The document contains a student's plans for an indie music magazine questionnaire and results from distributing it to their target audience. The questionnaire asks about magazine design preferences like important cover features, image types, and color schemes. It also asks about content preferences like interviewed artists and most important sections. The results show a preference for catchy covers, studio-style images, short mastheads, interviews with Mac Demarco, and red/white color schemes. Most respondents want free magazines and to see main features. The student will seek sponsorships and partnerships since the target audience prefers free publications.

1. Questionnaire planning
James McClements
6949

2. My magazine
My main production work will take the form of an
Indie/Alternative music magazine. It will be
comparable to the leading institutions in this genre:
‘NME’ and ‘DIY’. NME, representing what is now a
‘mass-media’ magazine; being available for free at
public places, used to be the leader in alternative
music publication in the UK for over 20 years. DIY is
now the leading Indie music magazine, and still
caters for the niche market. I will feature instances of
‘repetition’ (Neale) in the design of my magazine with
DIY, and enough ‘differences’ to avoid plagiarising,
and being unique enough to attract an audience.

3. Target Audience
My target audience will be, as mentioned before,
stereotypical ‘Indie kids’, or counter-culture ‘hipsters’.
I will cover both ‘genders’ (Hartley) and an age range
from ‘16-24’. The majority of my audience will be
‘middle class’ creatives who conform to
socioeconomic class ‘B’, otherwise for the younger
readers who are students, their class is ‘E’. Ethnicity
is not an important feature for my magazine,
however stereotypically Indie music appeals to
‘white’ people. Lastly, my magazine will appeal to
people from the ‘UK’ rather than an international
audience.

4. Questionnaire form
My questionnaire will take form of a written page where
contributors will tick boxes to answer questions. It will be
distributed to a focus group collective of my target
audience. 16-24 year olds who enjoy indie music. I
decided against using an electronic survey from a site
like ‘Survey Monkey’ as the results often are represented
inaccurately, and I will produce far more useful and
concise results If I produce evaluative graphs myself.
I am confident in expecting accurate results thanks to my
specific sample, and reliance on the knowledge of my
target audience, who being the potential buyers of the
publication, should know what to look for in a magazine.

5. Questionnaire
Music&Magazine&Questionnaire&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Name&______________________________&&&Age&____&
&
&
1)&What&is&the&most&important&feature&in&a&magazine&front&
cover?&
o A&catchy&main&headline/coverline&
o Inciting&puff&promotion&
o An&exciting&main&image&with&‘Star&appeal’&–(Richard&Dyer)&
o A&good&colour&scheme&
&
2)&What&would&you&prefer&to&see&in&a&main&image?&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
(Pick&one&answer&from&each&section)&
o A&mid&shot&of&an&artist&or&band&
o A&full&body&shot&of&an&artist&or&band&
and…&
o A&photoOshoot&style&quality&image&with&props&
o An&image&shot&in&a&natural&background&with&a&clear&location&
&
3)&What&is&most&important&about&a&magazine’s&masthead?&
o A&short&name/&abbreviation&(e.g.&‘NME’&or&‘DIY’)&
o A&reference&to&a&song&or&art&piece&(e.g.&‘505’&–&Arctic&Monkeys)&
o It’s&relation&to&a&genre&(e.g.&‘Alternative’)&
&
4)&Who&would&you&like&to&see&interviewed?&
o The&Libertines&
o Tame&Impala&
o Django&Django&
o Mac&Demarco&
o Wolf&Alice&
&
5)&What&feature&would&be&most&important&to&you?&
o Gig&and&Concert&reviews&
o New&Album&reviews&
o New&bands&
o Artist&interviews&
&
6)&What&colour&scheme&best&suits&a&music&magazine?&&
o Reds&and&whites&
o Blacks&and&whites&
o Yellows&and&oranges&
o Blues&and&greens&
&
7)&What&category&suits&you&most&below?&
o I&always&look&at&the&contents&page&and&view&features&before&reading&
o I&browse&through&the&magazine&and&ignore&contents&pages&
&
&
8)&What&category&suits&you&most&below?&
o I&always&look&at&promotions&and&freebies&in&magazines&
o I&do&a&quick&browser&search&after&seeing&album&promotions&
o I&ignore&promotional&items&in&magazines&
&
9)&Do&you&always&look&at&the&main&feature&(doubleOpaged&
interview)?&
o Yes&
o No&
&
10)&How&much&would&you&pay&for&a&monthly&Indie&music&
magazine?&
o Nothing&(free)&
o 99p&
o £1.99&
o £2.39&
o £4.39&
&
11)&If&you&have&any&additional&comments,&please&feel&free&to&
add&here:&
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________&
&
&

