This document outlines the author's initial ideas for their indie music magazine. They plan to publish the magazine monthly to allow more content. The target audience is 15-35 year olds interested in new and established indie artists. Key features will include photos from a recent photoshoot with models in denim or leather jackets under colored gels, interviews, concert listings, and a black, red, and gray color scheme. The magazine aims to be edgy but serious, and will offer exclusive early access to concert tickets for subscribers.

1. My proposal for my music magazine
In this I will tell what my initial ideas are for my magazine. It will not be
my definite decision on what I want to do.

2. The type of music magazine that I want to create is an indie music magazine. I have
decided to choose that style because it is a style of music that I enjoy listening to so as
well as enjoying the making of the magazine, I also have people who I think will model
well for the photoshoot. I recently done my photoshoot and I can tell you that the
pictures turned out as planned. The use of gels helps give the photo an indie feel, and that
is what I think gives the photos the most effect. For the magazine I want my artist to be an
upcoming new artist who has recently joined the music industry. I will try to make my
music magazine successful by having a good high quality photo that represents the style
of music I’m doing, (indie). Also my articles need to be unique and different, so that they
are still the typical indie music magazine but the actual content is different.
Genre

3. Frequency/Target audience
I am planning on publishing my magazine on a monthly bases, because I think that in
monthly issues you get given more content within the magazine compared to weekly
issues. This means that I can write more content within my magazine about my
upcoming artist and other features. Comparing my monthly magazine to a weekly one
means that people will have to wait for it longer, but there would be a lot more content
within the magazine and it will be at a higher quality because technically you have had
more time to create and improve the magazine so it can be the best it can be.
My target audience will be around the ages of 15 to 35 year olds. I find that this age
range best suits my magazine because, I think that younger people will be more
interested in mu new upcoming artist and the style of music that I have chosen. My
target audience will benefit from my magazine, because they will get monthly updates of
what new artists are out and what indie established artists have made their music on the
charts. As well as that I may include a range of indie artists who people should be
listening to.

4. Similar magazines
The magazines that are similar to my own magazine are Q magazine and NME magazine.
These are the main magazines that I will base my own magazine on, but another magazine
that is not main competition, but I could get some ideas from is the rolling stone music
magazine. I think that this magazine is mainly based on a range on music which is why I could
try incorporate a few ideas from their magazine, but I would change it to make it indie. The
important feature about Q magazine is its logo in the top left hand corner. When you see that
logo straight away you instantly know its Q magazine and that they are going to feature an
indie/rock artist or band. Thinking about this point, you could say the same for rolling stone
and NME. Both logos stand out from the page and they all use the colour red. The use of red
makes the logo pop because it can be a vibrant colour. This is something that I could
incorporate within my work.

5. Content
Looking at previous magazines there are multiple features that I would plan to feature in my
work. The main features that every magazine should have is the masthead, main image, and the
main heading and some subheadings. What I would like to feature in my work is possibly a few
subheadings which will grab peoples attention and some buttons or banners which will advertise
competition and the prizes that are available. Even though my magazine will not be physically
sold, I would like to add a barcode just so it would look more like a real magazine. The masthead
would be one of the features on the page which stands out the most. Other than the main image
the masthead will use big bold fonts and hopefully will be catchy enough to make people want to
pick up the magazine. As I have already done my photoshoot, I know what type of images I’m
going to use. There are a few where I have used red and blue gels against a white backdrop, and I
personally think that they best suit my theme which means I am more likely to use them. The
headings will be bold and will most probably be a colour that stands out from the background.
This would be the same for the subheadings and smaller writing sections on the front cover. For
the contents page I will use some more images from my photoshoot, as well introducing another
artists and including photos from them, (for my photoshoot I used 3 people so that I have a range
of artists to feature in my magazine). I would include the page numbers along with what's on
each page, and also I might add some tweets, and possible some reviews that people have given
about the magazine. On the double page spreads, I will have the main image along with the
article from an interview or something similar. Another idea that I have is that I will include
concert tours. This is when you can get an exclusive access of concert tickets before they go up on
general sale. You would only be able to get this if you sign up for a subscription with Q magazine.

6. Ideas
I have already done my photoshoot so I already have an idea of what images I am going to
use for the front cover, contents and double page spread. For the front cover I will most
probably use an image that is close up, so it would be a full bleed image. If I was to change
my mind, then I would use a mid shot, which is not a full bleed image. For the contents
page, I would use some of the remaining images, and that would be a range of full bleed and
not full bleed. As I used more than one model, I may use some of my other images and show
another artists, but for her she will not be the main focus. Also she may be an artist that it
already well known. For the main majority of all my photos I used gels, and I personally
really like them as I think it really helps if your creating an indie music magazine. Also two of
my models wore a denim jacket, and the other model wore a leather jacket. All of the outfits
used suit my theme. Moreover, when I done my survey I included a question which was,
‘what colour best suits and indie music magazine’ and the options were, red, grey and black,
black, white and blue, red, yellow and blue, and lastly white, grey and black. Out of all of
them, the most common answer was black, red and grey. This is the colour scheme which I
will use, although I may have hints of blue, because in my photos I used blue gels as well as
red.

7. Mood/Values of your magazine, Publicity and Unique selling point
I would like my magazine to have some seriousness about it but at the same I would like it to be
edgy and fun. The reason why I want my magazine to be serious is because, the photos that I have
taken are mainly all serious faced, and I did that because I'm trying to make the magazine as cool
and as indie as possible.
The first thing that I would do is to advertise competitions and freebees within my magazine. I
would do this because it may encourage the reader to pick the magazine up and buy it. As well as
this I plan to include tweets at the bottom of alternate pages. They may be comments about what
people would like to see in the next issue and what people liked about the magazine, etc.
Furthermore, I would included the website link, twitter link, and Instagram link at the bottom of
each page.
My magazine is different from others, because my magazine will advertise concert tours. What I
mean by this is that you will get and exclusive access to concert tickets and festival tickets before
they have been put up on general sale. This means that you can get the best seats in the house
without having to rush to try buy them when they come out on general sale. All you would have to
do is sign up for the subscription and you will automatically be sent an email when certain tickets
go on sale.