Analysis Of Questionnaire –I am currently designing and producing my own music magazine that focuses on the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre in order to make sure I am correctly identifying what it is that my target audience wants I complied a questionnaire and had twenty people fill it in, my feedback from the questionnaire is presented here both in word format and with detailed pie charts displaying the percentages.

The first question I asked was a simple one, what is your gender, I aimed my magazine predominantly at boys but at the same time I did not want to alienate the female readership so I felt it was important to include views, opinions and thoughts from both the male and female perspective hence why I put my questionnaire to ten females and ten males, thus in theory making it as fair as it can be.

I quickly identified my target audience as males aged 15 – 25 who were interested in the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre, therefore I put my question mainly to males in this age range but I also made sure to put it to people outside of my target age range in order to gain a full perspective on potential readers of all ages.

Again, wanting to get as much useful feedback as possible I made sure the majority of people who filled in my questionnaire were interested in the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre but I also made sure as before with the target age range question that I included a few people who were not interested in the genre in order to gain incites into their perspectives and feelings.

Here you can see I asked an open ended question hence why I have such a range of responses, despite part of this question failing in the fact I have received numerous responses for artists who have only been selected a couple of times although it was not a total failure what I wanted to achieve was to find out who is generally the most popular ‘Hip-Hop’ artist there is a unanimous winner in Eminem with 17% of the votes whilst he is closely follow in joint second by 50-Cent and third is taken jointly by Tu Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. by finding out who my potential readership is interested in will benefit me no end, I can research artists such as Eminem and 50-Cent and include elements found on double-page-spread where they are the subject and introduce some of these elements into my magazine thus creating a familiar surrounding for new readers who will have likely read articles about such artists as Eminem and 50-Cent before.

5) If you answered 'Yes' to question 3 please state what it is that attracts you to the 'Hip-Hop' genre -

Other0% The instruments

and vocals used0%

The artists/bands involved in the

genre89%

The lyrics of the songs11%

The image of the 'Hip-Hop' genre

0%

The artists/bands involved inthe genre

The lyrics of the songs

The instruments and vocalsused

The image of the 'Hip-Hop'genre

Other

Question five is still a continuation of question three, question five is asking what it is that attracts you to the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre, again its clear to see there is a unanimous decision, the artists and bands are what matters to the people and that is one of their biggest attractions into the genre with 89% of the people I asked selecting this opinion as their biggest attraction to the genre, in addition to that the lyrics of the songs follow but it is considerably far behind with just 11% further more the image of the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre received 0% this is an indication that when it comes to producing my magazine perhaps I would steer away from the traditional ‘gangster’ image associated with ‘Hip-Hop’ as its evident my potential readership are mature and uninterested in the ‘Hip-Hop’ ‘lifestyle’ but still enjoy the artists and the music. Like the image of the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre the instruments and vocals used received 0% but this may not be a clear representation that the readership are not interested in instruments due to the fact instruments play a minor role in ‘Hip-Hop’ and therefore would have minimal impact upon its listeners. Furthermore under the category ‘Other’ nothing is listing indicating my question was well thought out and had the available opinions ready for the choosing by the people filling in the questionnaire.

Overall the data collected here will be very useful when it comes to producing my magazine, I will be sure to avoid the stereotypical ‘gangster’ look that is often associated with ‘Hip-Hop’ but I will also be sure to include several indications to well known and iconic ‘Hip-Hop’ stars as I have clearly found out the artists involved in the genre are what’s important to my potential readership.

For my sixth question I asked simply do you currently buy or read music magazines in order to gain an incite into my potential readerships buying habits and to see if there was a potential gap in the market for a new ‘Hip-Hop’ product. Thankfully its clear there is undoubtedly the readership with the purchasing power to take a product such as mine off the shelf as 80% yes they do buy or read music magazines, meaning there is a strong likelihood they would be interested in a new ‘Hip-Hop’ magazine such as the one I will produce.

7) If you answered 'Yes' to question six please state how often you buy music magazines -

Fortnightly Basis0%

Monthly Basis0%

Yearly Basis0% Daily Basis

19%

Weekly Basis81%

Daily Basis

Weekly Basis

Fortnightly Basis

Monthly Basis

Yearly Basis

Question seven is a continuation of question six, it asks if you do buy music magazines to state how often you buy them, the people I asked my questionnaire to are clearly passionate and committed music fans as 81% of them buy magazines on a weekly basis whilst the remaining 19% buy them on a daily basis giving a strong clue that when I come to produce my product it would be best if I target it as weekly based magazine rather than perhaps a monthly based magazine which are normally more common.

Again, question eight is a continuation of question six it asks which magazine you buy most frequently, the magazines I have allowed them to chose from are magazines that predominantly focus on ‘Hip-Hop’ but they also have their own unique styling elements to them which will allow me to decide on how popular certain aspects of these magazines are for example colour scheme thus allowing me to chose which would be best used as a basis for the creation of my magazine and therefore should make for a popular creation.

All five magazines I gave them the option to chose from were ‘Hip-Hop’ magazines I chose not to offer them any other type of magazine that specialises in other genres because I needed responses in reference to ‘Hip-Hop’ magazines because which ever one proves the most popular would make it a prime candidate for my product to be modelled after in this case the magazine ‘Vibe’.

