Choosing My Target Audience

Target Audience

I have come to the point in my research in to music magazines and genre, where I need to decide on my target audience. This is important as I will be starting to gain an idea of what I should include in my magazine to ensure that the audience I am directing it to enjoys it. To complete and do these stages later on I need to have a clear idea of who my target audience is. Therefore I need to choose who I will focus my magazine on.

From looking in to the genre of Pop it is clear to see that a large proportion of the fan base are female, because of this I will ensure that my target audience is girls/women. The age of pop fans vary depending on the artist, however I will be focusing this down slightly and target fans aged 16-23, as I believe I can do a better job targeting girls of these ages. Another reason I have decided on these ages for the target audience is because I believe being a seventeen year old girl myself, that I understand what girls of these ages may want in a pop magazine, and by using this target audience I will make the best product (music magazine) that I can.

Summary of Genre Research

The Task

I have completed a summary on the research that I did on Genre so it is all placed somewhere together and can be looked over quickly if desired. 

Uses and Gratification Theory

The Task
For this task I am going to be looking in to a theory that was created by Blumler and Katz, to find out what people uses the media for and the things that they get out of the different publications and parts used in the media. This will help me as it will give me an idea of what types of things should be included in my magazine front cover to help the audience enjoy it and hopefully fufill some of their other needs.


The Research
I have made a go animate so that the information I found out can be seen and viewed very easily in one place. This will ensure that everything I need such as the key pieces of information from the theory is accessible to me very quickly and simply.  https://goanimate.com/videos/0pvbP6n77nxU?utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=linkshare&utm_campaign=usercontent


The Conclusion
From doing this research in to the uses and gratifications theory, I have learnt a lot about what should be presented in different articles and media outlets for the target audience to ensure that they enjoy what they are reading. For example from this research I have learnt that a lot of people use the media to find their personal identity, this shows me that people can sometimes gain their own morals and values from reading about people they look up to and can identity with, this can mean that people also like to have information and like to gain a sense of social interaction without interacting but gaining and reading about some aspects of different situations and people. All of this will help me as I will now hopefully be able to include these different aspects and ideas of the theory in to my production work and it will also be a key feature to remember during the stages of designing and creating my front cover, contents page and double page spread as it will ensure the most attraction to my target audience.

Research into Other Pop Magazines

The Task
I am going to be looking around for different pop magazines to get an idea of layout, and names most commonly used and associated with the genre of pop. For this I will be using the internet to research as well as looking in shops to see what is available there. This task will hopefully give me a better understanding about how successful magazines for different genres are presented in magazine form and this will help me later on when I chose one pop magazine to do a detailed analysis of it.

The Research
I decided to insert all my findings into a wordle document to ensure that it is easy to view. This is a clear and precise way of presenting it and key words of the genre and the magazines. I found that many pop magazines will have short monosyllabic names making them easy to remember and quick to say when talking about.

The Conclusion
From doing this research I have managed to find out a lot about my chosen genre, this knowledge will help me when I start the creative process and start thinking about good names for the magazine, as I have another reference point full of previous research. This is also helpful as the colours I used in the wordle are the most common types used in the pop magazines, with the exception of white and red which is only used in a few magazines such as Q. 

Mood Board Of Chosen Genre

The Task
For this task I have made a mood board video using final cut pro, to demonstrate key features of the genre of my choice pop. The video will include key artists, fan pictures to give an idea of the usual fans of the genre, concert arenas pop music will play and what they look like during the concert as well as magazines already existing that are focused on pop music, producers of music and also instruments most commonly associated with the pop music culture.

The Research

The Conclusion
From making this video I have learnt a lot of interesting knowledge on the genre, the artists I found ranged from a couple decades ago to this years most popular pop musicians/artists. This video has allowed me to also look at how many already existing pop magazines there are no matter what the readership or circulation size is. This will help me later on in my coursework as it will have provided an even clearer base of knowledge for when I start designing and creating my own music magazine. The aim of this video was to find out more information and details of pop genre as well as people, instruments, venues, text style and producers linked to this genre. In this video I was also able to look in to similarities and differences of pop artists e.g. make up styles, clothing styles, hair styles, music made and also types of instruments used in the songs. From looking in to more pop magazines and articles it has become apparent to me that to interest the target audience into buying the magazine there needs to be articles that could have scandal in them, or a competition running in the magazine linked to a popular musician that will appeal to many. Overall from looking at all these different aspects of the pop genre it has started to form a clear idea of what my magazine front cover should look like, from pop artist style, to the colour schemes and texts associated with the genre.

Researching My Chosen Genre

The Task
I am going to start research in to the specific genre I have chosen to create my music magazine on. By doing this I am going to have a greater knowledge of the genre and the conventions most commonly used within.I will also look in to a brief overview of the term genre to understand what will be part of the pop music genre.

The Research
I used emaze to create a clear profile of what pop music is and other defining factors of the genre.
The Conclusion
From doing this task I have now obtained the knowledge I need to have a deep insight in to Pop genre. From doing this research I have more understanding of what needed to be put in and on my magazine to fit into my genre of choice. This research is going to help me when designing the front cover and also will help me analysing future magazines when seeing what it is most common and most effective on magazine front covers 

Investigating Mass and Niche Magazines

The Task
I will be looking in to one mass music magazine and comparing it to a niche music magazine. To do this I will be creating a powtoon.

The Research
I used the internet and hardcopies of magazines to research in to two separate magazines and then wrote all my findings up on to a powtoon. I looked in to target audiences, circulation and reach, look and style, and content. By looking in to these different aspects I have developed a clearer understanding on the difference and some slight similarities of mass and niche magazines.


Conclusion
From doing this research I have learnt about what is usually in magazines and what appeals to different audiences, as well as finding out about some conventions used throughout magazines no matter what the audience size or the genre used, even if the desired result is different. This research will help me later on in my project as I have now gained a better understanding about what I will need to add to my magazine.

Summary So Far