The document discusses research conducted to inform the creation of a new music magazine. Audience research using a questionnaire found that the target audience is mostly male, aged 17-18, from a middle-class background, willing to spend £1.50-3 on the magazine, and currently in college or university. Research of existing music magazines Kerrang! and Big Cheese informed choices around style, content, and pricing. Based on this research, the new magazine will target males aged 15-34, cost £2.50, include features like interviews and articles by artists, and be published fortnightly.

2. AUDIENCE RESEARCH
• To determine the important aspects of my magazine I needed
to study the target audience, in terms of age, class, spending
power and education.
• To do this, I used SurveyMonkey to make a questionnaire and
sent it to my Facebook friends that are into the genre of music
that I want my magazine to be based on.
• I sent the questionnaire to 10 people that I knew are big fans
of the emo, punk and hardcore to get accurate results on what
my target audience would want in a magazine.

3. QUESTIONNAIRE

4. RESULTS
• 80% were male, so this will help me to determine colour schemes, font and wording.
• 20% were 16-17, 50% were 17-18, 10% were 19-21, 10% were 22-24 and 10% were 25+, so
this shows that the fans of this genre are mostly 17-18 years old, which gives me a good idea
of how to word articles and write more informally so this age group can relate.
• 10% were from a working class background, and 90% were from a middle class background,
so the magazine should not be too upper-class and fancy.
• 40% said they would be willing to spend £1.50 - £2, 30% said £2.50 - £3, and 30% said they
would spend £3 or more, so I can decide on the maximum price of my magazine, but bearing
in mind the age of my audience and the fact that they may not be earning.
• 60% said they were in college, 30% are at university and 10% are in full-time work, so this
shows they must be fairly clever to get into higher education, so it helps determine how
formally/informally I can write my articles, and also shows that they are living on student
budgets so cannot spend a lot.

5. ARTIST RESEARCH -
YOUTUBEThe first video I looked at was Silhouette by a post-hardcore/emo band called Seahaven.
The comments were very mixed, although most people seemed to enjoy the song a lot but
didnt really like the video. From this mostly positive research, I decided to include Seahaven
in my magazine because they have a lot of dedicated fans and they are very popular
amongst people that like this genre which would attract an audience.

6. The next music video I looked at was Naysayer by Architects. This had lots more views than
the Seahaven video which shows they are much more popular and well-known than
Seahaven. Although I would like my music magazine to be about smaller, unknown bands and
helping them because more well-known, including bigger bands in my magazine will help to
attract a larger and wider audience. Despite a couple of negative comments, the majority of
the comments on this video are very positive which shows that they have a large and
dedicated fan base, people that would definitely buy my magazine if Architects were featured
in it.

7. The last music video I looked at was Mountain Throne by Polar. This band are about as big in
the music industry as Seahaven are, although they are very different in sound. I am including
Polar in my magazine because I like them a lot and they have a small, but dedicated fan base.
Being included in a magazine would also help them to gain fans and become bigger. There are
next to none negative comments on this video which makes Polar a good band to include in my
magazine.

8. ARTIST RESEARCH – FACEBOOK &
TWITTER
• The first band I decided to look at was Basement, because they are one of the most popular bands in
this genre and have just reformed this year and have recently played a sell out tour.
• From the screenshots I took from their Facebook and Twitter pages, it is obvious that they are a very
popular band and their inclusion in my magazine will really help sales, even if they are just mentioned on
the contents page.
• The ‘most engaged insights’ shows that mostly 18-24 year olds are talking about this band on Facebook,
which fits the age group of my target audience.

9. • Next I looked at a band called Gnarwolves, again, another band that is very
popular in this genre. They get loads of positive comments on social media sites
which shows that they would also be a good band to include in my magazine. And,
like Basement, their ‘most engaged insights’ also fit my target age group.

10. EXISTING
PRODUCTS• The existing magazines that I am going to study are Kerrang!
and Big Cheese Magazine
• I need to look at:
• what is being sold
• existing themes and logos
• how magazines represent their audience
• magazines’ relationship with their audience via social media
etc.

