Content page construction

Music Magazine - Target audience

The target audience for my music magazine are young people between the ages of 16 and 30 who enjoy listening  to R&B, Hip-Hop and also Rap music.
UK Tribes is 'commissioned by Channel 4, created by Crowd DNA - takes you to the heart of young Britain.' According to UK tribes my target audience are a group of people called 'Blingers'. They have icons such as Jay-Z, Beyonce and Chris Brown which are people who make music of the same genre as my magazine. They are also fond expensive brands like 'Nike', 'Adidas' and 'Prada' so they like to spend a lot of money. Other social groups closely related to 'Blingers' are 'Urban', 'Get Paid Crew', 'DIYers' and 'Trackies'.
Here is more information on Blingers: Blingers UK Tribes.

Evaluation Question 3

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

Media institutions that would be interested in my  media product and distribute it could be the ones that have existing magazines on the market of the same genre of mine (RnB, Hip-Hop and Rap). 

Alternatively it is possible for media institutions which do music magazines in other genres to be interested in mine because they may want to branch out to a variety of target audiences. 

Bauer Media is a media institution and I think they would distribute my media product because according to the list of their existing magazines, they are the owners of 'Q magazine' which is of similar genre to my product. They also have other magazines such as 'KERRANG' which is a rock magazine and 'Empire' which is a magazine focused on the film industry. These magazines are all aimed at the male target audience which is the same target audience as my product. The list of Bauer Media's Brands show that they only have one magazine which covers the same genre as my product but on othere categories they have more than one. 

 

 

These are a collection of magazines produced by 'Bauer Media' and 'IPC Media' but I have also placed my media product with them to illustrate how it would fit in amongst the music magazine market.There are some similarities like the colours Red White and Blue are used a lot and the background is not a dark colour. Also the main image is taken at medium close up - close up range. There are also some differences which is a good thing because each magazine needs to be unique to attract customers.

IPC (International Publishing Corporation) Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month. www.ipcmedia.com 

IPC might be interested in distributing my media product because their website tells me that they only produce two music magazines which are different genre from mine. They are the owners of 'NME' and 'Uncut'. Also their audience is two thirds of women and 42% men in the UK and since my magazine is aimed at a male audience, it would help them increase the percentage of men.

Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social group?

My magazine represents a particular social group through the name of the magazine, main image and the artists featured. It is aimed at young people around the age of 16-27 who are into Rap and RnB music and this is represented in the main image. The person who is the main image looks between this age range and it is possible to interpret his dress code and associate it with rap music because he is wearing the stereotype woolly hat. He is also wearing big head phones which obviously is associated with music. The magazine is also aimed at a male audience hence the male model. During research I found that most magazines of this genre usually have their main image taken at a medium close up or a close up shot, so I applied this to my own magazine so it fits in perfectly.

I used a few magazines to find out what type of clothing my model should wear for my front page shoot. I saw that on some rap magazines, the main image was wearing the typical street look (woolly hat and a hoody/jacket) where as others mad this look a bit more classy with a cap and either a nice jacket or just a tank top. I chose to have my model portray the typical street look because it would connect with the target audience and attract them to buy the magazine for they can relate to the dress code.

Evaluation Question 1 part2

The content page of my media product challenges forms and conventions of real media products via the layout of the page and the language used. On the top right of my media product content page, it has the name of the magazine 'MIXTAPE' writen there and also underneath it, it says 'Content' so the reader is awear of the page. This idea was inspired by an issue of Vibe magazine during research as they also used this convention.

 

 The layout of my contents page also challenges forms and conventions of medi products because of the layout.

As you can see between the 'MIXTAPE' content and 'NME' content there are some similarities and features shared. First of all there is an index of featured people in the magazine. This helps to attract the target audience and is usually a strip along the side of the content page, with a list of famous names. Another similarity is that there are two pictures in the middle to give the reader a preview of what to expect inside. The headlines and features also gives a preview of what is inside the magazine and these elements contribute to attracting the target audience. 

There is a noticable inprovement from my priliminary tast content page to my music magazine content because through out the time I have increased my understanding of photoshop and the tools.

 

In my preliminary task I did not make use of 'drop shadows' or 'inner shadows' so the pictures and font lacked any effect. Between my preliminary task and music magazine, I did a lot more research in to existing magazines and their layouts which is why my preliminary task has no separators to separate the different sections. This may confuse the reader. The music magazine has separators and looks more neat and tidy compared to my preliminary task. In my music magazine I used more than one model who I made wear completely different outfits to increase variety. The outfits portrayed show the different sides to Rap and RnB music as one picture portrays the street look while the other is a smart casual and luxurious look. In my preliminary task there was repetition.

 The double page spread for 'MIXTAPE' magazine has a lot of elements which challenge the forms and conventions of real media products.  For example on the bottom left corner of the page it has the page number as well as the magazine logo.

 The font of the page number used is simple so it is easy to read and the colour is made white within a black square so it stands out as well as being easy to read.

During research for the layout and planning of my double page spread, i found that on most double page spreads by magazines such as 'Q' and 'NME' the article was split into two halves.Half of the article is an image of the subject while the other half is left for the text. So i portrayed this convention onto my product so it would fit in with excisting products. Also as you can see on the NME article, a kind of scrapy font  is used which drew my attention so i used a similar font in my article.

Evaluation Question 1

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

My music magazine front cover can relate to existing music magazines because of the layout and the main image. Here I have an example of an existing vibe magazine cover which has similarities with my magazine front cover.  

The masthead of both magazines are placed behind the main image. I did this to show the importance of the image but made it so it is still easy to make out what the word says. There are headlines either side of the main image on the vibe magazine front cover. I also did so because during research I realized that most magazines have this type of layout.

The image of both magazine front covers are male, are smiling with their head slightly tilted up. The emotion they portray is enjoyment which would make customers feel they will enjoy the content of the magazine. Also the image on the mixtape magazine has his jacket unzipped while the image on the vibe magazine has his shirt unbuttoned at the top. This illustrates comfort to the customer. The position of their head (slightly tilted up) shows that they are proud or confident as well as being happiness and enjoyment.

The reason why the image on my front cover is male is because the genre of my magazine is Rap, Hip-Hop and RnB. Most of the audience for these genres are male. This is the circulation of existing magazines which are aimed at a male audience.

Mojo                 ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    87,555 ;   -7.5% 

Q                      ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    77,522 ;  -12.1% 

Classic Rock    ( Future Publishing Ltd ) :        62,354 ;  -7.9% 

Uncut               ( IPC Media Ltd ) :                   62,305 ;   -14.2% 

Kerrang!          ( Bauer Consumer Media ) :    42,077 ;   -2.1% 

Metal Hammer ( Future Publishing Ltd ) :       35,259 ;   -15.7% 

NME                (IPC Media Ltd ) :                    27,650 ;   -14.0% 

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=48770&c=1

My magazine suggests its genre by the name 'Mixtape' because mixtapes are normally associated with Rap and Hip-Hop.  
Definition : A mixtape or mixed tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto a compact audio cassette.

Also the featured artists states on the front cover  are known for either their Rap or RnB music.

Music Magazine Double Page Spread