The document discusses planning for a new pop music magazine targeted at 14-19 year olds. Research in the form of questionnaires and focus groups found that this age group prefers a monthly magazine focused on pop music, interviews with artists, and a brightly colored design priced around £2-3. The document outlines choosing pop as the genre, targeting 14-19 year old girls, ideas for magazine sections and features, and sample designs for the front cover and contents page.

1. DECIDING THE GENRE TO BASE
MY MUSIC MAGAZINE ON
Jessica Thorpe

2. Questionnaire
I wanted to get quantitative data from all age
groups, but mainly from my aimed target
audience of 14 – 19 year olds on whether they
think a new Pop magazine, to be featured in
shops, would be good news to them and how
they would prefer the layout, colour scheme and
features of the magazine to be organised.

3. Questionnaire

4. Results from questionnaire
After I asked 10 male and 10 female the results
were as followed:
Pop was the
overall genre
of preferred
music to listen
to

5. Results from questionnaire
When I asked whether they thought there is room
for a new Pop magazine to be stored in shops. The
majority of them said yes, here’s why..
• None are specialised enough
• The rest are terrible
• Pop appeals to teens
• There are very few out there, and the current
ones are boring
• Need to change to fit current market

6. Results from questionnaire
Further on I asked whether they would prefer a
weekly or monthly magazine. The majority said
monthly, here’s why….
• Its cheaper
• Keeps me up to date on a regular basis
• Cant afford weekly
• Less to buy

7. Results from questionnaire
£2-£2.99 was the
overall amount
prepared to spend
on a music
magazine, so
that’s what I will
price mine at

8. Focus Group
I also then wanted to get some qualitative data
from my aimed target audience of 14-19 year
olds so decided to produce a focus group of
4, 14-19 year old teenagers to get their advice
about how they would like to see my new Pop
music magazine.

9. Results from focus group
• I asked questions such as:
“ would you like interviews with current pop bands
and how they got to be where they are and what
tips they could give people of your age to help you
achieve what they have achieved and why?”
A collective answer was; yes because it would be
very inspirational and would push me further to
achieve my goal. Also we get to find out more
about our favourite artists which is good.

10. Results from focus group
“From the results of my questionnaire it was
concluded that the majority of people would like to
see my new music magazine filled with a brightly
coloured colour scheme why do you think that is?”
A collective answer was; we think that is the case
because Pop listeners enjoy music that has a dance
rhythm to it so will like to look at bright colours as
that will appeal to them a great deal more than
boring pastel colours

11. Results from focus group
“What about the magazine being called ‘Simply
Pop’. Do you think that is a good name for a new
Pop magazine?”
A collective answer was; yes because it’s a simple
name, nothing too fancy, and it allows the reader to
identify exactly what the content of the magazine
will be about. It also fits with the conventions with
magazine names because they’re not meant to be
long, so we think that it’s a good name.

12. HISTORY OF THE POP
GENRE

13. History of pop music
• Pop music is a term that was originally an abbreviation
of "popular". It usually consists of music that has been
commercially recorded, often aimed towards the youth
market. It usually consists of relatively short, simple
songs, which teenagers love.
• Two people called, Hatch and Millward believe that
songs that were recorded as early as the 1920s can be
seen as the birth of the modern pop industry because
it was the most popular around that time and
everybody loved the country, blues and hillbilly music.

14. Imagery associated with pop music
• The songs usually involve dance-orientated
beats and rhythms.
• They stereotypically are associated with
people in their youth as they like to dance and
party, which is exactly what pop music is all
about.

15. Bands and artists that are currently
most recognized for their pop music
• Avril Lavigne
• Britney Spears
• Chris Brown
• Christina Aguilera
• Justin Timberlake
• Kylie Minogue
• Mariah Carey
• Michael Jackson
• Rihanna

16. IDEAS AND PLANNING FOR
MY NEW POP MAGAZINE

17. Defining a music magazine
A music magazine is a magazine on one of the
sub genres of music- promoting a band or
artist, for music fans and people who enjoy that
specific sub genre.

18. Content you would expect to find in a
music magazine
• Images of bands
• instruments
• interviews
• competitions
• regular features
• album releases/reviews
• gig reviews/tours
• advertising

19. Images you would expect to find in a
music magazine
• Bands
• Artists
• Instruments
• Fans
• Pictures from gigs/tours

20. General features that you would
expect to find in all music magazines
• Bar code on the front cover
• Language to attract audience – mode of address
• Images of bands/artists associated with that sub-
genre of music
• Posters
• Gig information/tour dates
• Album reviews
• Up and coming artists

21. Similar magazines I can base my Pop
magazine around

22. Similar magazines I can base my Pop
magazine around
I have chosen these magazines to base my
magazine upon. This is because they portray the
style of music I wish to focus my music magazine
around, which is pop. The colour schemes of these
magazines are dominated by very bold colours
which stand out on the page, and are mainly
focused around the colour pink. They all have one
main image, but of different shots which makes me
wonder what will appeal most to my target
audience. I will have to add at least one main
headline, with puffs to advertise what will be
featured in the issue.

23. Title of magazine ideas
• POP!
• Bulge
• Mainstream
• Simply pop
• All about pop

24. Explanation of choice of genre
I decided to choose the Pop genre for my
magazine because I think the ones out there at
the moment are a bit dated and mine will bring
something new and fun to current Pop
magazines. Also from my research it shows that
teenagers just love to listen to pop and aspire to
be like their favourite pop singers. I also like to
listen to Pop music myself, so will be able to fit
the needs of the target audience because I know
what Pop lovers like.

25. Target audience
I have decided to base my target audience on
14-19 year olds, and to mainly appeal to girls.
This is because from my research this is the age
group which most listen to Pop music and would
be willing to buy a Pop magazine. I also feel that
I will be able to appeal to that age groups needs
more when it comes to a new music magazine
because I know the right conventions that goes
into making a successful Pop magazine.

26. Front cover design

27. Contents page design

28. Double page spread design