Research Task Nine : Target Audience Research And Analysis

 Music magazines traditionally provide content to a wide variation of audiences and genres, although each magazine needs to know the characteristics between which audiences are most likely to purchase their magazine and recommend it to a wider audience. It is vital for magazine companies to understand their audience demographics, as it helps them with editing, publishing and receiving feedback for future releases. For this task, I created and published a survey out to a number of young people from varying age ranges (within the 16 - 25 range) in order to gain a better grasp on how varying audiences perceive music magazines in the modern age. This survey was created in a simple 10 question format, providing general information such as age, gender, music taste and perceptions of music magazines; which helped with my understanding of how involved young people are with the music scene in the modern media climate.

I distributed my survey to a varied audience of both friends, family and acquaintances within the intended age bracket. This allowed me to gain varying results from a larger source of people. For the results themselves, they varied rather considerably in the general reception of music and magazines. The majority of my audience was within the 16 - 18 age range, which swayed many of the results to what is most popular to the younger areas of the chosen demographic. 

The Gender of participants in the survey was quite equally split, allowing for my results to show the appeals and preferences from an audience including all inclusive genders.

The chosen genres of each participant leaned significantly towards Rock n Roll as the most popular form of music, although specified material included grunge, hip hop and Opera.    

The results of the survey show few people in the younger age bracket purchase music magazines. This reflects the overall decline of physical print magazines over online media formats.

The  relatively small amount of visits to a music magazine website shows the importance off engaging a younger audience of young adults and teens. I plan to add a mixture of engagement and exciting visuals to achieve a mood and tone attractive to my target audience.

Feedback from the survey on what to include in my magazine will help me see what is most desired in a music magazine, and what most would help make my magazine a better success for the younger mature audiences.

Reflection Point : What Have I Learned About Independent Music Magazine Websites?

 Independent Music Magazine websites are utilised by a multitude of publication companies, both new and traditionally print-oriented publishers. These magazine websites have become a relative necessity in the past decade as news, information and entertainment has largely transitioned to the online plain with the introduction and widespread takeover of online media. Subsequently, a majority of print-magazine companies have needed to introduce their own digital publication formats to retain both relevancy and financial buoyancy in recent years. The publishers themselves commonly retain the print-magazine format as their primary focus of advertising and publicity, with their newest issues/back catalogue heavily publicised throughout their websites to garner further attention and likelihood of public intrigue in purchasing their magazines. For many publishers, magazine websites have taken prescience in their financial ethic, as sponsorships and advertisement deals have taken a large role in providing both finance and publicity to the websites. Sometimes this publication of external advertisements has overtaken the publication of the magazine itself in relevancy, showing the development in some companies from a primarily print-based focus, to an almost entirely digital focus.

The designs and contents of independent music magazine websites varies greatly from publisher to publisher, as each individual website utilises a mostly unique aesthetic that often personifies the thoughts and motives of each publisher. For example, certain websites/ magazines follow a defined 'house aesthetic' akin to the designs of their print-publications. The usage of a house design helps to maintain individuality between each website, and help attract targeted audiences through the website layout, colour palette and content showcased on the homepage and beyond. An example of a maintained house aesthetic is with the 'So Young' magazine, which uses a vintage aesthetic throughout its publications (both print and online) in order to appeal to an audience interested and attracted to magazine design/ music made famous in the 1970s/80s. Meanwhile, some other publishers such as Shindig focus primarily on a more modern take of website presentation, which would appeal more so to its futuristic and hip audience over more classical audiences.

Research Task Eight : Research Into Other Independent Music Magazine Websites

 

Research Task Seven : Independent Music Magazine Websites

 

Digital Convergence

Digital convergence is used quite extensively by the publishers of TheWire in order to promote both viewership on their website, and sales of their physical magazine. Examples of digital convergence include a similar 'house-design' shared by both media formats. The website however, expands greatly upon what is available on the magazine as it utilises the limitless information and constantly updating  news that becomes available through online formats.

Reflection Point : What Have I Learnt About Magazine Contents Pages?

 I have learnt that magazine content pages use a wide variety of formats, designs and structures in order to present the highlights and important features of their magazines in an effective and user-friendly manner. Content Pages often differ in design and format in order to appeal to certain audiences targeted by the publisher. These variations in design aim to make the individual magazine more appealing to targeted readers and promote the house-style of certain brands. 

An example of these include the contents page of the Vogue fashion magazine, which uses lots of imagery and photography from different models in order to showcase small snippets of the magazine's contents. Furthermore, small numbers and descriptions are given to each point of interest in the contents page in order to aid legibility. The colour palette used on the Vogue contents page utilises colourful imagery and stark black fonts in order to stand out against the White background. The bottom fifth of the contents page is sectioned off to showcase an advertisement for the Vogue Website. This shows adaption from the Vogue publishers to current trends as they strive to advertise both their physical magazine, and their available online services/subscriptions. 

Another example can be seen through music magazines like Mojo, which use non-conventional designs, photography and colours appropriate to the bands displayed within the contents page. The magazine uses a large photo of a showcased model as the main focal point of the contents page. The bright red clothing of the model acts to guide the reader's attention to bright colours, which are sparsely used in the contents page, only for titles and further important info for the reader.

Research Task Six : Wider Research Into Magazine Contents Pages

 

Research Task Five : The Wire Music Magazine Contents Pages