Market Research Analysis

After analysing three pop music magazines I have noticed that there is a niche in the market for a magazine based purely on pop music.
Front Page- I will use the conventions of a magazine by having a masthead, issue number, price, main image as the background, main headline, house style and feature headings
Contents Page- I will use the conventions of a contents page by having two seperate sections which will be features and regular articles. I will have two to four images on the page and they will have the page number on them. The article headings will all have a quote underneath from the article to interest the reader. Also the house style will be carried on from the front cover
Double Page Spread- I will have the left hand side page as the article and the right hand page as the main image of the artist. Also it will have the same house style as the front cover and the contents page

Market Research- Rolling Stone Magazine

Language- The masthead of this magazine is Rolling Stone magazine and it covers the top of the magazine. A few of the letters are covered by the main image but because the magazine is widely recognised it does not confuse it's target audience. The house style of the magazine is very plain as the colours of the font are grey, black and white. The font of the headlines are all the same. The main image on the magazine is a long shot if Katy Perry sat on a bed. This is a very controversial shot as she is showing a stereotypical pop artist image as she is not wearing a lot but then the headline is about sex and then has a religious side. Also she is sat on a bed but the room is white and white is usually a sign of purity which also contradicts itself.
Institution- The Rolling Stone magazine is published by Wenner Media and is published once every two weeks at the price of........
Ideology- The image on this magazine is a stereotype image of a pop artist because of the what the artist is wearing but then it goes against the stereotype because her story is not just about sex, it is about religion aswell.
Audience- The audience of Rolling Stone magazine is readers of a wide age range because it focuses on mainly pop music and actors but then it also has articles about politics which varies its audience.
Representation- This magazine represents pop artists in a conventional way as she is being shown as a sex symbol




 



Language- The house style has been carried onto the contents page as the font and the colour of the font is the same. On the other hand red has been added as another font colour and as the background to the heading of the contents page which does not fit in with the rest of the house style. There are three pictures but the middle one is bigger. This could suggest that the story behind this picture is the main story. The pictures all have relevance to the story behind them and they all have the page number written in the corner. It includes the conventions of a magazine by having a section for features and a section for monthly items such as reviews. They also have quotes under the stories so that the audience gets a preview of the story and entices them to read on.
Institution- The contents page will have been made by the same publishers as the front page as they are from the same magazine.
Ideology- This contents page is giving out the message that the magazine is unique as the pictures on it are very different to each other and that it does not use the same house style as the front page.
Audience- The contents page will have the same audience as the front cover as the audience buy the magazine to read all of the magazine
Representation- The contents page does not carry on the representation of the front page as there are no pictures that portray pop artists as sex symbols. Instead it represents a more acoustic and natural side of the music industry.







 

Language- The house style is carried on from the contents page as there is a red stripe down the middle of the page and the font and colour of the text is still the same. On the left hand side of the page is the article and the right hand side of the page is the picture of the artist. The article itself is not very long as the headline of the story takes up just under half of the page.
Institution- This double page spread will have been produced by the same publishers as the contents page and the front cover as they belong to the same magazine.
Ideology- The picture is a long shot of the artist and is taken from below which makes him look superior and powerful and at the time when this article was written the public looked up to John Lennon and The Beatles
Audience- The audience will also be the same as the front page and contents page as they are part of the magazine and the company want the audience to read all of the magazine.
Representation- The image on the double page spread represents pop artists very unconventially as it is a very natural and plain picture









