Publication Plan

Title

Positioning Statement

• The hottest music by the hottest indie bands for the hottest fans!

Frequency of publication

• Weekly

Price

• £2.00

Distribution

• Newsagents and supermarkets; Indie fashion shops; Small gigs

Rationale

• My magazine gives dedicated indie fans the music updates they need to keep up to date in the music world. The infomation that they crave for just after they read just one issue, they cant wait for the next. It is from a very own fans perpective so there will be agreements and disagreements with whats written.

Style

• The style of my music magazine is rather informal with even a few articles written by artists themselves. There is no beating around the bush it goes stright to the music that everyone wants to hear. It will use short paragraphs and some slang and quotations.

Regular Content

• Concert reports
• Cool or Drool? - Debates on weither the latest bands, good/bad?
• Top 100 music videos this week
• Artic Monkeys buzz - weekly coulmn by the artic monkeys
• Strum - Weekly tips on how to pay different instuments every week
• Buzz - quiz's and puzzles on the latest music
• Interviews - with the magazines 'band of the week'
• Fern Cotton notes - she gives her opinion on the local gigs in london
• Fan mail
• Reviews

Feature Content

• Best concert
• Best band live
• All the in's and outs of the coldplay
• Fact or fiction? - statements about different bands and people have to choose wether its a fact or fiction
• Shirts 4 sale - shirts for sale that have been sold at concerts
• Grab it! - Article on bargin hunting for instruments
• Unsigned bands
• Singing sessions
• Brain cells - An article debating wether festivals are taking its toll on the human brain
• The vaccines take on the biggest selling artists right now!
• Katy b a fix?
• Mash up mix - mix cd avaliable on order
• Insight - insight of the biggest concerts up close and personal
• The Coral-Came back for good
• Brandon Flowers-Going solo?
• Beth Ditto-A day in the life of Beth Ditto heaven or hell?
• Florance and the Machine-Exlusive interview

House Style

Coverlines -  Hobo Std & Hobo Std

Headlines -  Elephant

Standfirst -  Calibri   14pt.

Captions - Arial Unicode MS   8pt.

News first paragraph - First paragraph in bold capitals

Body Text - Times new Roman 11pt

Colour Scheme - Marron, White, and Black

Questionnaire Results

This is my questionnaire results, I have translated my results by using bar charts. I asked my target audience to fill out the questionnaire to help me with ideas for my own music magazine, so therefore my music magazine is appealing to my target audience and it holds all the contents that my target audience find interesting so they will want to read it.

 

This is a bar chart to show the age of the participants who filled out my questionnaire. This has helped me decide what age my target audience for my magazine will be from the ages of 15-20.

This is a bar chart to show how often people buy magazines. This concludes that most the people who helped me fill out my questionnaire buy magazines weekly so therefore I will make a magazine that is published weekly.

This is bar chart shows the colours that the people who filled out my questionnaire favour the most. So therefore with these results I have decided use the colour scheme of maroon and white for my music magazine.

This bar chart shows that kings of leon and the temper trap are the favorite. So with my target audience's help I have decided to include something to do with the KOL or the temper trap in my magazine so it becomes appealing to my target audience.

This bar chart tells me that the sections of a magazine that was rated the highest is gossip articles and prizes. So therefore, with these answers I have decided to have something about articles and prizes on my magazine so my target audience will actually want to buy my magazine.

This is a bar chart to show what three words my target audience associate with the word indie. This will help me come up with a title for my music magazine which will appeal to my buyers. So with my target audiences help I have decided to call my music magazine Intro. 

This bar chart tells me what entices my target audience to buy a music magazine. So with this information I can include some of the popular results such as a eye-catching colour scheme, this will make my magazine stand out on the shelf, so therefore there will be more buyers.

This bar chart tells me that my target audience enjoy attending gigs. So moreover, I am going to include something on my contents page about gigs around the country that people can attend to. Furthermore, my magazine becomes more eye-catching to the target audience.

