This document provides details on the planning and research done for a music magazine project. It includes steps taken to create the front and back covers. It also discusses the typical production process for magazines including gathering content, layout, proofreading and distribution. Research is presented on established music magazines including their target audiences, conventions and unique selling points. Publisher information is also researched for Q Magazine and Mojo Magazine.

1. OCR Media Studies – AS Level
Unit G321: Foundation Portfolio in Media
Planning & Research
Name:
Candidate Number:
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number:
Set Brief - Print
Music Magazine – Production
Preliminary Task Progression and
Planning & Research

2. Section 1) –
Preliminary Task

3. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Front Cover
Step-by-step
Step 1: I inserted a shape
to form the background
for the masthead
Step 2: I inserted the
barcode

4. Step 3: I then added the issue, date and
the price on the top yellow band to
present it neatly on the cover.
Step 4 next I added the website for the
magazine to include some multi media
convergence.

5. Step 5: I typed in the masthead in the same
font as the date, issue, price and website to
keep the identity of the magazine. The font
was MV boli
Step 6: I typed in the tagline on top of the
masthead top make it look professional and
able tobe seen.

6. Step 7: I have added the logos of
Facebook and twitter for extended multi
media convergence.
Step 8: next I inserted the st Andrews logo
to create the brand identity.

7. Step 9: to assert the brand identity I
added the masthead in miniature on
top of the masthead.
Step 10: now I inserted a medium close up
of Mrs Spreckly

8. Step 11: I typed out the headline over
the image, moved the text over to the
jacket sothatit was more readable
Step 12: I then typed all of my cover lines in
keeping to the brand identity of blue and
yellow. The grey text is to make it more
readable.

9. Step 13: I added the shape that would
make up the puff promotion.
Step 14:a typed the puff promotion next.

10. Step 15: I then added the st Andrews
logo to the bottom right hand corner to
add to the brand identity.
Step 16: finally I inserted an image of an
Odeon voucher to complete the puff
promotion and the front cover.

11. Preliminary Task Progression–
Evidence
Contents Page
Step-by-step

13. Section 2) – Log Book

14. Music Magazine – Genre research
The production proses:
1. Firstly they need to set a date of publication, once this is
set they have to work to get the magazine ready for this
time.
2. They now need to decide what will go into the
magazine.
3. They then gather the content through writers both
internally and externally. The artwork and graphics are
also worked on.
4. The sub-editor is commissioned to:
•Check the accuracy of all facts in the articles
•Make sure that words are properly spelled
•Make sure that grammar and punctuation are used correctly
• Make sure that all articles follow the house-style
•Work on the page layout.
5. They then have to layout all the pages using programs
such as InDesign or PageMaker.
6. Now they have to proofread there work to make sure
there are no mistakes in the magazine.
7. The DTP file of the whole magazine is sent to the
printing company were it is checked again by the editor
and is they are satisfied then the printers will print the
magazine.
8. Finally the magazines are distributed out to the public.
Source: http://hosbeg.com/the-magazine-production-process/
• Sales of music magazines are falling, such as: At
IPC Media, Uncut suffered the second biggest
circulation decline of them all in terms of
percentages, down 14.2% year on year to 62,305
copies sold each month. Sister title NME’s decline
was only slightly less, 14% year on year to 27,650.
• Rivals Bauer Media’s music magazines didn’t fair
much better though. Although Mojo saw a very
slight rise in sales in the second half of 2011
versus the first half, and is now the biggest paid-
for music title, year on year circulation was down
7.5% to 87,555. Q fell 3.6% to 77,522, and
Kerrang – which, to be fair, is losing sales less
slowly than most of its competitors (remember, at
one point NME and Kerrang were more or less
neck and neck) – saw a 2.1% decline to 42,077
copies.
• Souce:
http://www.completemusicupdate.com/article/m
usic-press-see-more-declines-in-latest-circulation-
figures/

15. Established Magazine for my Research
The exclusivity of
this cover line helps
sell the magazine
because it will make
the audience
assume that no
other magazine has
this information and
will therefore buy
this magazine. The
words “last” and
“unseen” creates
the connotation of
this exclusivity.
By advertising the “covers to collect” the magazine is attracting
the readers to return and by more magazines to try and find the
collectors editions.
These reviews will attract
fans of john Lennon as
the reviews will unlock
an in-depth history of
him.
The main image is in
front of the masthead,
this give the reader
the connotation that
john Lennon is the
most important thing,
even more than the
magazine itself. This
could also suggest a
sense of humility of Q
magazine because it
shows that they are
not getting in the way
of the main story.
The strapline
“collectors issue”
conveys an essence of
exclusivity that will
tract more buyers.
The red background
for the masthead is
effective as the
colour red has
connotations of
power and passion,
this illustrates that
Q have passion for
the music they
publicise
The barcode is positioned in the
corner so it doesn't get in the way.

16. Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs
The target audience for Q magazine can be denoted as young adults of 15-24
(Hartley) and of the higher socio economic needs category of A-C1. the majority
of their readership is males. Because Q show a wide range of music genres it will
appeal to all ethnicities.
They could also be described as explorer and survivors (Maslow) as they are sure
to learn something new about a band or group
What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific
conventions/stories from you research
From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the
story on john Lennon at 70 years old, as Lennon is a massive figure head of
rock and roll music, by having this story covered Q are insuring a wide
spectrum of readers and a big increase in the number of sales.

17. Publisher research
http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/brands/q

18. Conventions of a Music
Magazine
This free CD is the unique
selling point of the
magazine because
although other magazines
may cover the rolling
stones they are unlikely
to have the CD on offer.
By having the headline in
bold and with a border
around the words the
readers attention is draw
to this much quicker. The
central positioning of this
also helps with
immediately noticing it.
The main image is In front of
the masthead. This states
that the story is more
important that the magazine.
Because the cover
lines are in red to
make the main
part stand out
more.
The masthead is big and
bold to make it more
noticeable. The 3D effect
also helps it to get noticed.

19. Target Audience – Katz, Maslow, Hartley and/or socio-economic needs
The target audience for mojo magazine can be denoted as young adults of 15-
24 but also as older adults of 45-54 (Hartley). These readers could be
classified as explorers as the magazine will teach them something new about
the genre of classic rock or about the bands (Maslow).
What is the USP of this magazine? YOU MUST refer to specific
conventions/stories from you research
From the research completed into this media product, I think the USP is the
CD of the rolling stones, because as I mentioned previously no one would
have heard this before and no other magazine would have been able to get
this CD.

20. Publisher research
Source: http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/press/nrs
• Mojo magazine is published by Bauer media. Bauer media has 19 million costumers per week.
• This graphs the percentage of the readers of mojo in terms of gender. As the graph clearly
demonstrates, the audience of mojo magazine is heavily slanted towards the male audience.
24%
17.10%17.20%
28.80%
10.40%
2.50%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
15-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
This shows the demographic of mojo’s
readership across all ages groups. This
graph shows that the magazine is popular in
the young peoples market, 25-24 being
24%, but the highest popularity is in the
45-54 Age group with 28.8% . This shows
that Bauer are able to create a magazine
with a wide breadth of target audience.
73.10%
26.90%
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
male female
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