+ UNIT G321 – MUSIC MAGAZINES

Georgia Fielding

Who would be the audience for your media product?How did you attract/address your audience?

+What is the DEMOGRAPHICS of your target audience? Age: 17 years to 21 years

Gender: Male

Social Class: E

Ethnicity: Black, AmericanI have decided on these demographics after analyzing the genre of music that I chose. After seeing that most people who listen to R&B music are under the age of 30 and above the age of 15 I decided to narrow my target audience down to 17 to 21 to make it clear that my magazine is aimed at the younger generation R&B listeners. I decided my magazine would be targeted at males because most males who listen to R&B music are aspirers and this was a theme I wanted my magazine to convey after including new upcoming artists for inspiration. I chose the social class E because this is the social class that the age 17 to 21 years may be classified as because they will be in education or on a minimum wage job. Finally, I decided on Black, American as my targeted ethnicity mainly because this is the stereotypical ethnicity associated with R&B/Rap music.

+How did the genre of your magazine attract them?

I photographed a music producer for my photo-shoot which relates to how the stereotypical male music producer is Black, American. I also contrasted against this idea by choosing to photograph a White, British Male. I decided to do this because I thought it would show a different side to the music industry and not stick to the stereotype which is shown on most existing R&B magazines available at the moment. I also used a plain costume which complies with the style of a Black, American Music Producer. They usually don’t dress up and look plain as they aren’t the artist in the spotlight.

+How did the choice of models conform/subvert stereotypes of the music genre that you chose?

The model that I chose conforms the stereotype of the music genre that I chose because they are aged 17 which means the people reading the magazine will be of a similar age and will be able to relate to them. I did this because the target audience I chose are aspirers and tend to follow the crowd. I thought that if I use a model of a similar age they will be attracted to this and want to read about how they made it in the industry.

On the other hand my models subvert the music genre of my choice because they are not of the same ethnicity. I decided to chose a White, British male because I wanted to show a different side to the industry and that the stereotype can be broken. The fact there is a White, British male on the front of an R&B magazine may also attract more attention because it is different to what people are used to seeing.

+How does your cover lines and main double page spread story attract your audience? The cover lines on my magazine contents

page attract my audience by me using cliff hanging questions that people will want to know the answer to. For example, I have said “Lauryn Hills fave R&B hits” after reading this people will be intrigued and will want to know more. Also by using famous names and shortened language like ‘Fave’ it will also attract attention and people will understand the magazine is less formal than others.

In my double-page spread story I have used common English language skills such as using quotations, factual statements and mentioning popular names such as ‘Pharrel Williams’ to capture the readers attention with familiar names of artists they may be interested in.

+What kind of marketing campaigns do you think would attract your target audience when your magazine is released?

Marketing techniques that would aid my magazine in sales would be posters or TV adverts. By putting posters in youth community centers, at concerts, in music studios or at colleges/sixth forms I believe that the right audience would be seeing the advertisements. I also think that by advertising on TV channels such as MTV I think the right audience would be targeted. I also think that the magazine could be advertised by artists or interviewers during TV appearances.