Audience Questionnaire

While creating a music magazine you should always keep your audience in mind, therefore to help me create the best possible magazine I have created a questionnaire to help me understand what an audience would like to see on the cover and the inside of a magazine.

I am an AS media student and as a part of my coursework I am creating a music magazine and the genre I have chosen for my magazine is alternative rock. Please answer the following questions to help with my research:

1. Name?

2. Age?

3. Gender?

4. Out of these names which would you prefer for a music magazine?

- Pause

- Amped

- Unplugged

- Notes

- Replay

5. In a monthly magazine what kind of articles would you expect to see?

- Concert reviews

- Album reviews

- Artist interviews

- Competitions

- New and upcoming artists

- Other..........................................................................................

6. What artists would you expect to see in an alternative rock magazine?

Please state at least 2 below

......................................................................................................................

7. Would you prefer a formal or informal approach to the magazine?





8. Which colours you associate with an alternative rock magazine?

- Black, Red, White

- Black, White

- Dark blue, White, Red

- Green, Grey, White

- Other..........................................................................................

9. Would you be interested in advertisements of upcoming albums and gigs?





10. How much would you pay for a monthly music magazine?

- £2.00

- £2.50

- £2.75

- £3.00

Audiences

What is an audience?

An audience is a indivdual or collective group of people who read or consume any media text, while creating any media product the audience are always kept in mind because they are the people who will recieve it and make sense of it. However without an audience there wouldnt be any media, no audience means no profit which means there isnt enough money to create magazines. Audience can be defined by age, gender and nationality

My target audience are ages 18-34 both male and female because both genders listen to this genre of music and therefore would enjoy reading this magazine. I think that the maximum age for this type of magazine would be 28 because people above that age would be more likely to read more formal text such as newspapers. The percentage of kerrang readers that are male and female are very close however there are more male readers because men generally listen to rock music more than women and therefore want to read about who they're listening to. I think this is because there are more all male bands than women in the rock industry which means there are more idols for men to look up to than women because most women prefer to have a female to idolise and look up to, therefore on the front cover of my magazine it will feature an all woman band.

The data above shows that the highest percentage of readers are of the age rang of 15-24 and the second highest is 25-34, therefore I have chosen my age range to be 18-34 because these are the highest readers of Kerrang! magazine therefore they will read mine. My magazine will also be aimed at one specific genre with a more structured approach than Kerrang! therefore i will attract a wide audience.

This chart shows the amount of alternative rock listeners and rock magazine readers that are in a profession, because the majority of people are in fact students they may not have much money to buy an expensive magazine, therefore I will make my magazine affordable for the whole of my target audience and i will have a large audience rather than the small amount of people that have jobs and are able to buy luxuries such as magazines.

The Different Representations of Men and Women in the Rock Industry

While researching into alternative rock magazines I looked at the different representations of women and men in the rock industry. I noticed that magazines such as Kerrang! usually have all men bands on the front or one woman on the front with men behind her such as Hayley Williams as she very well known in the rock industry. This is because more women rock listeners are 'hardcore' fans and buy magazines with their favourite band members on the front than men rock listeners. I Google searched 'Kerrang!' and all the front covers that came up have males on the front. Therefore my magazine will feature a woman on the front and my double page spread will be about an all woman band.

Women are also represented as 'Masculine' and wear jeans with t-shirts on stage and even at award shows. Hayley Williams and Jenna Mcdougall.

                           

                

Both women are wearing jeans and t-shirts therefore the women in my magazine are going to wear clothing that is considered feminine, although woman wearing masculine clothing makes the genders seem more 'equal' my magazine will prove that women can be successful in the rock industry even if they are wearing dresses and skirts. However this does not mean they will be wearing really short and revealing clothing items, my magazine will not sexaulise women in order to try and get men to buy the magazine. My magazine is aimed at both men and women of an older age, so they don't feel out of place or silly when reading my magazine because Kerrang! is aimed at young teenagers and therefore can be informal at all times.

Magazine Ideas

POSSIBLE NAMES - Unplugged, Pause, Replay, Notes and Amped

PUBLISHED -
My magazine will be published monthly this is because there will be more content inside my magazines such as all albums released that month, interviews and concert reviews. I could also include a CD on the front cover which could attract more readers. My magazine will be more put together and well thought out than Kerrang! which is a weekly magazine, it can be difficult to find good content and images each week which can make the magazine seem rushed.

GENRE -
The genre of my magazine will be alternative rock this allows me to have a specific audience unlike Kerrang! that use a wide range of different sub-genres such as pop punk, metalcore and punk rock. Using these different genres doesnt allow Kerrang! to have a specific audience which is bad because some people like to stick to one genre, if someone likes pop punk but Kerrang! has a metalcore band on their front cover for one week then the people that only like pop punk wont buy that magazine therefore Kerrang! wont have a steady sales rate and could make alot of money one week and not alot the next. I also chose this genre because because i am most familiar with it, i enjoy listening to this genre of music and therefore i could create this magazine to the best of my ability.