This is a bar chart to show how much the target audience is willing to pay for a music magazine. Moreover because of this result I will make my music magazine to be between £2.00 to £2.50. This is because that is the most popular result from this bar chart, and my target audience will also be willing to pay that price.

This bar chart shows what the target auidence have chosen as their most favorite part of a music magazine. So being held with this infomation I have decided to include maybe a gift and a poster. This is be eye-catching for the target auidence as it is giving them what they want so they will buy the magazine.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

For my as media coursework I am designing a music magazine, I would be grateful if you take the time to fill this questionnaire out.

1.      Are you male or female?

2.      How old are you?

     15-20        20-25        25+

3.      How often do you by music magazines?

      Weekly?    Monthly?   Yearly?

4.      What colours do you associate with indie music?

5.      What your favourite indie music artist?

6.      On a scale of 1 to 5 were 5 is very important and one being the least relevant, how do u rate the following aspects of a music magazine

Pictures                     1       2       3       4        5

Competitions?          1       2       3       4        5

Feature articles?      1       2       3       4        5

Interviews?               1       2       3       4        5

Prizes?                       1       2       3       4        5

Updates?                  1       2       3       4        5

Gossip articles?        1       2       3       4        5

7.      Do you either download your music online or buy CDS?

8.      What three words do you associate with indie music?

9.      What do you dislike any contents of a music magazine?

10.  What entices you to buy a music magazine?

11.  Do you attend allot of concerts? If yes who have you been to scene?

12.  How much are you willing to pay for a music magazine?

13.  Do you have a particular favourite part in a music magazine?

This is my questionnaire, I have done this to help me create my magazine by using the answers to give me ideas for my target audience so for example; if the majority of my target audience don't like the colour blue then I will not include blue in my magazine. Furthermore, I will give my questionnaire to my target audience so I get the answers that are related to my genre (Indie).

All the questions that I have included in my questionnaire is to do with the creation of my magazine, so I will use the results to make my questionnaire to create my magazine so it is liked by my target audience. Also I have used rate systems in my questionnaire as they only take a few seconds to complete they contain allot of research.

Analysis of of a double page spread

Colour Scheme

Simple colour scheme, colours are kept to a minimum, in this magazine there are only 3 colours used; orange, white, and grey. This is because the reader is not distracted by the colour and so they focus on the content of the magazine. Also the colours are simple colours also for the same reason why the colours are kept to a minumum.

Main image as background

Sometimes the main image is used as a background, but in this case the photographer would have to think about were the band members were because there would have to be space for the text and the title, so in using the main image as a background it would have to be thought through beforehand and placed very carefully. Also they would have to think of the whole image as the text needs to be easily seen so for example the main image couldn't have a busy multi-coloured background, it would have to be plain and simple with a colour that matches the colourscheme of the dps.

 Main image

One large picture which takes up a whole page, and sometimes the picture bleeds between pages they do this to link the two pages together. So the reader can reconize the text with the images and link them, also the text relates back to the picture so the reader can read the text and look at the image, this helps the reader to imagine that they are actually at the interview.

Quotes

Quotes are used in the headlime, on the picture or in the standfirst or to break-up text. They use quotes in the title to entice the reader as the title doesnt nessesarly tell the reader what is in the article so this makes the reader want to find out what is in the dps.

Drop capital

A drop capital is used for the simple reason of showing were the reader were to begin as some people may get confused and start reading at the wrong point. There is other techniques used aswell like; bold text, slightly bigger type size and lastly capitals are sometimes used for the first few lines.

Moreover, a standfirst introduces the article, this is usually placed under the headline, there is often a mention of the journalist's name.

Headline

The headline is a major eye-catcher for the reader, as it does not exactly tell the reader what the article is about so this makes the reader actually want to find out what it is about. The standfirst tells the reader what the article is about.

Byline

The byline tells the reader who wrote the article and also the photographer name is mentioned.

