This document discusses the design and content of a mock music magazine. It aims to attract a target audience of 16-30 year olds interested in independent rock music. The magazine uses conventions of real music magazines, such as cover lines and interviews, but with a simpler design of text and photos on a white background. It features a variety of older and newer artists to appeal to different ages while maintaining a serious tone without stereotypes. The magazine would be distributed by Bauer Media due to its similarity to Q and Mojo magazines.

1. Randy Denham

2.  It uses forms and conventions of real media
products through its typical use of cover
lines, which persuade the reader to buy the
magazine, through the use of subjects such
as the White Stripes reunion and The Stone
Roses comeback tour. Subjects, such as on
the aforementioned artists are of particular
interest in today's music culture, due to the
high regard in which both artists are held
within the rock and indie subcultures,
respectively.

3.  The idea of using interesting, ambiguous excerpts to
persuade the reader to continue reading is also used
numerous times, notably on the front cover (through the use
of the quote “This tour is gonna be my biggest yet…”). This
makes the reader want to read on, as they would want to
know exclusively why this tour would be the musician‟s best.
This is continued in the double page spread, which displays
particularly significant extracts from the article, which allude
to independent artists the target audience would be aware of
(Oasis, The Fall, etc.) and would be interested to see how they
would connect to the artist being interviewed in the article.

4.  This also works with
the idea of
promoting the bands
(or artist‟s) cover
feature over the
brand of the
magazine, in this
case reflected by the
artist on the cover
partially covering the
logo of the
magazine.

5.  Other uses of such forms and conventions
include the use of musical vocabulary in the
magazines article, which helps to illustrate
the magazine‟s type and contributes to
attract my target audience, through my
target audience‟s understanding of the
musical terms.

6.  My magazine also challenges forms and
conventions of real media products through its
simple use of text and images, such as the text
placed on a basic white background, with two
modestly posed photographs of the artist; which
go against the more contrived brash and
colourful mise en scene of more commercial
music magazines such as Clash and The Top of
the Pops magazine, for instance. The magazine
further contrasts with these magazines through
its use of colours (or, in this case, lack thereof),
the signified of this being that it reflects vintage
photography, and thus the vintage style of music
included in the magazine.

7.  My media product represents social groups which are
serious, and far removed from the glamorous
celebrities one may see in magazines such as Clash,
and even in Q magazine on occasion (for example,
pop singer Cheryl Cole appeared in Q). In my
magazine there is no sign of the typical extreme
stereotypes commonly associated with independent
rock music, but instead represents a more working to
middle class image, through the feature of basic,
casual attire on the artists themselves, such as the
simple trilby hat worn by the artist on the front cover.
This, in turn, would make the magazine stand out
among others such as Kerrang, and Q, which feature
artists in more ostentatious clothing (such as David
Bowie, or Lady Gaga)

8.  I think that Bauer media would distribute the
magazine due to its similarity in audience and
genre to its other magazines, Q and Mojo
(and to a lesser extent, NME). This would help
to increase the company‟s popularity among
the independent music scene due to the
variety of their rock output.

9.  Incidentally, the magazine may also be of
great interest to Bauer‟s rival Emap, who may
be interested in the potential profit from the
magazine in the rock market, perhaps to act
in lieu of the losses they may have
encountered when selling the popular rock
magazine Mojo to Bauer. The magazine‟s
style is one rather comparable to Mojo, with
the articles of taking a laid back standpoint,
but with a broader musical range including
music which I think is palatable for my target
demographic, such as more obscure artists
like Gary Clark, Jr.

10.  The intended target audience for my magazine
would be approximately 16-30, due to the style
of music and journalistic style included. This
would be a broad audience, through the use of
both older and newer artists which would ensure
that as many people in the target demographic
are catered for as possible. The audience would
generally be a more serious musical audience,
which is reflected in the lack of typical
commercial pop music in the magazine, and the
frequent allusion to specialist music terms in the
magazines articles (overdubs, melody, etc.).

11.  I attracted my
audience through
including an array of
different artists
ranging across the
magazine‟s genre
(which is reflected by
the aforementioned
use of cover lines), as
well as using a unique
and recognisable style
for the magazine‟s
cover.

12.  Artists such as Jack White and Jake Bugg are
likely to attract a younger audience due to their
recent work, whereas older artists such as Paul
Weller are likely to attract an older, more mature
audience due to their legacy. I have tried to
address my audience in a laid back, albeit
intelligent and informative manner (as per my
survey results) through the display of a broad
musical knowledge in my article combined with a
straightforward writing style, which ultimately
acts in achieving this end, illustrated in excerpts
such as: “The EP also features some of Baker‟s
preferred artists such as Squeeze‟s „Up the
Junction‟ and „Not Fade Away‟, a track originally
performed by Buddy Holly and later popularised
by the Rolling Stones”.

13.  I have learnt that in
the advent of modern
technology it has now
become easier to edit
and finalise
magazines, and how
much easier it is to
retrieve marketing
data. This project has
given me a chance to
explore in further
detail some of the
hardware and
software required to
produce a marketable
and popular media
product.

14.  For instance, I have made use of software such as
Adobe InDesign to structure and edit my final
magazine, alongside with Adobe Photoshop, to
produce a final product not far removed from official
magazines of the same genre. Also, I made use of
physical devices such as a modern digital camera
(Canon Powershot SX20 IS). Instead of the film
cameras used on some of the older magazines I have
looked at, magazines today would use a digital
camera such as mine, which I can see is fast, and the
settings on the camera are easy to modify. This
would make it even easier for photographers to make
stylistic choices for the music magazine quicker,
meaning that more of the magazine can be finished
in time. Adding to this, software such as Adobe
Photoshop was useful as it allowed me to create a
mise en scene which I felt was reflective of the music
in the magazine using editing methods not
achievable with a digital camera alone.

15.  To present my work, I also have been using a
blog on Wordpress. Through using the blog I
have learnt about the importance of
presentation and the amount of work that
would have to be done to make the work as
presentable to the viewer as possible.

16.  I have learnt about the considerations companies
such as Bauer and Emap would have to make to meet
demand and thus ensure the magazine‟s survival. I
have also learnt more about the presentational
features which need to be considered when
producing a magazine to make the design and mise
en scene relevant to the magazine‟s respective genre.
For example, I have learnt about the methods in
which such companies may collect their data to see a
potential gap in the market, and how they may
brainstorm ideas. I have also learnt of the importance
of this procedure due to the decline of physical
magazines, which means that these companies would
have to do extensive market research to ensure their
magazine‟s survival.

17.  I have also learnt about some of the
difficulties in producing an effective result
(with regards to the market research) with
speed and ease, which in itself has
implications on the amount of staff which
would need to be employed, which could
perhaps be in short supply (due to the decline
of music magazine sales and interest).