1. Who would be the audience for your
media product? How did you
attract/address your audience?
2. IND’s target audience
According to Hartley's seven subjectivities my target audience is:
Age: 16-35
Gender: 60% male 40% female (based on readership stats of
other successful alternative music magazines).
Race: All, I imagine mostly white people would buy it though
(based solely on alternative music audiences and the fact that I
have to address race).
Nationality: Mainly British.
3. ‘Star Appeal’ (Dyer)
I used ‘star appeal’ (Dyer) in my magazine in order to help the reader ‘personally identify’ (Katz) with the magazine, as at my
target audience is likely to recognize at least one of the artists covered in my magazine. In my magazine I mentioned several
bands:
Slaves
Rat Boy
Palma violets
Chvrches
Jamie T
The Stone Roses
Spector
The Libertines
Bloc Party
The 1975
Swim Deep
Only real
Jaws
Vant
Trash
Blossoms
Foals
Grimes
Catfish and The Bottlemen
Joy Division
Peter Hook
Pink Floyd
Genghar
Kraftwerk
Future Islands
Bombay Bicycle Club
Radiohead
These artists were either just named or had images corresponding with them within
my magazine. The two bold artists at the top of the list were clearly included through
the use of mise-en-scene throughout my magazine. This has been previously
discussed in my first evaluation PowerPoint so I shall not repeat myself. This broad
use of ‘star appeal’ is likely to attract anyone who likes alternative music, as they will
recognize an artist. I made sure to include a variety of new, old, known and unknown
artists in order to appeal to my target audience as much as possible. The 16 year old
readers are likely to ‘personally identify’ (Katz) with the newer, lesser known bands,
as they are often fans of smaller artists that haven't been around for long, due to
social media and music streaming services. They would be attracted by this kind of
‘star appeal’, as they may not expect magazines to feature such small, upcoming
artists. The 20-35 year old readers of my magazine are likely to be attracted by the
more established, older bands mentioned in my magazine (Stone roses, Joy Division,
The Libertines) as it may provide a sense of nostalgia for them. Also, they are likely to
be attracted by big artists like these, as they may not know a lot about up and coming
musicians. As a result of this they may want to stick to what they know, but at the
same they will learn about newer bands as they are all in one magazine. By doing this
it allows ‘IND’ to ‘inform and educate’ (Katz) all readers no matter what they have
been attracted to the magazine by, meaning that they are likely to buy the magazine
again after reading an issue, as they will achieve an ‘acceptance of facts’ (Maslow).
4. Cover lines
The cover lines on my front cover help my audience to fulfill esteem
needs according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. A track by track
commentary of Palma Violet’s new album ‘Danger in the club’ may
make someone more popular within a group of friends that are fans of
the band. Track by track commentaries reveal information about how
each song was written and what they mean, as well as stories about
the recording process and about the band in general. This is therefore a
story that would ‘inform and educate’ (Katz) the reader and they could
then share this information with their friends who happen to also like
this band. This may make people think that the person who knows
these obscure facts about the band are more interesting and wise, and
so their esteem would be boosted through this cover story. This would
appeal to my target audience, as they are young and so require
informative texts more often than older people.
A special live report of Rat Boy’s set as they covered the 1975 could
also fulfill these needs in similar ways. If someone were to miss the set
and the rest of their friends were to go they would be able to find out
about the set by reading this article. This would mean that they would
be able to relate to the things that their friends may be saying and
would not feel excluded from the conversation that derived from the
event. This would help fulfill these needs as they would feel like they
are able to fit in and are not left out, therefore boosting their self
esteem.
5. Puff promotion
Puff promotion is likely to appeal to my target audience
as they may be stressed in their normal lives because of
school or working a job as a young adult. Winning a
competition to go to a gig would help to provide a sense
of ‘Diversion’ for the reader, so they would be able to
forget about their worries due to this competition. Also,
the free download code may be a song from an artist that
the reader is familiar with and so this would attract my
target audience, as they would be able to explore further
their ‘personal relationship’ (Katz) with the artist, as they
will be hearing something exclusive.
6. Interview
I included the pull quote “Dislocating my shoulder was the most fun
I’ve had on tour” in my double page spread in order to appeal to my
target audience. Those who are fans of slaves will be able to
‘personally identify’ with this event as they may have been at the gig
or may have suffered from cancellations of a gig they were going to
due to this event. I chose this quote because anyone who reads it is
likely to be intrigued by the statement, as they would want to know
how dislocating a shoulder can be “fun” (this applies to people who
are not familiar with the band as well as those who are). This article
‘informs and educates’ (Katz) those who read it, as they will come
away from it knowing about the band more and will know about a
specific event (the dislocation of Isaac’s shoulder) which happened in
real life. The mise-en-scene in the double page spread as well as the
informal tone of the interview is something that slaves fans would
appreciate, as it would be something they recognize.
