Magazine Research Hannah Desmond

CONVENTIONS: Common conventions of a chart/pop magazine is a picture of a famous celebrity who is currently in the charts placed central on the front cover. They are often dressed in fashionable, stylish and mainstream outfits. Nowadays the hair and make-up of the singer on the front cover expressive a strong message, of their views and feelings. They often try to associate themselves with the audience, by dressing or acting in a certain way. They often have bright and bold colours which have connotations of an upbeat and happy vibe. They often stick to main stream conventions and forms rather than coming across as different.

READERSHIP/TA: The main readership of a chart/ pop magazine is usually mainstream teenage girls, normally they would focus on younger teenagers however I am aiming to do a more classy pop magazine, this will work as older people like popular mainstream music artist by wouldn’t want to buy a ‘pink’ and ‘girly’ magazine that’s aimed for young girls..

COMMON ARTISTS: The common artists that are featured in pop magazines are ones that have recent either released a new song/video or have caused a stir in the public eye. As I am focusing on a more class pop magazines artists such as Adele and the band FUN, both of these artists are in the ‘pop’ genre but they don’t create a bad image of themselves, this is why I want to use artists like these rather than one such as Miley Cyrus and Lady GaGa who are more provocative and seen as tacky.

HISTORY OF GENRE: ‘Pop’ music actually means popular music, it came around because people would purchase tracks and the tracks with the most purchases would be ranked in the ‘Top 40’ this was then know as chart music. The chart music would therefore be the most popular music as the time, as technology has advanced there a new ways to work out what it the most popular music but the main ways to get the official most popular songs is done through music downloads and CD purchases.

TARGET AUDIENCE : AGE The main age group I am focusing on is 16-19, I am aiming at targeting from around 16 upwards because I am not creating a normal ‘pink’ and ‘girly’ pop magazine. This is because late teens and young adults are also interested in popular music not just young girls and would be interested in purchasing an elegant magazine that would keep them up to date in the latest mainstream music gossip. To make sure its aimed for and older target audience I need to be more selective with my artists and stories that I choose.

TARGET AUDIENCE: SOCIAL CLASS The main focus of the social class of my magazine is middle class students, I chose this social class because I want to make a more elegant and tasteful magazine. Whilst I want a more elegant magazine I have to bare in mind they are still students and not overly wealthy and therefore will not have excess amount of spare money to spend on a magazine so I need to keep the price at a reasonable cost.

TARGET AUDIENCE: GENDER I am aiming primarily at females because males are less like to want to read gossip and are less intrigued by the most popular artists, they would rather read more R&B style music magazines. Also by aiming at just one gender, females, it becomes easier to select celebrities, articles, colours and themes.

TARGET AUDIENCE: HOBBIES The hobbies of my target audience would be things such as meeting up with friends and discussing the latest gossip over a coffee or lunch. This is an more sophisticated group of middle class females but are still in touch and interested in mainstream gossip.

RESEARCH INTO SIMILAR PRODUCTS- QUESTIONNAIRE I created my questionnaire online on surveymonkey.com I then sent the link to people through social media, email and verbally gave them the link. I used a sample size of 30 to get a more reliable amount of data.

RESEARCH INTO SIMILAR PRODUCTS- OTHER MAGAZINES Q Magazine Blender Magazine Spin Magazine Price £3.99 $4.00 (£2.50) $4.00(£2.50) Topics Essential tracks Free CD giveaway Reviews Upcoming music Awards for best/most… Free downloads Music News Album reviews Concert Photos