mock 30s- 1 minute video using my talent.

Magazine Pitch

 

Generic Research- Case Study Three

                                                                            MOJO 

When opening their website, the first thing seen is MOJO’s latest edition of their physical magazine. This is a good way of promoting their most recent products, and enticing an audience to further explore their website to look at other editions. At the top of their website, there are several tabs to music related sources, which I could utilise within my website to promote other methods of audience engagement, such as linking social media.

Additionally, their website showcases other music-related articles that aren’t featured within editions. I think this is a good method of increasing audience interaction, especially with a genre-specific magazine, because if an audience has bought a magazine for a genre, they are likely to pay attention to articles with a similar nature of content. This would also be a good way of adding intertextuality to my products. There are also subscription buttons scattered around the webpage, to ensure audiences make a purchase.

MOJO’s website also has an archive of their latest magazines. This is another way I could display my editions.

Generic Research- Case Study Two

                                                                       BILLBOARD

Whilst ‘Billboard’ is a music magazine, it doesn't follow a lot of generic conventions. The masthead is unconventionally placed, and there is a lack of puffs and basic information, which is typically expected from a music magazine. However this gives the magazine connotations of sophistication. Despite this, most generic conventions are adhered to, such as direct mode of address from artists and uncentered coverlines.

I am inspired by the use of this cover’s naturalistic mise-en-scene, and would like to do something similar within one of my front covers. I like the connotations of ‘realness’, alongside the visually pleasing colour palette accompanying the natural theme. 

Generic Research- Case Study One

DAILY MUSIC ROLL

Within this edition of ‘Daily Music Roll’, generic conventions have been adhered to. The cover lines aren’t obscuring the main image, yet are still identifiable and provide information about the magazine’s contents. Within the main image, there is a direct mode of address via eye contact by Tyla, and 3-4 main colours are used to make the front cover visually stand out, whilst maintaining aesthetics. 

Within my magazines, I would like to mimic the graphic design element of the masthead, due to its visually appeasing nature, alongside its ability to instantly identify itself as a music magazine to an audience. I would also like to use my cover lines to incorporate intertextual references.

Industrial Context- History of Music Magazines

 

Industrial Context- Contemplating Context of Music Magazines and the Industry

Funding

Magazines are primarily sourced via advertisement revenue, and sales revenue. Advertising revenue is derived from businesses paying to feature their advertisements within the magazine, the cost depending on advert size, placement, and magazine circulation numbers. Sales revenue is generated from selling physical copies of the magazine, and digital subscriptions. Some magazines may receive additional funding via donations. 

Distribution

Once printed, magazines are taken to traditional distribution channels, such as newsstands, bookstores, and subscriptions. However, due to technological advancement, digital distribution channels such as social media, email marketing, and online subscriptions have risen in popularity.

Audience Research- Focus Group

Primary audience

Name: Hibbah

Age: 17

Psychometric: Explorer

. Within a music magazine, I would expect to see an artist’s top hits, alongside some personal backstory. This could be how they started as a musician, where they are now etc.

. I like the visuals within a music magazine- the overall ‘look’ and ‘vibe’ of a band is appealing. I also like how captivating some music magazines can be, as they cover diverse genres and bring a sense of community amongst the demographic that the magazine caters to.

. I dislike when music magazines have a lack of, or poor quality pictures. I also dislike when magazines are vague and cover a range of genres, as the content within the magazine is less informative, and doesn’t include specific details.

. Within a K-POP music magazine, I would expect artist profiles, news and updates, fashion coverage, behind the scenes content, and contests for readers to participate in.

Name: Owen

Age: 17

Psychometric: Explorer

. Within a music magazine, I would expect to see upcoming artists, music events, and relevant music-related articles.

. Within music magazines, I like seeing photos of artists, a cohesive house style, and a visually appealing colour palette.

. Within music magazines, I dislike a lack of space between pieces of information (e.g. big blocks of text).

. Within a k-pop music magazine, I would expect to see k-pop artists, information about new bands debuting, and opportunity for fan engagement, such as competitions.

Name: Gabriel

Age: 17

Psychometric: Reformer

. In a music magazine, I would expect to see genre having a heavy influence on aesthetics, such as a cohesive layout, colour palette choice, and artist’s outfits. I would also expect to see discussion from popular artists within the magazine’s genre.

. I like the visual aspects of music magazines.

. I dislike when music magazines have too much copy, and lack of artist imagery.

. Within a k-pop magazine, I would expect to see lots of photos of featured artists within the edition.

Name: Safa-Noor

Age: 17

Psychometric: Aspirer

. In a music magazine, I would expect to see articles about new artists and new albums, alongside information about upcoming events such as concerts, festivals etc.

. In music magazines, I like finding out about new music, and news about my favourite artists. 

. Within genre-specific music magazines, I dislike how editions consist of the same topics. 

. Within a k-pop magazine, I would expect to see information about new and upcoming groups, and new music.

Generic Research- Codes and Conventions of Music Magazines

 Main Image

. Consists of a large close-up shot of the talent featuring within the main article, typically photographed on a plain background.

Cover lines

. Typically found at the left/right of the main image. Generally used to tease the reader about the edition’s contents, giving a general insight about the magazine’s niche.

Tagline

. Typically placed above the masthead, attracting attention by indicating that it’s a special addition, or highlighting an interesting story featured within the magazine.

Masthead

. Commonly found at the top of the magazine. Mastheads are bold, and in an easily visible font, named and designed to relate to the genre of music the magazine specialises in.

Composition

. Colour schemes tend to match the genre the magazine is aimed at (e.g. Kerrang! has a darker colour palette, than Mojo). 3-4 main colours are used, as too much colour can make editions hard to read, and visually unappealing.

. Magazine layout differs between genres.

. All music magazines will have basic information, such as a barcode, issue date and cover price.

. Puffs are used to grab attention.

. Direct mode of address.

Audience Profile

 Audience Profile

“A 16-25 year-old middle-market audience that likes to be entertained”

Age

To appeal to the age group of ‘16-25 year-olds’ as stated within the brief, the people featured within my magazine front covers will be apart of this demographic, enabling my audience to relate to those featured.

Social class

A ‘middle-market’ audience is likely to fall under the ABC1 target demographic. This means they are likely to have disposable income, which can be spent on annual subscriptions. They are likely to be considering going to or currently attending university, suggesting they may be interested in more complex ideologies which could feature in the magazine’s cover lines.

Psychometrics

An audience who ‘likes to be entertained’ is likely to consist of explorers. Explorers like to discover new things. I wouldn't like my magazine to have a fixed genre, featuring a diverse range of content, providing an increased variety of explorers to enjoy.