Market Research- NME Magazine



Language- This magazine has many of the conventions of a magazine on it. It has a masthead which is NME that is in red writing with a white outline. It has a house style that consists of a few fonts and then a colour scheme that consists of white black and red. It has a main headline that looks like it has been cut out of a newspaper and stuck on to it like a ransom note. It also has a quote from the main article above the main headline. It then has feature headings along the bottom and the top of the magazine and also in circles at the right hand side of the magazine. The main image is a close up of Lily Allen wearing a checkered shirt. This fits in with the style of the headline because it makes her look rebellious and the headline which looks like a ransom also shows signs of people rebelling.
Institution- The magazine has been produced by IPC Media and is published weekly at the price of £2.30
Ideology- The message this magazine is giving out is that it is not fitting in with the stereotype of pop music and being perfect and neat which is why they have a picture of Lily Allen because she is known to be very outspoken and is the opposite of a 'normal' pop artist
Audience- This magazine is aimed at people that like to think they do not fit in with a stereotype, possibly more aimed at the age of 16-24.
Representation- The main image is going against stereotypes of pop artists as she is not made up to look pretty and perfect but she has a punk edge to her. This could show that she is rebelling against stereotypes and is trying to be an individually styled pop artist.



Language- The house style of the magazine is carried on to the contents page. It consists of the same fonts as the front page and the same colour fonts which are red, black and white. The main image is about the main article and it gives you a brief description about the article and the page number of the article. At the bottom it advertises the magazine by telling people that they can save money by subscribing to the magazine. The articles are in different sections based on what they are about. They have the reviews which will be in every edition of the magazine and then the features like the band index and the news.
Institution- This page will also have been produced by the same publisher as the front cover as it belongs to the same magazine which is why the house style is carried on.
Ideology- The contents page tries to give out a good message about the rest of the magazine because if the audience do not like the look of the contents page and can not figure out what it is telling them. then they will not continue looking through the rest of the magazine because they will presume the standard will be the same.
Audience- The contents page targets the same audience as the front cover
Representation- The contents page carries on the representation of the first page because it is not set out neatly, things overlap and titles are slanted which shows that they are not being stereotyped.




Language- The house style of the magazine has been brought into the double page spread as some of the writing is in black, red and white. They use a quote from the article as the headline and they do it in the same style as the front cover. They use an intriguing quote to get the audience interested and make them want to read the rest of the article. The article is on one page and the picture is on the second page. The article itself is quite short as the the headline takes up over half of the page.
Institution- The double page spread has been published by the same publishers that made the contents page and the front cover as they belong to the same magazine
Ideology- The main image is Lily Allen with her hands on her hips and her head on a slant but looking at the camera. This gives off a message that she is proud that she is different and she is not going to change to fit in with everyone else
Audience- The target audience is the same as the contents page and the front cover
Representation- The image and the article represents the genre of pop music very unstereotypically and are trying to put out a new image for pop artists.

Market Research- Q magazine

Language- The masthead of the magazine is Q. It is in the left hand corner and is very big and eyecatching because it is white writing on a red background. The headlines and feature headings are also fit in with the house style of white, red and black. Some of the feature headings are black writing on a white background and the headings on the right are all in red and white writing with no background. The image covers the whole of the front cover and it is a close up of a pop artist- Cheryl Cole. It is quite a dark photo which makes it intense and the colour of her lipstick matches with the house style of the magazine. This picture fits in with the sex symbol styled celebrity which will attract readers of both sex. It has a banner headline which is also in the house style.
Instiution- This magazine will have been produced by Bauer Media because they produce Q magazine. It is produced monthly at the price of £3.99
Ideology- This front cover gives out a message that Cheryl Cole can still look good even when it is raining on her which makes her appeal more to her fans because it gives them someone to inspire to be.
Audience- This front cover has a target audience aimed at both genders. The age range will probably be 16-24 because that age tend to listen to pop music because it is on the radio and television often and because the artists are featured in a lot of gossip magazines.
Representation- This front cover represents pop artists stereotypically because it is showing Cheryl Cole as a sex symbol and to be pretty which is what most pop artists tend have as their image because it attracts more fans from both sex's