11. KERRANG!
• Published by Bauer Media Group
• First published on 6 June 1981
• In early 2000’s it became best-selling music magazine
• Weekly circulation
• Total circulation (June 2013) – 37,603 issues
• Usually costs £2.20 but some issues with free gifts or Christmas issues can
cost more

12. • Have a website so readers readers can keep up to date with music news
• Website has the same house style and colour scheme as magazines so it is familiar to
readers
• Bold colours attract attention and make it look exciting
• Has links to their social media sites which shows that they keep in contact with their
readers over social media
• Advertising the same concerts and tickets that would be advertised in the magazine
• Hosts online shop, podcasts, message board, TV and radio segments

13. • Kerrang!’s logo is the same on every cover so it is familiar to the readers
• For any of their products, they use the same title logo (radio, awards, tour)
• Font is bold and looks like it is smashed which makes it look almost
dangerous, which fits in with the heavy metal music genre they are
representing
• This will also appeal to their target audience because it gives an impression
of danger and violence which is strongly associated with the genre

14. • Contents page shows what it includes
• Live reviews
• Gig guide
• Music news
• Quiz/activities
• Chances to win
• Album reviews
• Editors letter
• Small photos of posters
• Articles

15. • Published by Big Cheese Publishing
• Monthly circulation
• First issue – 1996
• Editor – Jim Sharples
• Total circulation – 13,000
• Costs £3.99
BIG CHEESE

16. • Website is mostly red, black and white coloured (like Kerrang!), which shows that it is
targeted at a male audience because the fans of this genre are predominantly male
• Social media sites show that they have an active relationship with the readers
• Website is very interactive, with videos and advertisements
• They have downloads, an app and videos which shows that there are ways of readers
interacting with the magazine before the monthly issue comes out

17. • Same concept as Kerrang! logo, with it having a more male-orientated colour
scheme and font
• Strange name catches your eye and you remember it
• The fact that ‘BIG’ is turned on its side makes the logo look more interesting
• Logo is recognisable and familiar to readers
• Font looks like graffiti which gives the magazine a ‘skater’ image, which is
also a predominantly male scene, and also links to the music genre

18. • Contents page has same colour scheme as cover and wesbite
• Big photos draw attention
• Black column down the side gives information about people who have worked
on that issue, e.g. editors, photographers
• Editors letter
• Articles
• Interviews
• Reviews
• Latest news

19. • From the colours they use, the wording, the fonts and the photos I can
tell that Kerrang! and Big Cheese respresent their audiences as
predominantly male and into danger, violence, skating and everything
associated with metal and punk
• Crowded pages show that they represent their audience as young and
exciting
• Large photos and colloquial wording show that they know their audience
is fairly young, but the fact that they include long interviews and articles
show that they also know that their audience and intelligent and are
interested in the music
• The cost of Kerrang! is very low because it is circulated weekly, and Big
Cheese is more expensive because it is circulated monthly, so I can take
this into account when I decide how much my magazine should cost and
how often it will be circulated

20. SECONDARY
RESEARCHSales figures:
• In 2012, Kerrang! was read by 386,000 adults, 0.8% of the adult population.
•
• The majority of readers of this genre of magazine are 15-34 year old males.

21. Publishers:
• Bauer Media Group
• Big Cheese Publishing
• Patrick Napier
• IPC Media
• Wenner Media
• Egmont
Online Publishing Companies:
• ISSUU
• Joomag
• 3D Issue
• YUDU

22. CONTENTS OF
MAGAZINE
• I made another questionnaire on SurveyMonkey to determine
what features my magazine would have and what it would have
inside
• I needed to know what my target audience wanted to see more
and less of in a music magazine so I could meet their needs
• The results of the survey told me how often I should publish my
magazine, what the audience would like to see more of, how
important the cover of a magazine is and the words : pictures
ratio

25. MAGAZINE FEATURES BASED ON
RESEARCH• Colour scheme will be mostly blue, black and white for mainly male audience
• Fonts will be fairly ‘macho’
• Articles will be written informally because of the average age group, but not too child-
like because it can seem patronising and the target audience are obviously an
intelligent group of people
• It will cost £2.50 because it is roughly the average amount people said they would
pay and I have to take into account the average age and the fact that 90% are
students so they do not have much spare money
• It will be published fortnightly
• It will have lots of interaction with artists like interviews and articles written by them
• The cover will have a lot of time taken over it because it is so important to sales
• It will only have adverts that are related to this music genre
• It will have an equal amount of writing and pictures