1. Audience Research Focus Group
For my magazine, I’m targeting people who are interested in indie pop/rock music aged between 16-
25. The mainstream audience of this particular magazine is normally heavily targeted at males but I
would like to strike an equal balance between the two genders by having a variety of artists /bands
that appeal to both genders.
The stereotypical person for a mainstream music magazine would probably be the same as mine but
with a mix of males and females. They would both be:
Aged between 16-25.
Enjoy listening to indie pop/rock.
Probably working class, demographic ABC1.
Interested in gigs, concerts and festivals.
Listen to this genre frequently.
Prefer to buy albums, than download singles.
Interested in music reviews.
Wear jeans, biker boots and concerts t-shirts.
Interested in vintage clothing.
They would be slightly different by:
By gender, equal percentage of both genders.
Which bands/artists appeal to them.
The females could possibly have more interest
in reading the gossip/fashion pages of this
magazine.
My Focus Group
To carry out a successful audience research I carried out a focus group on 4 people, who all have
interests in the indie pop/rock genre, and are aged between 16-25. The people included were:
Bronwyn M, Jessica Y, Hina K and Izzy R.
Front Cover
1. What types of images would you like to be included on the front cover?
On the front cover the images used should stand out against the others, and make them a
female artist/band to highlight to the readers that this is a female and male magazine as
they appeal to both. Instruments aren’t really necessary unless you really needed wanted
them and it wasn’t obvious to the buyer that this was an indie pop/rock magazine. This
would be as main music magazines like “Kerrang!” and “Q” don’t feature there artists with
instruments. The props could be used to ensure readers knew what genre this magazine was
by using microphones and (acoustic) guitars.
2. What articles on the cover would appeal you to buy the magazine and read them?
As a lot of attention is going on having a female presence as the main image, the coverlines
needed would have to be about male artists/bands to show that this is a multi-gender
magazine, and by doing this will ensure that appeals to both males and females. The
coverlines should have context to other bands and reviews of live performances, to show
that the readers will get a variety of different artist information in the magazine.
3. What colours would be suitable to use?
Colours should be easy to read against each other, as otherwise the readers lose interest,
they should be sophisticated to highlight that this is a serious magazine with respected
artists involved. The colours should be neutral to convey that this is again a magazine for

2. both genders, by using pinks and blues really narrows this as they are strong colours
associated with one or the other gender.
4. What language would you expect to find on this cover?
The language used should be informal with hints of formality, not much slang used to reflect
that the artists/bands don’t use much slang terms in their music so why should the magazine
associated with the same genre use them. But as it is aimed at 16 year olds in would need to
be informal so they find it interesting not like a dull book.
Contents Page
1. Would you rather this page be lead by lots of images or text?
Be a mix of both to show its sophisticated manner it would need text but to still look
interesting to the younger audience it would need to be lead mainly by pictures. So not too
much of both to make a balance, the images used should be of a male artist/band to again
highlight that it isn’t a singular genre magazine.
2. What sort of articles/features would you expect to find on this page?
A variety of features always relating back to the genre, articles which involve reviews on
albums and live performances, new upcoming bands so they are advertising the freshest
sounds of the genre. Also most importantly gig updates and tour dates as the people who
buy the magazine belong to fan bases, also the odd articles about bands/artists.
3. Same language used as the front cover?
Yes, as it maintains the same mood/tone for the rest of the magazine, not too dull to read
but not too informal to use slang, as it is supposed to be sophisticated.
Double Page Spread
1. How much images would seem appropriate to include?
Images of the same artist/band, to highlight that this is an article about them, if you use
another artist/band the reader’s expect them to come up somewhere in the article, so it
creates promise for the readers. Images don’t have to include the artist but
prop/instruments can be used as well.
2. What do you expect to the article to be about?
Mainly anything to do with the artist/band themselves, whether it is an interview with them
or an overview it still promises the readers to the same thing.
3. Same language as front cover and contents?
If it is in a format of interview, then the language used should be informal and colloquial, to
show the flow of the conversation, and it would be different from the cover and the
contents pages as it loses that small bit of formality.
Using a focus has helped pull in some more ideas of what I’m going to do with my magazine,
as they have set out some guidelines to what they think would make a good music magazine
for this genre. I know the language basis I should use as well, the colour schemes and what
the images should include in them. I know now what I shouldn’t do as that will drive away
the target audience, as they think this magazine isn’t for them. This will now structure some
of my ideas for when it comes to making my magazine.