Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience of my music magazine would be young artist who are actually into the industry but are struggling to move to a bigger industry. The age range this magazine is aimed at would be between 15-20 this is because most young hip-hop artist is at this age. Whilst I was putting together my magazine i decided to make it more aimed at males as in the industry there much more men than women so that explains the layout of my magazine and the colours used. I specifically aimed my magazine at a certain social groups with a certain lifestyle, people that will purchase this magazine will be college students and individuals who aren’t in education and are unemployed, individuals who have an ambition in music and are putting all their effort into their music. Within this magazine it shows teenagers who are in the position where they’re unemployed an out of education who now are signed to independent music companies, so this would be a type of light for them not to give up.

The audience that would be interested in this ‘Music Industry’ magazine would be also interested in fashion and reading about the hip hop celebrities and how they’re leaving their glamorous lifestyles and what their future plans are. I put this into the magazine because it shows two sides to the music lifestyle from the bottom to top so when they’re reading about the teenagers that have been signed and are moving forward they will also look at the artists who have made it successfully. This will start to create a source of motivation for them, making them to want to purchase these magazines every time a new one is produced.

This would be beneficial for ‘Bauer’ as they don’t have this type of magazine already.

Q3. What kind of media intuitions might distribute your media products and why?

Looking back to my case study that i researched previously about a publishing company, I have decided that a magazine publisher such as Bauer Media would be likely to distribute my music magazine for various reasons that i will discuss. Link: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/

Having a overview of this company and the genres that consist within their magazines there’s a contrast between the one i have designed and their wide variety of magazines published, mine looks at the younger working class audience who have a dream about become artist whilst theirs look at the older audience who just want information on artist that have made it successfully. The magazine they produce seem to look more on the rock and pop side of music whilst mine refers to the hip-hop side, I noticed my magazine is slightly pointed more towards the black culture and this company is pointed more towards the white subculture and for all these reason i believe it would be beneficial for Bauer media to publish my magazine for reasons that i will state further into this.

my magazine would be beneficial to Bauer Media firstly because they have nothing in their music magazine portfolio that is similar to the genre of my music magazine. So this would mean they would be able to spread even more than they successfully have from Sports to Gardening ,but now more towards teenagers who are interested in Grime/hip-hop, publishing my magazine would bring a new audience because people would feel they can relate to the lifestyle of it, due to the audience feeling they can relate to the lifestyle and it also consist of a lot of information they’re familiar with. This would increase the demand for this magazine meaning an increase of revenue would be made as teenagers will be deeply interested into my magazine as they can relate to it.

‘Bauer Media’s existing brands reach over nineteen million UK adults across

Multiple media channels.’ This would mean that my magazine would be the first to appeal to a new market for this company as it targets teenagers and the rap audience.

Another benefit is that this would be financially beneficial to Bauer because they would be distributing a magazine into a new niche market for themselves with no other competition in their company. Since my magazine is just based on one genre that Bauer hasn’t tackled before, the rap audience that didn’t usually purchase magazines from this company may be pulled toward by the rap and end liking all the genres on a whole, proving to be a good investment for Bauer Media.

Thirdly, rap is a very popular genre. That would mean that my magazine would have a strong impact as advertisers would want to make an effective entrance into the market. The focus of this point is that it would bring in new advertisers that would advertise rap-related items such as new albums or mix tapes.

From my audience research, I have found out that people would rather order their magazines through subscription; therefore I would definitely encourage subscription to my magazine through Bauer Media which would prove its success with the fact that people are ordering it to their door, as opposed to picking it up off a shelf but on the other hand now that its to a younger audience i would distribute it in local off license shops. I would like Bauer Media to make a synergy with a retail store such as footlocker were teenagers will always visit, this would be my USP as footlocker would ffit in well with my magazine and its overall look.

Q2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I Designed my magazine to be aimed at mainly males aged between 15-20, the reason why i aimed it at the young adults at the age of 20 not just teenagers is because people may think if they’re at that age they may not be able to make it successful if they are not in the industry at a young age there’s not a chance, but within the magazine it consist of artist who have just been noticed who are not teenagers. The reason why i started at the age of 15 and up is because teenager’s doe’s ages are the ones who are deeply interested in this genre.

The Both artist in the foreground are dressed typically in an ‘ghetto’ type of clothing – the one on the left side is dressed in the usual black bomber jacket which is often associated with UK youth gang and street culture most youths would go and buy this jacket to get a certain look or to fit in a group as many youths will be seen wearing these jackets in hot weather he also has on a black fitted new era hat on to finish the look.

