Mission Satement

Alex’s new magazine Music Beats is a music magazine of the genre of punk.  Music Beats will combine off new artists, intriguing insights on the artists behind the music.  We will also give reviews of our thoughts within.

Music Beats is mainly aimed at males ranging from the ages 16-26, but giving some insight into female upcoming artists to add some female interest to the magazine.  Music Beats readers are enlightened, informed and have a good sense of humour about the 20^th century.

Music Beats contains all the elements that are needed in a male’s life today, including clothing, music sights, music equipment and games.  Music Beats is an up to date music magazine which is dedicated to the music.

Music Beats will neither patronise nor preach.  It will not shrink from highlighting hypocrisy or celebrating success when it is due.

Music Beats role to its readers is to entertain, inform and bring out their love for punk music.

music magazine progress

Draft of contents page

Draft of music magazine front cover

Subsidary image

photos of music magazine

front cover image?

Reader profile

MALE: 75%

FEMALE: 25%

AVERAGE AGE: 20

ABC1: 62%

STILL STUDYING: 70%

WORK FULL TIME: 30%

Active music purchasers, particularly single tracks

Music completists must have live versions/ B sides

IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS MUSIC BEATS READERS BROUGHT ON AVERAGE:

26 CD albums-£350 for every reader

                            Total readership-£11m

34 CD singles-£120 each reader

                        Total readership-£4m

55% buy most of their music from a major music chain

45% specialist record shop

25% online retailer

12 tracks downloaded in last month

16 albums burned to computer/mp3 player

30% own a minidisk player

20% own an ipod

80% own a CD player

GIGS AND EVENTS

90% go to gigs regularly

Average goes to 3 gigs per month

At least 1 festival per year

92% agree that “music” is important part of their lives

75% agree that they “like to listen to new bands”

Circulation: 60,100

READERSHIP: 210,000  

Questionnaire review

Altogether I asked four males and four females all from year 12 to fill in my questionnaire, because I would like both genders to read my magazine and my target audience is year 12 and above.  So that is the ages from 16-24.  My first question was what masthead you would like to see on the magazine, the choices were, Unplugged, Sabian, MSH (Music starts here), Sound track and Music beats.  Unplugged, Sound track, MSH and Music beats all got two votes with Sabain getting none.  I still haven’t decided what masthead I will use, but it will either be MSH or Music beats.  My next question was what style of music do you listen to, the choices were punk, indie, rock, heavy metal, emo, rap and pop.  Topping the votes with three votes was punk, I was happy with this because my magazine genre is punk and now I know there is people out there who would want to read my punk magazine.  I then asked what slogan they would like to see on the magazine, the choices were, Get connected with music, Music is your life, Music leads the way and when words fail, music speaks.  Get connected and When words fail music speaks were my favourite two. They were also the favourites of the people I asked with Get connected being voted for four times and When words fail with three votes.  It was a tough decision with which one to go for, but I ended up choosing Get connected with music.  I chose this because it’s short but very effective.  I then asked what the target audience should be and thankfully everyone chose 16-24.  This was good because that was the age I was going to target.  Next was what images they would like to see on the front cover.  The choices were bands, solo artists or both.  Just bands got three votes but the images they would like to see most on the cover would be both bands and solo artists.  I then asked what four stories they would like to read in the magazine, the four that were chosen were artists to look out for in the future, upcoming gigs, latest albums or singles and bands.  The colour’s I will use on my magazine cover will be mainly black as this wanted voted most and then with bits of red and white in as they were voted second highest.  I then asked how much they would be willing to pay for the magazine with most of the votes going for £1-£1.50.  For my last question I simply asked if they would buy the music magazine, and I’m pleased to say that all eight people I asked would buy my music magazine.

Rearch about my chosen genre

The genre I have chosen to do for my music magazine is punk.  I chose punk as I'm very interested in punk and I also like listening to punk music.  Punk was first developed between 1974 and 1976, in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.  Punk bands usually create fast hard edged music, but most songs are usually short.  The typical instruments you would have in a punk band would be vocals, drums, electric guitar and a bass guitar.

What you need to think about to create an effective main image for the music magazine

Here is a list of what I believe is needed to create a successful main image for my music magazine front cover:

• Get the lightning correct
• Size of image
• How many people will be in the photo
• Position where models will stand
• Background
• Location
• Props
• Composition
• Camera angle
• Shot distance
• Time of shoot
• Colour scheme
• Hair
• Make up
• Genre of magazine
• Representation gender,age, style etc
• Setting, interior or exterior
• costumes are more important than props
• At least five photos

Music fan profile

Funky Punky

Age 16-24

What is he wearing?  Mainly dark clothing with skulls on.  Tops are dark with their own crazy designs on, you won't see those in your average topman!  Big black boots to stand out from the crowd!

Listening to?  Green day, Blink 182 for the youngsers and for the "older" generation bands like The clash, The Jam.  Many of the older generation trying to listen to contempoary music but can't deny their love for the classic bands!

Wants to be? Lead guitarist of famous punk band and friends with Paul Weller.

Find him? Punk gigs!

Music magazine ideas

I also like this magazine cover as the main article stands out from the rest of the magazine.  Also i like the where the story lines have been dotted on the page as they are not covering the front cover.  I think the red and yellow work very well together to make the magazine stand out to customers.

