This document discusses stereotypes of indie music subcultures and how the author's music magazine aims to portray them in a more positive light. Typical stereotypes of indie girls and boys include certain styles of clothing, hair, piercings, and drug use. However, not all of these stereotypes are accurate. The author's magazine features models dressed in typical indie clothing but in a more classy way that does not portray the messy stereotypes. This is an attempt to show indie subgroups in a more positive manner and clear misperceptions that they engage in reckless behavior.

6. Typical ‘Indie Stereotypes’
 Some of the immediate, dominant representations the public perceive of the
Indie sub culture can be overly negative
 For Indie Girls - . Bleached blonde short hair, vintage dresses, red
lipstick, drug dealing/taking, love for art and photography
 For Indie Boys - Vintage T-shirts and sunglasses, V neck shirts, plays
acoustic guitar, wears makeup (emphasis on eyeliner), Drug
taking/dealing, ear piercings (expanders)
 Not all of these stereotypes generated have any credibility and I believe some
of these representations put this sub culture into a negative light.
 Although the music genre of my music product ‘Fleet’ may have a negative
connotation of indie sub groups to be drug taking and weird I have tried to
come across to the public they are not what they are perceived – I have
achieved this through different visual camera effects

7. My Perception Of Indie Sub Groups
The image on my magazine connotes social
expression and confidence to the audience.
The two models are dressed in ‘typical’ indie
clothes with one wearing tie dyed shorts and
the other a vintage styled army jacket so they
are following traditional conventions of normal
indie sub types – however both females are
dressed classily as opposed to messy and
disorganized which is not what the public
would normally perceive them as. Both
females have the hair kept in a smart style
disregarding the idea that all indie women
have ‘messy blonde hair’. There is also a lack
of piercings and drug use/mention of them
clearing the perception that these music fans
engage in reckless behavior

10. Pricing the Magazine
 Because my magazine is mostly aimed at students who are likely to be
attending college or university (due to the age range of 16-25) I thought it
would be appropriate to price the magazine at £2.00 – neither too expensive
to potentially discoruage people from buying it but no low priced as this would
deterimentally effect the profit income of the company. I find this a suitable
offer as most students regularly have part time jobs so should be able to
afford the product whilst still having enough disposable cash remaining to
spend on other necessitites.

13. My selected Institution
 After consideration over all the companies I had on offer to choose from I selected
Future Publishing/Bauer Media Group to distribute my finished product to the public
media. This institution revolves around ‘specialist’ publications in the industry, this
would be beneficial to my magazine as it is specializing in alternative/indie
music, which is a specific genre and therefore is ‘specialist’ in its music articles.
Another positive point about this company is that they are based in a country other
then the United Kingdom, so this marketing strategy would allow my publication to
be distributed internationally around the globe, this would introduce other countries
to the genre of music focused upon and hopefully establish a fan base in these
continents and a wider selection of readers. A major concept of my product is to
reveal new artists/bands in the alternative genre to the public, there is however
other existing markets who are searching for these undiscovered artists. In my
audience research it was revealed that 62% of readers searched for ‘undiscovered
artist and bands’ however most found them on company websites such as Youtube
which made me realize that I would need to have a feature/article specially
designed and relating to these undiscovered artists, whilst still linking to the
magazine. I took into consideration distributing and uploading my product to the
internet as a media centered platform as it appeared from audience research my
readers tended to rely on the information world wide web to find unknown
artists, this would be an effective marketing strategy to get the audience redirected
from that site to mine to continue their search for new music.

16. I believe the color scheme I
used helped me to attract my
target audience of choice.
From browsing through
traditional indie/alternative
magazines during my research
stages I discovered many
opted for traditional house
colors (red,black,white,yellow)
and this helped them to identify
with the rock/indie sub culture
they were aiming at, so when
constructing the palette for my
cover I incorporated some of
their ideas so that the reader
would be able to recognize the
distinctive style therefore they
would know the genre being
focused upon. The combination
of bright and neutral tones
helps everything to stand out
therefore it is more noticeable
to the wandering eye.
I used a wide range of distinctive cover lines to attract my
potential target audience. To do this I took the names of
famous artists in the indie/alternative genre (the likes of Lana
Del Rey and Muse) This is aimed at my readers because of
the musicians choice of music style and is aimed at people
who enjoy this type of music.
Potentially I believe I addressed my
audience through the use of the main
cover image. I appealed to them by
model costume design, the clothing
the artists are wearing is a direct
reference to the indie/alternative style
that is currently popular within fans of
this genre, army jackets, tie dyed
clothing and unusual accessory
patterns (such as on the tights) is
heavy reference to the types of things
you would see these people wear so
hopefully they can identify with the
artists and therefore the concept of
this magazine. The artists are also in
the desired age range of 16-25 which
will allow the audience to see them as
role models for their age group.

17. Here on the content page I used
a variety of different colorful
images to attract the interest of
the reader. There is no male
artists featured on this page –
this has nothing to do with sexist
traits (as I struggled to obtain
male models) but I hoped both
genders could relate to the
female images, women could
identify with them as it shows
that music isn’t just a male
dominated industry and these
could be looked up to as role
models whilst for men it
provides something attractive to
look at. I repeated the use of the
same artist from the front cover
to maintain continuity
throughout the product and to
emphasize they are the main
attraction. I included information
about some of the articles such
as previews of what they will
entail to entice the audiences
attention and encourage them to
continue reading the feature.
Here I have inserted a subscription
box, this is a marketing strategy to draw
the target audience in – if I can intrigue
them with potential offers that would
seem beneficial to them (such as the
likelihood of getting discounts and free
promotional merchandise) then this may
successfully earn more money for my
company by getting the reader to spend
more disposable cash.
I repeated the use of the cover
masthead inside the contents
page to provide a sense of
consistency within the product – I
need to re-emphasise to the
audience which magazine brand
they are reading so that the
articles they read will stick with
them so they know which
magazine to buy to get more
interesting features in the future.
Consistency allows the product to
flow in rhythm, therefore it does
not appear cluttered with many
different things and wont be
perceived as unorganised and
semi professional

18. There are two pull quotes included in the double page
spread, I aimed to entice the audience as much as
possible here by giving an almost ‘preview’ of what the
artist was saying in the article, the most important quotes
were used so the audience would be intrigued to explore
what else the artist had to express hopefully encouraging
them to read the rest of the spread.
The question and answer format is quite short
in appearance with the artists responses not
being overly long so as to put the reader off
from viewing the article, each scripted answer
is of appropriate viewing length being easy on
the eyes hopefully this would be enough
assurance for my audience to persevere with
the rest of the interview.
There are two visually appealing images on the double
page spread – one is black and white and the other full
color. I hoped that the difference in quality of shots would
provide a variety in my product therefore it would be
interesting to view wouldn’t make them lose attention
I repeated the use of the white and yellow
background from the front cover onto the spread
but ade a slight alteration by switching the
position of the yellow with the white, this provides
consistency within the product by repeating the
colour palette