Music Magazine Audience Questionnaire

To get an idea on what people would like a music magazine to look like, feature and what genre of music to focus on I sent out and audience questionnaire which I later gained feedback from. Here is the questionnaire I sent out:

Audience Questionnaire- Music Magazine

1.      1. Would you be interested in buying a music magazine?

Yes                                         No

2.       2.  What type of music do you like?

Indie                                       Rock                           Rap                             RnB

Pop                                         Metal                           Dance                                    Country

3.      3.In relation to your answer to the previous question, what would you name the music magazine?

4.      4.What’s the maximum you’d be willing to pay for the magazine?

5.      5.Would you prefer features on older or newer music?

Older Music                           Newer Music                         Mix of Both

6.      6.What features grab your attention?

7.      7.What features would you particularly not be interested in?

8.      8.Would you like the kind of language to be formal or informal?

Formal & sophisticated                                Informal & conversational

9.      9.What would be your preferred colour scheme? (maximum 4 colours)

1    10. On the front cover would you like a male or female artist/s?

11  11. On the front cover would you prefer a group/band or a solo artist?

      12.   What props would you like to see on the front cover with the band/solo artist?

      13. Where would you like the front cover image to have been taken?

White Background/Photography Studio                Outdoors

1    14. How often would you like an issue to be published?

1    15. What freebies would you expect?

1    16 Do you normally read the editors letter on the contents page? If no answer question 17.

1    17  What would make you read the editors letter?

I sent out 18 questionnaires and received 18 back.

Double Page Spread Research

Considering that our finished media production will not only be the front cover of the music magazine and the contents page but also a double page spread I did some research on this too in successful music magazines to find out how they should look. Here is a double page spread from Kerrang!: 

 From looking at this double page spread I came up with some codes and conventions of what one should be like in a music magazine:
1)  One main image with smaller thumbnails to make the feature more appealing and exciting, as is evident in this particular spread.
2) A colour scheme which reflects the genre of music or the type of reader, in this case the use of red, black and white indicates a rock band with the feature most likely being read by a male reader.
3) A masthead to engage the reader- 'We're being the best MCR that we can be- a quote from the band themselves, encouraging you to read more.
4) A word or phrase such as 'Exclusive Interview' to let the reader know what the feature is about, in this case it is 'World Exclusive' which will appeal greatly to the reader because they're not going to read information like this anywhere else.
5) Text arranged in columns so it is easy to follow for the reader. In this case there are two main columns which contain quite a lot of text indicating that this is aimed at an older, mature reader who would be bothered about taking the time to read it.
6) A drop capital to show the reader where to start from, in this case it is a bold, red 'M'.
7) Usually, the artist/band being interviewed have recently been successful in the music charts.
8) The images are of high quality so that the magazine doesn't look basic and amateur.
9) The language used in the feature is normally colloquial so that the reader doesn't have a hard time reading it.
10) The font used is usually something simple such as 'Serif' so it is again, easily readable.
11) Normally information on where you can next see or hear the artist/band, in this case it is in the separate column on the right giving the lowdown on new MCR tracks.

Codes & Conventions of a Music Magazine Contents Page

As well as researching a music magazine front cover, I also reviewed a successful music magazine contents page so that when I created mine it would fit in with the typical codes and conventions. Here are the ones I found and a Kerrang! music magazine contents page to reflect this:

Conventions of a Music Magazine Contents Page

Layout

• Normally contents pages in most magazines you read from the left to the right.
• The editor’s letter is usually separated from the rest of the contents page and the language used is quite colloquial and friendly.
• Subheadings are typically in boxes with a font that is easily readable.

 Types of Images

• The main image relates to the main feature
• Small thumbnail images to relate to other smaller features in the magazine
• The images may be of an artist at a concert, outdoors, or in a photography studio.

 Language

·        Not too much information to overwhelm the reader and the language used is usually informal and chatty

·        Usually the language relates to the age group that the magazine is targeted at

Font

·        The fonts used are typically easily readable and the colour of them associates with the genre of music the magazine is about. For example a rock magazine would use a lot of black and red. 

 

As is typical, you would read this contents page from left to right and the editor's letter is separate from the rest of the contents page by being right at the top. The main image, or largest image in this case is of band 'You Me At Six' as they will be the main feature in the magazine. There are other smaller images of 'We Made God' and 'Machine Head' which relate to smaller features in the magazine. The smaller images used in this contents page are in a variety of locations, come in photography studios and others at a live concert (bottom right). Lastly, the fonts used are easy to read and the colours consistently used are yellow black and white.

Codes & Conventions of a Music Magazine

Before we even began to create our music magazine we looked at a few other successful and published music magazines to look at the codes and conventions. Here are the conventions I identified and a Q magazine front cover that reflects this:

         

Conventions of a Music Magazine

·        Large, bold masthead.

·        An exclusive interview with a band/solo artist.

·        Lots of sell-lines to interest the reader.

·        Clear, large background image, most likely the band or the solo artist being featured.

·        Specific target audience- for example, teens.

·        Aesthetically pleasing layout.

·        A definite colour scheme.

·        Clear fonts that are all easy to read but not the same which would make it unexciting.

·        Up to date information as well as past information.

·        Person used in image to have good eye contact with the camera, their eyes to be a third of the way down the page.

 As is typical the masthead is large and bold, in this case a big red box with the bold letter 'Q' on it. There is a clear, background image of solo artist Cheryl Cole who will be featured within the music magazine, most likely in an interview. The colour scheme is clearly red, black and white and the ample amount of cover lines are in any of these three colours. Cheryl Cole has strong eye contact with the camera which draws the reader in and her eyes are approximately a third of the way down the page which is conventional in a music magazine front cover. There is an aesthetically pleasing layout on this front cover with plenty of cover lines and not too much of the cover image being blocked out. Lastly, all the fonts are legible but not all the same which would make the front cover dull.

Peer Evaluations of my School Magazine

I received some peer evaluations after classmates looked at my School Magazine. Their feedback enabled me to take note of specific points which I could later apply to my Music Magazine when I created that. Here are a couple of peer evaluations I received:

In my next blog I will be displaying the planning for my Music Magazine.

School Magazine & Contents Page

Here is my school magazine creation:

As you can see, due to my previous mock ups of my front cover I have included some earlier ideas and discarded others. For instance, the image I have ended up with is exactly what I wanted and the colour scheme of different purples has stayed constant. Below is my Contents Page for the school magazine:

From doing the school magazine contents page I have come to the conclusion that I need a great deal more features and images from a range of camera shots. In my next blog will be some of the peer evaluations I received after they had a viewing of my School Magazine.

Creating a mock up of my school magazine.

Before I decided to create my preliminary task - the school magazine- I chose to to do a mock up firstly in pencil on a plain sheet of paper and then afterwards on the computer in Microsoft Publisher as this is how the end product would be produced. I did this just to conclude what i'd like and dislike on my magazine front cover. Here are the mock ups:

 This is the mock up I did in pencil, as you can see it is extremely basic but it did give me ideas of what I was aiming for in terms of the masthead and cover lines.

 This is the mock up I did on Microsoft Publisher after the pencil drawing. It has developed slightly with a colour scheme emerging on the banner (lilac) and places for images to accompany cover lines. As well as this I made an adjustment to the price from 50p to £1 which if created in a school would go towards the cost of printing the magazine. In my next blog will be my finished school magazine and the contents page to accompany it.