9) If you answered 'No' to question 6 please select a reason for not purchasing or reading music magazines -

They don't seem to be aimed at people

like me75%

I don't know much about the

magazines on offer0%

They're too expensive

0%

I don't buy magazines of any

type0%

Other0%

I'm not particularly interested in music

25%

I don't know much about themagazines on offer

I'm not particularly interested inmusic

They don't seem to be aimed atpeople like me

They're too expensive

I don't buy magazines of anytype

Other

Still continuing as a continuation of question six, nine asks for a reason as to why you do not read or purchase music magazines. Only a small proportion of people answered ‘No’ to question six so therefore this question applies to a minute number of people although the feedback remains as important, its clear that people who don’t buy or read music magazines is because they feed alienated; ‘They don’t seem to be aimed at people like me’, gaining 75%, meaning it is not the assumed fact that they aren’t interested in music as that received only a small proportion just 25% in comparison to the music larger 75%, were people feel that magazines aren’t aimed at their demographic. This feedback can be very useful to me when it comes to producing my product as I will need to make sure I cater to my target audience but also don’t make it so I alienate other potential markets totally, keep windows of interest open that may entice readers of both sexes and different age ranges.

10) If you already purchase music magazines what would encourage you to purchase them more often or in greater

numbers or if you do not purchase them at all what features may persuade you?

Key dates on things like upcoming gigs

and festivals0%

Competitions (prizes: CD's,

concert tickets, etc)5%

Other0%

Cheaper prices20%

Free gifts (T-Shirts, CD's, Posters, etc)

60%

Current news and exclusive interviews

15%

Competitions (prizes: CD's,concert tickets, etc)

Free gifts (T-Shirts, CD's,Posters, etc)

Current news and exclusiveinterviews

Cheaper prices

Key dates on things likeupcoming gigs and festivals

Other

Question ten, requires a response from everybody it asks if you purchase music magazines what would encourage you to purchase them more often and if you did not purchase them what features may persuade you? I include several options for the participants to choose from but as I did on many questions previous included an ‘Other’ box which remains unutilized which again tells me all my options were satisfactory; clearly the most popular element that should be included in my magazine would be ‘Free gifts (T-Shirts, CD’s, Posters, etc)’ which received 60%, indicating so called ‘Freebees’ make or break a potential purchase, furthermore other options such as ‘Cheaper Prices’ received 20% significantly less than the 60% for ‘Free gifts’ but still of significance whilst ‘Current5 news and exclusive interviews’ received 15% Competitions received 5% and ‘Key dates on things like upcoming gigs and festivals received 0% indicting these are significantly less important to my potential readership and I should therefore concentrate my efforts onto producing a cheap magazine that includes some kind of free gift.

Having clear seen from my date collected on question ten that cheaper prices are something very important to the participants in my questionnaire I decided to next ask them how much would they be willing to pay for a music magazine? £2.01-£3.00 received 60% indicating the fairest my magazine should be sold at would be around £2.99 as its in the middle of the most popular price range and this price would also warn people that this is perhaps a more upmarket magazine and the slightly heavier price tag would more than be made up for by its contents, unique design, potential to win competitions and receive free gifts. Only a small percentage of my participants selected the option; ‘I would only pick up a music magazine if it was free’ indicating they are willing to pay for a quality project.

For question twelve I moved finding out what it is my participants find aesthetically pleasing for this question I asked, what colour scheme would you most like to see used for the front page of a music magazine? Here there is a clear unanimous decision in favour of ‘Bright colours e.g. Reds, Oranges and Yellows that are eye-catching and bold’ with 85% clearly surpassing the 15% in favour of more subtle colours; therefore when it comes to producing my product there is no doubt I will focus on bold and bright colours in order to produce something that really stands out on the shelf.

Continuing with finding out what elements would please my potential readership visually I asked; what kind of image would you most like to see on the front page of a music magazine? Again a unanimous decision in favour of; ‘One large image of an artist or band linking in with a main cover line’ receiving 70% significantly more than the 30% received for; ‘A series of small photos relating to individual cover lines’ meaning once again when I come to designing my product I will use this data and make sure my end product resembles the responses I received here on the analysis of my questionnaire.

Question fourteen, what contents would you most like to find within a music magazine? I gave the participants in my questionnaire as range of different options to chose from, with 60% this is the clear choice for the masses; ‘general up-to-date information on the music scene’ followed by ‘write in section to have your opinions published’ with 20% the other options only received minimal attention by participants indicating general up-to-date information and a write in section are what they would most like to see such elements as these could help create a well rounded finished product that caters for my target audiences needs and wants very well.

The next question I asked was a simple one which I asked in order to find out if there was a clear market out there for my magazine; if a new music magazine entered the market specialising in the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre would you purchase it? Clearly there is a market available for a news product specialising in the ‘Hip-Hop’ genre as 80% of my participants said ‘Yes’ they would purchase it.

The final question asks; which of these magazines do you find the most appealing and if you had to purchase one with your own money which would it be? I gave my participants the following magazines to choose from:

A was NME, B was Mojo, Q was C, KERRANG! was D and Vibe was E. There is a clear verdict in favour of E, Vibe; Vibe being the ‘Hip-Hop’ magazine out of the five to chose from indicates the participants of my questionnaire really know their music especially their ‘Hip-Hop’ therefore when it comes to producing my product it would definitely be in my favour to follow the basic codes and conventions Vibe uses in this photograph in order achieve an overall successful end product.

Evaluation –In conclusion the data I have obtained from these questionnaires has been indispensible, I have managed to gain an incite into my potential audiences minds taking their thoughts and opinions down and processing that data in order to make my end product better, overall the participants of this questionnaire have influenced almost every element of my product from the colour scheme and style to its overall content and articles, the data collected from these questionnaires has undoubtedly influenced my decision making considerably. I will take as many opinions expressed here as possible forward and implement them into my finished product.

George Parkin.