The one on the right is wearing a puffy body warmer which is similar to the Nike bomber jacket worn by the other model; this is done purposely to show a consistency between the sub cultures, this model has a high top and a prop round his neck (headphones) gives him that type of retro look.

On the other hand, this is not a convention in music magazines because they typically feature rappers in T-shirts, vests or over-sized jackets the American look. These two models have got the working class look as its target audience is for the working class artists who are trying to become successful.



 The most obvious item I have used to represent the rapper is the Headphones that the model has round his neck. This is easily identified i purposely added this into the front cover to show that working class as now the headphones that are in fashion are the ‘Dre Beats’ made by Dr Dre, the models headphones are just basic this Cleary shows who it is aimed at.

My models are both staring in each  others eyes this connotes Determination and anger and lastly passion competition and power. this is a great way to describe rap as a whole as the industry is about them all competing and who has the most money and street creditability, but on the other hand this could be seen as a stereotype as some rappers may not see them self as street at all as they’re just rapping about their lives and might find it rather rude to be called street.

Determination because staring at something for long shows that you hope to have it, anger because to stare someone in the eyes especially with a cheeky smile put that look and emotion across. Passion because obviously these rappers have dreams in becoming successful in music and are willing to knock down anyone in their way.

Q1. in what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and coventions of real media products?

When first starting my music magazine to get to depths with what i had to do i first analysed a ‘Rolling stone’ music magazine front cover with rap star Jay Z as the main image. I carefully evaluated the denotations and connotations of the cover in detail based on the props and costumes that was warn and used and how the conventions of music magazines were presented on the cover. In my music magazine, as i have viewed professional companies magazines i was able to use many conventions of real magazines and challenged some parts to be able to attract audiences by the typical recognisable magazine style. For example:

Masthead

Masthead

I have used a large masthead, but i paced it at the top right of my magazine front cover which is challenging the convention as it usually on the left side. This is a very common convention I challenged among British music magazines such as Q and NME magazines. My masthead is covered by an red background which connotes danger or a type of an alert creating my masthead in that way, it is able to attract audiences by being the dominating point on the magazine’s front page which displays the magazine brand name and is also visible when stacked on the shelves of the magazine’s retailers as the real magazines do to attract readers. Its boldness reflects the powerful nature of my magazine and genre.

Left Third

I followed the convention of the left third as everything is in the left third is lined up well.

Main Image

I followed the convention and included a main image of two people staring at each other on my front cover. This was taken as a close up to show the intensity of both rappers staring at each other this is to show the passion they both have for the industry. This is a common convention of music magazines, most popular music magazines main image would only be of one person rather than a group of people for various reasons, and they may think it reaches the audience better. So you can argue that I’m going against the convention of the main image.

Cover lines
I have used cover-lines and a barcode on my front page. Cover-lines are usually used on all magazine front pages as seen in big magazine labels. This is to attract the audience by displaying the magazine’s content in short eye-catching, colourful titles. I slightly challenged this convention on my front cover  as coverlines are usually on both right and left of the page but my magazine only has it on the left side. My cover-lines are also in different colours, sizes and fonts, just as they are in real magazines to connote a sense of variety. My barcode is on the front page, but I have developed the convention by putting it on the left side on my front page, as opposed to the right where some of the real magazines put it

Selling Line

I have included a selling line that states ‘Music on a higher level’ this is just there to make sure the audience no it’s mainly about music. This is a popular convention used in music magazines to create a very visible status which promotes them and convinces the readers into purchasing the magazine.

Main Cover line

With My main cover line i followed the convention and placed it in the centre but slightly lower, ‘young & Ready’ is what it states, i named it this because of my target audience and the overall concept of the magazine.


Date line

Dateline at the bottom of the magazine.

Research of an British media company

Bauer Media 

Bauer Media reaches over nineteen million UK adults across multiple media channels to identify what the customers wants are this is heavy market research. Bauer Media owns more than eighty influential media brands spanning a wide range of interests, including heat, GRAZIA, Closer, MCN, FHM, Parker's, MATCH, Magic 105.4, Kiss 100, Kerrang!, Q and the Big City Network, our group of twenty local radio stations. Bauer’s business is built on millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. They connect audiences with compelling content, whenever, wherever, and however they want. They state that their ‘unique insight allows us to work closely with our customers to develop innovative solutions that create a difference to their business.’

Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following acquisition of Emap plc’s consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses. Collectively, the Group employs some 6,400 people and has a 2008 turnover of 2.08 billion Euros

Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group; Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group, the business is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions – Magazines and Radio - widely recognized and rewarded as being industry innovators.

Double page spread

Contents page

Music Magazine Front Cover