Language- The house style has been carried on throughout the contents page as the the fonts and the colour scheme are still the same. They have a picture of a band which takes up about half of the page and it has a caption on it that tells you the page number of the article that they are in and it gives you a quote from the article which intrigues the audience and makes them want to read the article. It has the conventions of a features and a monthly section which includes a review section in it. All of the articles featured in the magazine have the page number next to them and a quote underneath them to give the audience an insight to what the article will be about.
Institution- This will have also been produced by Bauer Media as it is from the same magazine as the front cover.
Ideology- The contents page is there to guide people around the magazine and to show the readers where the articles that they want to read are. They put quotes under the articles to give away parts of the article
Audience- The audience will be the same as the audience for the front cover because they will usually read all of the magazine because they buy it because they want to read what is inside it.
Representation- The picture on the contents page is very different to the picture on the front page as the band are more Indie than pop artists which means that they try and convey a different image. They try and give out an individual image which is why their are stood on the top of a hill and they look like normal everyday people instead of tying to give off an image that want to look their best all the time like pop artists do.



Language- The house style is carried on throughout the double page spread as it still has the red, black and white colour scheme. One page is for the article and the other page is a close up of the artist which in this case is Madonna. The picture has a quote underneath it from the article which is quite big to draw attention to that before they read the article. The article itself is not very long because they have made the name of the artist and the headline of the article very big.
Institution-This double page spread will have been produced by Bauer Media as it is from the same magazine as the front cover and the contents page.
Ideology- The image of Madonna on this page gives out a message that she is a drama queen as she has the arm over her head which symbolises drama. This is also a representation of pop artists. They tend to be quite dramatic about everything
Audience- The audience will be the same as the people for the contents page and the front cover as they tend to buy the magazine for the articles inside.
Representation- The picture shows a stereotype of pop artists to be very demanding and dramatic and also shows off the sex symbol status as she is wearing leather gloves and a revealing jacket and top. She shows her diva side by wearing a lot of jewellery which shows off her power as an artist.



Music Genre

I have decided that I am going to produce my magazine based on a pop genre. This is there is a gap in the market for magazines that are purely for people that have an interest in artists like Katy Perry, Taio Cruz and Rihanna. When you look for the top ten pop music magazines on the internet you get a list of the top ten pop music magazines. These are

1. Q
2. Rolling Stone
3. Entertainment Weekly
4. Billboard
5. Blender
6. Alternative Press
7. Paste
8. Vibe
9. NME
10. Spin

Only three of these magazines are very popular which shows that there is a gap in the market for a popular pop magazine. Even these three popular magazines are not purely for pop music. I would say that NME and Q magazine are mainly about Indie music. The key features of a pop genre are:
artists image- typical boyband or girlband- usually made up of four or five people that have a neat and well presented image, which makes them appeal to the opposite sex.
Solo artists- neat and well presented, usually have a large sex appeal which appeals to the opposite sex but also makes the same sex look inspire to be them.
lyrics- usually about love, breakups or the nightlife and the lyrics usually tend to rhyme and be quite cheesy.
I will make my image of my artist to fit these conventions of a pop artist

LIIAR Analysis of the Brief

Language- camera angles- full shot, close up, mid shot, house styles-same colour scheme throughout,  fonts and colours of headlines, conventions of a front cover- masthead, banner headline, cover lines, price/ barcode, main image, puff and synergy
Institution- There is a gap in the market for the type of magazine that I will be producing which is a pop genre. There are three main publishers for magazines. The first one is Conde Nast, I have not chosen this one because most of their magazines are fashion based. The second is Bauer Media, these produce magazines like Kerrang! and Q I chose this publisher because Q targets the same audience as my magazine. The final one is the publisher I did not chose which was IPC Media. This is because they produce NME magazine which is about indie music which does not target the same audience as I am planning on targeting.
Ideology- I want my magazine to give out a message that it is not bad to be different and that you should not stereotype people into groups.
Audience- mixed gender, aged 16-24
Representation- I would like my magazine to represent the genre of music I chose in a positive and in a sterotypical way because then the audience will know that the magazine is based on pop artists

The Main Task Brief

Using DTP and an image manipulation programme produce the front page, contents and double page spread of a new music magazine. All images and text used must be original, produced by you- minimum of four images