6. Questionnaire design
My first question discovers what the most significant convention is to my target audience. This is usual
to discovering what ‘jumps out’ to my target audience, either ‘star appeal’ (Dyer), the design or layout
of the front cover, or the actual content – i.e. main headline.
My second question identifies what kind of image representation matches the genre of magazine, and
appeals to the audience. Either a mid or long shot of my feature, or an image taken in a studio, or a
location shoot.
The third identifies what kind of masthead could attract an audience. As most magazines in the genre,
(‘Q’ ‘NME’ and ‘DIY’) are fairly short, I am discovering if that is essential to the genre, and audience
appeal.
Question 4 simply tries to identify what artist/band will be most popular to interview for the first issue in
my target audience.
The fifth question is used to discover what codes and conventions in my magazine to prioritise,
particularly in my contents page in terms of font size, or even for my front cover.
The sixth highlights what the audience will be attracted to visually, and identifies the influence from
competing magazines (‘NME’, ‘Q’), as they both features reds in their design – a colour synonymous
to the genre. I need this to discover the importance of colour, and whether because of a magazine like
‘DIY’ that does not use red, could still be attractive to my target audience if I don’t use synonymous
colours.
Question seven displays the importance of the contents page in my target audience.
Eight seeks to discover the importance of puff promotion in my magazine.
Nine discovers the importance of double-page spreads.
And lastly ten seeks to find out how much my target audience would pay for a magazine. (I included
free as an option because both ‘DIY’ and ‘NME’ are free magazines). It will be interesting to see the
results for this question, as if my target audience are used to not paying for music magazines, then it
might be essential to also release a free magazine to compete with others.

7. Questionnaire results

8. • After distributing 10 questionnaires out to
members of my intended target audience,
results were collated and graphed.

9. 1) What is the most important
feature in a magazine front cover?
A catchy main
headline/coverline (1)
Inciting puff promotion (0)
An exciting main image
with ‘Star appeal’ (7)
A good colour scheme (2)

10. 2) What would you prefer to see in a
main image?
A mid shot of
an artist or
band (6)
A full body
shot of an
artist or band
(4) A photo-shoot
style quality
image with
props (7)
An image shot
in a natural
background
with a clear
location (3)

11. 3) What is most important about a
magazine’s masthead?
A short name/
abbreviation (e.g.
‘NME’ or ‘DIY’) (4)
A reference to a song
or art piece (e.g. ‘505’
– Arctic Monkeys) (3)
It’s relation to a genre
(e.g. ‘Alternative’) (3)

12. 4) Who would you like to see
interviewed?
The Libertines (0)
Tame Impala (4)
Django Django (1)
Mac Demarco (5)
Wolf Alice (0)

13. 5) What feature would be most
important to you?
Gig and Concert
reviews (3)
New Album reviews
(2)
New bands (1)
Artist interviews (4)

14. 6) What colour scheme best suits a
music magazine?
Reds and whites (5)
Blacks and whites (3)
Yellows and oranges (2)
Blues and greens (0)

15. 7) What category suits you most
below?
I always look at the
contents page and view
features before reading
(7)
I browse through the
magazine and ignore
contents pages (3)

16. 8) What category suits you most
below?
I always look at
promotions and freebies
in magazines
I do a quick browser
search after seeing album
promotions
I ignore promotional
items in magazines

17. 9) Do you always look at the main
feature (double-paged interview)?
Yes (9)
No (1)

18. 10) How much would you pay for a
monthly Indie music magazine?
Nothing (free) (7)
99p (0)
1.99 (2)
2.39 (1)
4.39 (0)

19. [unfinished] –need to rewrite
• Using this information I have decided that my
target audience are looking to pay nothing, as
two examples of my magazine’s direct
competition offer free publications on a
weekly or monthly basis: NME, and DIY.
• In this case, I will seek to provide other forms
of income through my magazine like paid
product placements, sponsorships/
exclusivities like where my magazine can be
purchased from, (similar to DIY’s exclusivity
to record stores and Doc Martens shops)