The document summarizes the research and planning behind a magazine targeted at 16-18 year olds interested in indie/rock music. The creator researched the fashion, interests, and content of similar magazines to identify characteristics of the target audience. This included a focus on attending live music events. Photographs in the magazine aim to portray subjects with an indie/rock style through clothing, hairstyles, and outdoor settings. Market research further identified the target audience as belonging to the "Pacesetter" segment that is passionate about different music styles.

1. My magazine shows the profiles of the people who are
my target audience which is both genders aged 16-18
year olds who like indie/rock music. In order to identify
what type of fashion my audience is into so that I could
represent them in my magazine I had to research them
and see what fashion they’re into and how they like to
act. Previously in my real media product research I
researched the type of people that are represented in
existing magazines such as NME and Q as these
magazines represent similar people to my magazine.
Within this research I also looked at a indie/rock bands
and identified their fashion which I took into
consideration when carrying out my photo shoot along
with all the other research.
Whilst carrying out my research I noticed that the
audience of the real media products that are
represented in the magazines, are highly interested in
going to gigs and most of the readers tend to play
instruments them selves so I decided to include people
playing instruments within the magazine in order to
represent the audience.

2. I compared my photo shoot with other photo
shoots done by magazines like NME and Q as
both of them feature a young female indie
female on their front covers.
The posture of the artist in my photo shoot and
NME and Q’s photo shoot are quite similar as
they do not portray a rebellious attitude but give
off quite a calm vibe. The background and
costume are also similar which shows the
indie/rock vibe I am trying to get my magazine to
portray. All the photographs have been taken
outside and have trees in the background which
creates a ‘hard’ backdrop and therefore gives off
a indie/rock vibe. The costume of the artist in all
photographs are similar as she is in a floral dress
and have a hat on which represents indie rock
social groups that like to dress this way as they
are quite laidback but also don’t want to be the
same as everyone else. This reflects how
teenagers around the age of 16-18 years old are
like as they are trying to find themselves and be
different from the rest.
NME and Q’s photo shoot
with Florence Welch and
Taylor Swift
My photo
shoot

3. I used various other photographs in my magazine but they
are at gigs as I have found through research that they’re the
type of photographs that are found in the type of
magazines I am producing so I have included a few
photographs at gigs. This represents the type of social
group that like to go to gigs and watch artists live. I tried to
capture similar photographs than that in the magazine
when I went to the gigs so that I could portray the
indie/rock genre so that it suits the specific social group I
am aiming the magazine at.
The clothes that the artists are wearing in the magazine
photographs are similar to the clothes that are being worn
in my gig photographs. They are wearing skinny jeans,
leather jackets and black clothing in general which gives off
an indie/rock vibe which represents the indie/rock social
groups as this is generally what they like to wear.
The people in the images have similar hairstyles as they
have styled there hair in a certain way which gives off an
indie vibe but they also have dark hair which represents the
rock genre as dark colours are generally worn among rock
social groups. My photographs also represent these social
groups as they also have styled hair which represents the
social group my magazine is aimed at.
NME
My
photographs

4. Project Pheonix 2008 Research By Bauer
Key findings of Project Pheonix:
- More people in the UK are interested in music than any
other interest.
- The UK’s connection with music is evolving
- There is no evidence to show that people’s attachment
to live music is declining
- Brands are welcome
By looking at Project Pheonix ‘s Music Segmentation, I have
found that my target social group is Pace-setters which is
17% of the 16-45 population. This group of people see
themselves as being interested in different things than
mainstream and as having a true passion for music. They
are more likely to be male and in terms of social grade they
are ABC1. They like to talk to their friends a lot about music
and are even willing to put up an argument with them
about music and bands. All people in the Pacesetter group
have a common interest of having a true passion for music
although there are several members that have an obsession
in music.
Project Pheonix’s Music Segmentation