Gregory McLaney

Summary of all Research Findings - Preparing For The Formal Proposal

General Information About Music Magazines Music magazines offer information on artists and their current up to date

affairs. This information is relevant because audiences want to know about their favorite celebrities and the new gossip.

Particular magazine genres target their audiences by giving them what they want to read. For example hip-hop magazines will contain features relevant to hip-hop artists, gigs and the music.

All the magazines themes need to link. There cannot be irrelevant images. Everything is in the magazine for a particular reason

Every magazine that I’ve researched has its own house style and they use consistent fonts and mast heads.

There are main artists that feature in a certain issue and they’re highlighted on the main cover and double page spread. This offers a main attraction for the audience.

AIDA – The Most Significant Magazine Market Method A – Attract audience, use of bright colours, image and text I – Interest, articles and sell lines should entice the audience. D – Desire, lure the reader by adding competitions, posters or give freebies A – Act – people to buy your product, motivate them into purchasing, for

example, creating a sense of urgency with a limited-time offer or limited supply.

Research into Real Music Magazines (Summary of Findings) Generic Conventions of Music Magazines

Front Covers Contain: Title Main Image Selling/Cover lines Mast Head Barcode, Date and Price Flashers Hints of What's Inside

Contents Pages Contain: Page Numbers Subscription Sections Page Listings Mast Head Logo Contents Title Dominant Main Images Secondary Images (Optional) Website Link

Gregory McLaney

Date and Issue Number

Double Pages Contain: Title (Usually Links With The Artist(s) Main Image Page Number Information (Text) – Usually 3-4 Paragraphs Writers Text Secondary Images (Optional)

Front Cover, Contents and Double Page Spread Links Contain: Themes House Styles Typography Images Artists Information Colour Schemes

Summary of Research into genreMy chosen genre is hip-hop and I found that:

The genre hip-hop has very strong links and connotations of the ghetto which expresses the theme of graffiti throughout the genre.

The genre has strong association with young Afro Caribbean males. This helped me chose my target audience.

The Hip hop genre is a form of music expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s.

DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing. Other elements include beatboxing.

Summary of research into my chosen style model for my magazine which, is the magazine VibeBelow are images of my chosen magazine on which I would like to base my magazine:

Gregory McLaney

Idea I will Take from VibeFirstly, I’m going to create my magazine based around the hip hop genre and base a name around this. I’m going to consider something that has connotations of hip hop. Just like ‘Vibe’ the name has connotations of music and bass which has a major link with the hip hop genre.

In addition to this the images, front cover, contents page and article are all going to be hip hop orientated this will be done by creating mise-en-scene which is linked to ‘Vibe’. I will do this by including attitude like images of artists and basic colour schemes like the ones created by ‘Vibe’.

Adding to this, I’m going to add various bits of information which relates to hip hop in my articles. I’m going to create a story based around hip hop artist and adapt it to fit in to my magazine and my images.

I will consider themes such as graffiti which links with hip-hop. Finally, I will adapt elements such as the selling lines for example ‘Rap Beef 2.0’. Taking these element along with colour schemes and backgrounds, I think I could create a strong hip-hop magazine.

Target Audience ResearchThis is an overall conclusion of my target audience and research using questionnaires. I can conclude the following and will summaries how this will affect the making of my magazine:

I will target my magazine at 16-24 year olds who are interested in hip-hop music.

I will take themes and connotations from popular artists such as: Kanye West, Eminem and Jay-z

Gregory McLaney

I’m going to make the lyrics of the songs and the instruments and vocals a key selling point in my magazine, as this was a clearly important from the information in my questionnaire.

I’ll make my magazine £2-£3 as this was the results of my questionnaire and then my target audience will be willing to pay this price for their magazines.

Respondents answered that they like varied styles in hip-hop magazines, I’ll take this in consideration when creating my final magazine.

Most candidates who answered my questionnaire responded that they think magazines are too expensive, there for, I need to get the price correct and I think £2-£3 will be the correct price in creating my magazine.

A lot of the candidates who answered my questionnaire responded that they think free gifts will be a good aspect in my magazine. I may do this as it will help attract the target audience.

I found out that audience’s mainly consistent themes when they look at magazines which will help me in deciding colour schemes and house styles.

It was evident, that from my research those respondents want pictures of bands/artist. Also, the majority of respondents though it’s a bad idea to include musical props and instruments in my magazine. Finally, the majority also voted that I use bright colours. A large majority responded and voted for me not to use dark colours. I shall definitely follow this research and it will hopefully fulfill audience’s expectations.

I’m going to consider using gigs and guides as an attraction point for audiences as the information I received from the questionnaires showed that this is a strong category. It’s also evident from the research that audiences want general information and gossip, this will help me when creating my double page spread and contents page.

Interview with a Hip hop artist/band Article about the Hip hop scene – Results from this question were answered by the respondents and the majority voted 4 meaning that the questioned respondents think that an interview would be a good aspect to the magazine.

General article about main Hip hop developments -The majority of respondents voted 3 meaning that it would be a good idea to have a general article but not an amazing idea.

Musical instruments/props – The majority of respondents voted 4. Henceforth, it would be a good initial idea to include props and instruments associated with hip-hop.

Bright colours – The majority voted 5 for bright colours. Therefore, respondents think that it would be a good idea to include bright colours in hip-hop magazines.

Darker colours – The majority voted 2 for this. Evidencing, that it wouldn't be an amazing idea to add dark colours in to a hip-hop magazine.

I’m going to consider all of the above findings from my research. This will definitely help me develop a strong magazine cover in the hip-hop genre.