Magazine Interviews

I have interviewed people in my target audience of 16-25 year olds, to find out what attracts them to buying music magazines, so as to tailor my music magazine according to the information I find from my interviews. This will ensure that my target audience's needs are met with my magazine. I have also asked two people in a secondary target audience in order that I have a broader understanding of how different target audiences have different aims and wants from magazine, this has helped me with understanding how different target audiences have different spending habits, e.g. middle aged people may find a £4 magazine a waste of money, but because younger people have less general expenditure, they may have more money to spend on things like magazines.

I have interviewed a mixture of males and females to get a broader understanding of people's attitudes towards music magazines, I found that most people no longer buy music magazines, due to the increase in digital media and everything now being available online for a reduced fee. I found that  lots of people buy a music magazine for what is on the front cover, the first thing that people will see when the magazine is on the shelf, meaning that I need to make my magazine front cover stand out amongst the competition, perhaps with a bright masthead and possibly an offer. My main aim with my magazine is to make it attractive to my target audience of 16-25 year olds, catering to their needs and making a magazine that fills a gap in the market.

Q Magazine annotations of codes and conventions

I annotated a magazine in my genre, Q. These annotations of the codes and conventions used to attract the target audience, will help me to understand the codes and conventions that I need to include in my magazine in order to attract readers attention. An example of this is the masthead of Q, a white Q in a bright red box making it stand out on the magazine shelf. This is something I could use in my magazine, to ensure the title is bright and stands out on the shelf to make people interested in looking and ultimately buying my magazine.

Annotating this issue of Q magazine has also helped me in understanding some of the features that Q include, giving me ideas as to where there is a gap in the market and what I can do to fill those gaps. An example of this is if there is a sub genre among the R&B genre that does not yet have a magazine, that I could focus on in my R&B magazine.

R&B existing magazines wordle

This Wordle demonstrates the competition in the R&B magazine genre. I have only included the magazines that are direct competitors with my magazine, i.e. British R&B magazines. Thankfully, there are not that many, therefore meaning I need to identify where there is a gap in the market, and fill that gap with my magazine. I need to look at what these current magazines include and what is missing, in order to see how I need to focus my magazine.

I will look to see if there is a sub genre that is missing or an angle/target audience that has not yet been explored, and include this in my magazine. Having researched into the current competition, I now have a better understanding of what else is for sale in the same genre, the type of artists they often focus on, and how I can take inspiration, whilst including some of the conventions missing in other R&B magazines currently for sale. This will inform my decisions about colour scheme, language, mode of address and the artists I will focus on.