Music magazine ideas

I like this music magazine front cover as it isnt crowed on the front and everything is very clear.  I also like the idea that they show who plays what as it shows three of the males with guitars and the singer and possibly the drummer on the end.  I also like the colour scheme as it isn't to bright it's just a nice colour.

Music magazine questionnaire

Music magazine questionnaire

1.       What year group are you in?

·        Year 7

·        Year 8

·        Year 9

·        Year 10

·        Year 11

·        Year 12

·        Year 13

2.       What masthead (title) would you like to see on the magazine?

·        Unplugged

·        Sabain

·        MSH( music starts here)

·        Sound track

·        Music beats

3.       What style of music do you listen to?

·        Punk

·        Rock

·        Heavy metal

·        Pop

·        Indie

·        Emo

·        Rap

·        Other(please state)

4.       What slogan would you like to see on the magazine?

·        Get connected with music

·        Music is your life

·        Music leads the way

·        When words fail, music speaks

5.       Who do you think the magazine should be aimed at?

·        16-24

·        24-32

·        32-40

6.       What images would you like to see on the front over?

·        Bands

·        Solo artists

·        Both

·        Other(please state)

7.       What stories would you like to read in the magazine( tick four)

·        Latest albums or single

·        Upcoming gigs

·        Bands

·        Solo artists

·        Artists to look out for in the future

·        Music competition

8.       What colours would you like to see on the magazine cover? (Tick 2-3)

·        Red

·        Black

·        Blue

·        Purple

·        Green

·        White

·        Orange

9.       How much would you pay for the magazine?

·        £1-1.50

·        £2-2.50

·        £3

10.   What gender are you?

·        Male

·        Female

11.   Would you buy the music magazine?

·        Yes

·        No( state why)

my finished school magazine cover

Evaluation of school magazine front cover

Overall I think my school magazine cover turned out to be quite successful.  I was particularly pleased with my main image on the front cover.  Also I was pleased with my colour scheme of gold and black because those are the colours that represent the school.  Something I wasn't too happy with was the layout of my front cover.  If I had more time on my magazine cover I would have added more photos and also changed the layout.  I would have also added more headlines to make the magazine more interesting. E.g. Stories about the pupils.  If I was to do my magazine cover again I would maybe use a different photo and use different stories and think of more of an original masthead.

A possible picture for my front cover

Draft of my magazine cover

Questionnaire

1. What year group are you in?

• Year 7
• Year 8
• Year 9
• Year 10
• Year 11
• Year 12
• Year 13

2. Which masthead (title) would you like to see on the magazine?

• Cool School
• KHS
• School news
• School weekly
• The Eighth
• Other ( please state)

3. Which of the following slogans would you prefer to see on the front cover of the magazine?
• Too school for cool
• History is no longer a mystery
• Cool is school
• Other (please state)

4. Would you read the school magazine?
• Yes
• No( state why)

5. Please tick four of the following stories you would like to read about in the school magazine?

·        Sporting success

·        Uniform

·        New buildings

·        Secrets about teachers

·        New term

·        Other(please state)

6. Which images would you like to see on the cover of the school magazine?

·        Mixture of years

·        Teachers

·        Sixth formers

7. What colours do you associate with King Henry? ( tick as many as you like)

·        Purple

·        Gold

·        Black

·        Green

·        Yellow

·        Red

·        Blue

8. Who do you think the magazine should be aimed at?

·        Teachers

·        Pupils

·        Parents/Guardians

·        Public

9. Would you pay 50p for a school magazine?

• Yes
• No(state why)

10.  Would you buy the school magazine?

·        Yes

·        No(state why)

Questionnaire Review

I gave my questionnaire out to four year 12’s, one year 13 and two year 11’s.  I chose these years because this is the ages my magazine will be aimed at.  There were six different options for my question about which masthead should be used.  The three main ones that were ticked by pupils were, School News, The eighth and KHS.  KHS was voted four times, making it the favourite, so this will be used as the masthead on my magazine.  Up next was what slogan they would like to see on the school magazine one person voted for Cool is school and another History is no longer a mystery, but with five votes Too school for cool was the most chosen slogan picked by the pupils.  This will be a good slogan as it is very catchy.  Five people said they would read the school magazine, with only two saying they wouldn’t as they are not interested in magazines.  My next question was to pick four stories pupils would like to read about in the magazine.  The four main stories that were selected were, sporting success, new term, secrets about teachers and the new buildings.  These four will be included on the front of my magazine cover.  From the results most of the images will be a mixture of years, but mainly sixth form and year 11.  My next question asked who the magazine should be aimed at.  The results show that six people think it should be aimed at the pupils and one saying it should be aimed at parents/guardians.  I will be aiming my magazine at the pupils because there will be information about them in it, so it would interest them more.  My last but one question was asking if pupils would be willing to 50p for the magazine, five people said this would be ok, but two people said they wouldn’t because they are not interested in magazines and they can buy something else for 50p.  My last question was plain and simple, asking them would they buy the school magazine.  Five people said they would with the other two saying they wouldn’t, again saying it wouldn’t interest them as they don’t read magazines.