Layout

The layout of a magazine is usually 2-4, and there is usually a strapline at the top which explains a little what the article is about.

Tone

Furthermore, the article is usally written informally and in the personality of the jornalist this makes the reader feel more involved in the conversation.

Analysis of professional Front cover.

Colour

• With a professional magazine cover, they use simple colours. Moreover, they only use about 2/3 colours that they know will look good on the shelf. Also, they do research about what colours are favoured by their target audience so for example; NME magazines target audience is people around the age of 16-25 who are men, so they are not going to use bright pink on the front cover.

Title

• Magazines use their title as a way for the readers to differentiate from magazine from another. Moreover, the titles on a professional magazine cover is unique from any other magazine. Furthermore, the title is usually only one word which is catchy and remember able. Also, it takes up the whole of the width of the magazine. Lastly, the title is usually bold and it stands out on the shelf.

Main Image

• The main image on a front cover has always got something to do with the feature article so when the readers see the main image they know what the main article will be in the magazine and if they are interested in the main article this will entice them to buy this.

PUFF

• This is what magazines use to entice the reader by offering something a little bit extra so the audience is swayed towards that magazine and buy theirs instead of the competition.

Coverlines &Sublines

• Coverlines- they are usually only a couple of words to attract the reader.
• Subtitles- Subtitles explain the coverline in a short sentence to make sure it sounds appealing to the reader. Also the subline is in a smaller text.
• There is usually up to 6 or 7 coverlines and subtitles on a magazine front cover.

Exclusive Main Feature

• This makes sure the reader buys their magazine,  as they make out like they are the only magazine with that interview which is very effective. Using words such as 'exclusive' makes the reader sound included in the gossip and what they are about to read is very secret.

Strip across the top or bottom.

• This is a strip which includes artists names who feature in the magazine.

Inital Plans for my magazine

With all the research that I have done I have come to a decision about my own magazine.

Price

• I have decided to price my music magazine at £2.00 this is because this is the average of the other music magazines that my music magazine is in competition with, so therefore it cannot be any more than the competition as the customer will go for the cheaper option and not buy my magazine.

Frequency of publication

• I have decided to make my magazine a weekly magazine, this is because all the other indie magazines such as NME is a weekly magazine so therefore I want to be the same as the competition and keep the readers up to date frequently.

Issue size

• I have decided to make my magazine around 300 pages as that is the average of the magazines have around that many pages. So i do not want to have less than the competition because that means less information so then the buyer will go for the magazine that has more pages so they feel more satisfied with their purchase.

Regular Content

• I have decided to have

Feature Articles

Reasearching the market place

NME Magazine

Prices

• The price of my competitors (NME magazine) is £1.25 a week. Moreover, on the NME website there is a deal on at the moment for 4 magazines for only £1.00 as a starter trial.

Frequency of publication

• The frequency of publication for the NME magazine is weekly, so therefore my magazine will have to be weekly also.

Issue size

• The issue size of the NME magazine is usually 220 pages including advertisement pages

Regular content

• NME magazine gives exclusive information on the hottest indie music, they also share great music writing and photography on the latest bands.

Feature articles

• Music Updates
• Ticket information
• Indie bands
• The latest indie band gossip (make-ups and fall outs)
• Interviews on quirky bands
• hottest producers right now

Uncut Magazine

Prices

• UNCUT magazine is a expensive magazine, as it is a huge £4.90.

Frequency of publication

• This magazine is issued monthly so this is probably why the magazine is so expensive as it has a whole months worth of information on music.

Issue Size

• 148 packed pages, the magazine will have allot of pages because of the fact that it is only issued monthly, not weekly.

Regular Content

• Interviews with music legends.
•  Gig updates
• Prizes
• New and upcoming artist debates.

Feature Articles

• Ticket infomation
• Latest gossip
• Question and answers for the readers
• Debate pages
• News
• Reviews on the latest music artists.