Magazine Questionnaire Results and Statistics

I tried to get roughly the same amount of males and females to take part in my survey because I am hoping to design my magazine to be aimed at both males and females.

A very large majority of my survey participants were aged between 17-21 years old because this is the age bracket that I believe will be most interested in the music genres featured in my magazine, e.g. rap/hip-hop.

This question was featured in order to give me a better understanding of what socio-economic brackets my target audience fall into. £2-2.99 was by far the most popular answer and almost nobody chose the more expensive options which gave me a fairly good idea about what class my main audience are a part of.

This reiterated to me that the most popular genres to my target audience are rap/hip-hop and popular electronic dance music. This enabled me to make a final decision on which genres will feature most heavily in my own music magazine.

This gives me a very good idea about which artists and music styles are most popular amongst the people in my target audience. I can clearly see that the most regularly chosen artists from my list were Arctic Monkeys, Avicii, Jay Z and Calvin Harris. Seeing as 3 out of the 4 most popular artists are pop and/or hip-hop artists this would once again suggest that these genres are the most popular for younger people.

Final Magazine Questionnaire

Please tick answers where appropriate

1.       Please specify your gender

Male      [     ]

Female  [     ]

2.       Please specify your age range

0-12    [     ]

13-16  [     ]

17-21  [     ]

22-30  [     ]

31-40  [     ]

41+     [     ]

3.       How much would you be willing to spend on a music magazine?

Less than £1  [     ]

£1-£1.99        [     ]

£2-£2.99        [     ]

£3-£3.99        [     ]

£4+                [     ]

4.       What kind of music genres do you listen to? (select more than one if needed)

Pop                                                   [     ]

Rock                                                 [     ]

Rap and Hip-Hop                              [     ]

R&B                                                  [     ]

Electronic (dance, dubstep etc)        [     ]

Other (please specify)  _________________________

5.       Who are your favourite music artists? (select more than one if needed)

Lady Gaga           [     ]

Rihanna               [     ]

Eminem               [     ]    

One Direction      [     ]

Beyonce              [     ]

Arctic Monkeys   [     ]

Jay-Z                   [     ]        

Avicii                    [     ]

Lana Del Rey       [     ]

Green Day           [     ]

Calvin Harris        [     ]

Skrillex                 [     ]

Other (please specify)  _________________________

6.       What is the most eye-catching feature on a magazine front cover?

The picture       [     ]

The masthead  [     ]

The headline     [     ]

The banner       [     ]

Other (please specify)  _________________________

7.       What would persuade you to buy a music magazine? (select more than one if needed)

The featured artist(s)   [     ]

The price                     [     ]

Free gifts                     [     ]

The headline               [     ]

The brand name          [     ]

Other (please specify)  _________________________

8.       Which colour scheme is best suited to a mainstream music magazine?

Black and white   [     ]

Red and black      [     ]

Green                  [     ]

Dark blue            [     ]

Light blue            [     ] 

Other (please specify)  _________________________

9.       Which music magazines do you currently read regularly? (select more than one if needed)

NME       [     ]

Q            [     ]

Vibe        [     ]

Mojo        [     ]

Kerrang   [     ]

None       [     ]

Other (please specify)  _________________________

10.    Do you prefer a front cover to be busy (example A) or simple (example B)?

Simple  [     ]

Busy     [     ]                                   

                                                         A.                                            B.

Music Magazine Name Ideas

Brand Identities and Brand Values of NME and Q Magazine

 

Both NME magazine and Q Magazine are aimed at mainstream audiences and cover popular music artists and genres. I am aiming to make my own magazine fairly similar to these magazines. 

Brand Identity

Brand Identity is how all the elements and features that contribute to the visual appearance of the magazine come together to distinguish the magazine and make it recognisable to the reader.

Both magazines have very clear brand identities which are demonstrated on their front covers. They both have clear colour schemes which feature prominent, bright colours such as red and white.
 NME, in particular, features very bright, warmer colours on their front cover which also appears to have a very busy front cover which seems to have a lot going on. This gives the impression that the magazine is 'jam-packed' with lots of different features.
Q Magazine features a lot of very big, well-known artists on their front cover such as Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson and Cheryl Cole. This exemplifies the impression that Q Magazine is all about quality, popular music.
All of these features give the impression that both NME and Q Magazine are cool, modern, interesting and exciting. 

Brand Values

Brand values are things deemed important by the brand, like the things it stands for and represents.

NME, for example, stands for New Musical Express which clearly reiterates their emphasis on new music. This gives the impression that they value new and upcoming bands and artists and try to promote them as much as possible. 

Q Magazine clearly values quality music and tries to show this by presenting itself as a quality and very sightly more formal magazine, however through the use of bright colours we can also see that Q values youthful new music too and wants to portray itself as exciting.  

Target Audience Research

What genre of music magazine are you going to be constructing? 

The genre of the music magazine that I am going to construct will be predominantly about mainstream rap/hip-hop music, but pop music will also be mentioned.

Will it be for a mainstream or niche audience? 

The magazine will be aimed at a mainstream audience because the music genres featured in the magazine will be fairly popular with the majority of people so it will appear to a vast audience.

Is it similar to any existing products or is it going to be different? Explain how and why.

I will aim to make the magazine quite similar to NME and Q Magazine. However there will be an obvious major difference in that the main music genre that I will focus on will be rap/hip-hop whilst these two magazines predominantly focus on rock music. The similarities will be that it will be aimed at a mainstream audience and will have fairly ‘busy’ pages.

Who will the core reader of your magazine be? What artists do they like?

The core reader of my magazine will be young people with a strong interest in mainstream rap/hip-hop music and/or pop music. They will like mainstream rap artists such as Eminem, Jay Z and Kanye West, however some readers may prefer pop artists such as Beyonce or Rihanna who often collaborate with rappers.

How do they dress? Where do they shop? What products do they own or aspire to own? How do they spend their time? Try and establish a profile of who they are.

My magazine’s core audience will most likely shop at popular, fashionable shops aimed at young people such as Topshop/Topman, River Island etc. They will aspire to own items such as fashionable clothes, mobile phones, ipods and other electronic devices as well as computer games.

Who will be your primary and secondary audience?

My primary audience for my magazine will be young people who are either in their late teenage years or their early twenties. My secondary audience will be these people’s friends and family members such as parents or siblings.

What will their age ranges be?

The age range of my core reader will be roughly between the ages of 15 years old and 25 years old.

What will be the gender mix?

The magazine is likely to appeal to more males seeing as hip-hop and rap music are normally more popular with males due to the fact that most rap/hip-hop artists are male themselves, however the magazine will also aim to appeal to females.

What will be the socio-economic mix?

The socio-economic mix of my magazine’s core reader will be a mix of groups ABC1 and group E on the JICNAR scale because the parents of teenagers who will want the magazine are likely to be near the top of the scale whilst the actual young people themselves are likely to be students/unemployed so will be at the bottom.

How do you know this?  

I know this because according to NME and Q Magazine’s press packs; they have socio-economic mixes that are similar to this and they are both aimed at similarly aged audiences as my magazine.

Detailed Analysis and Textual Reading of a Music Magazine