HOUSE STYLE -
My house style will have dark colours in the background such as black and grey but will have bright colours for the masthead and text such as red. This is because unlike Kerrang! my magazine issues will have the same theme but each issue will be different this will make my magazine more professional looking. Kerrang! has a messy front cover, theres alot of text and images which can be difficult for someone to attempt to read which is why my front cover isnt going to as text and image heavy as Kerrang!

STAR IMAGE/REPRESENTATION-
On the front cover of rock magazines such as Rocksound and Kerrang! there are usually bands that include only men or fronted by one woman and the rest of the band are male therefore for my magazine I am going to have an all woman band on my front cover. They will be wearing dark colours such as black skinny jeans and their make up will be heavy especially their eye makeup which will include dark eyeshadow and black eyeliner. This is what makes my magazine different to other rock magazines, Kerrang! uses the same bands over and over such as Paramore, My Chemical Romance and 30 Seconds to Mars because they have large fan bases which will attract them to buy the magazine however my magazine will feature new bands and wont use the same bands lots of times which makes magazines like Kerrang! boring and repetitive. My magazine will reach a larger audience because there will be a a wide range of bands that will be used on my front cover each week.

MODE OF ADDRESS-
I want to target my audience to be adults, many rock magazines such as Q and Rocksound and mainly targeted at adults in a very serious and formal way but many punk/alternative music magazines are informal and targeted at teenagers therefore i want to create a alternative rock magazine that is formal but targetted at young adults so they dont feel childish when listening to alternative music or reading a rock magazine because Kerrang! can be childsih

PRICE-
The price of my magazine will be £2.50 this is because it will be a monthly magazine, unlike Kerrang! which will allow me to have a better quality magazine. I believe this is a fair price to pay as my magazine only comes out once a month, however special editions may cost extra because of the extra printing.

PAPER-
I will have high quality glossy paper which will make it look good as well as having good content, unlike Kerrang! which have thin, easy to rip paper. The presentation of a magazine is just as important as the content inside, if it doest look good then the potential reader may not buy the magazine because it inst aesthetically pleasing.

PUBLISHNG HOUSE- Bauer Media Group will be my publisher because they publish Kerrang therefore they are familiar with publishing rock magazines and know how to advertise a rock magazine.

Magazine Ideas Brainstorm

My Genre

For my music magazine I have chosen Alternative Rock as my genre, this is because magazines such as Kerrang! target all different sub genre types such as heavy metal, hard rock, pop rock and alternative rock therefore I have chosen Alternative Rock specifically to target one specific audience that will enjoy the magazine without having to read about other genres they don't like. Rock music has a large influence on many people with the music, hair styles and fashion sense which is very different to any other styles that are popular. Rock music is so popular that there are specific radio stations for this genre of music such as Kerrang Radio, Absolute Radio and Plant Rock. Alternative rock emerged from the independent music (produced from major commercial record labels) in the 1980's but became widely popular from the 1990's onwards. The "alternative" definition refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream rock music, expressed primarily in a distorted guitar sound, subversive and transgressive lyrics and generally a defiant attitude. Alternative music is usually created from bands with 3 people or more and generally have all men bands with the exception of Paramore, who have a woman as the singer.

Star Image

Star image is the change of an normal artist into a record companies manufactured product. The artists are shaped into what the record company thinks their audience wants and to become more appealing and for advertising purposes. The artists are given a specific style or something they are most recognised for, this means the artist may have to change their clothes, hair and even their style in music to 'fit in' with society and sell their records. However in media the artist can also be recognised for their band logo or signature look.
These are some star images of the alternative rock industry:

Paramore are a alternative rock band from Franklin, Tennessee, formed in 2004. There are many reasons why people easily recognise Paramore, however the main one is because its fronted by a woman, Hayley Williams. Hayley is considered a fashion icon in the rock world and is widely know for her fiery red hair which changes from time to time. Another would be their logo, although it has changed twice many people still recognise this logo as it is on the front of their self titled album, 'Paramore'. Paramore are all about self love and expressing who you are, as many rock lovers are considered 'different' Paramore promote that and encourage people to not be afraid. They seem to have an 'i dont care' attitude which makes them seem 'cool' and 'edgy'. However Paramore have changed alot since 2004, they used to be younger, rebellious and more 'rock star image' but since then have grown up and become wiser with their audience.

My Chemical Romance was an Alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. They are widely known for their famous logo which hasn't been changed throughout the 12 years of being a band, although they had some other logos and symbols none were as famous as the logo above. However although the logos stayed the same their sound and messages of their albums did not, the band created music from their experiences as people, Gerard Way (front man) created the band because of the 9/11 attacks, he was scared of what the world was coming to and wanted to voice his opinions which happens to be the opinions of many others as well which created the success of the band. Many rock lovers and considered to be 'scared' 'angry' 'confused' 'alone' 'hurting' which were some of the messages in the bands albums which appealed to so many teenagers. With each album the band would tell a story, their videos would link to the album and they would create costumes which changed their star image throughout each album. However Gerard Way is also known for the changes in hair colour similar to Hayley Williams from Paramore as exciting unnatural hair colours such as red, blue and green are associated with rebellious teens that listen to rock music.