What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Bauer Media
Bauer Media was founded in 1875 and in regard to contemporary publications is renowned for Q and Kerrang magazine, which initially lead me to believe that his may be the publication house for me. However, recently Bauer Media have found their circulation figures dropping; most notably Kerrang have recently dropped by 32% and Q falling more than 20% and the general circulation is decreasing at 8.5% a year. For this reason alone, I have decided that perhaps Bauer media may not be the publishing house for ‘Heart Beats’.

IPC Media

Founded in 1963, it now produces over 60 iconic media publications, reaching almost two thirds of all UK women and just under half of UK men, it is estimated that the publishing house reaches almost 26 million UK adults a month. Publications that IPC Media are known for include NME, Marie Claire and Nuts magazine.  Although it is a highly successful publishing house, in recent years IPC media has been known to lay off smaller, more niched publications.


However, I feel that IPC Media would be the more reliable publishing house to go with as if the product is a hit, at least it would then be secure for the future.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My target audience is that of 18-35, both males and females, those who enjoy live performances and those who enjoy new music. The kind of performances these will more likely to be are intimate gigs, and so there is a large undercurrent for those who enjoy going out and seeing acts perform.

My front cover is that of a late teen/early twenties lesbian, edgey hair cut and wearing numerous pieces of jewelery; she adheres to the classic art archetype, creative and progressive. Her pose, with what seems direct eye contact between her and the wall art behind her adds an air of mystery to her. Self-entitled, this lends credibility to the idea that she wishes to take herself seriously.

Within my contents, I have used a different images to reflect the different takes on music that these different artists use. The artists are mostly self-entitled, this lends credibility to idea that these artists want to make it somewhere and often have to do so on their own. This represents young artists as well as the magazine itself as being independent and creative.

Within my feature, my images of Sara are all mid performance, this shows one side of her character, whilst the text is all about her, who she is and why she is that way. The text itself has a formal layout, including Helvetica font and a drop capital, this aides the represent the idea of maturity and seriousness about music. Within the feature and the side bar, I try to include as many direct quotes as possible in order to retain Sara's style of communication. For example, "Like when something comes together inside of you, when it reaches a position in your heart, mind and soul", this kind of non-conventional style narrative whose pragmatics and lends itself to spontaneous speech.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Deciding to do a music magazine that has an indie/acoustic feel to it allowed me to explore my ideas of what is indie acoustic? Is it the art type armed with the guitar and lyric book full of politics or is it the songstress who feels as if she should have been born in the 1920's who still sings about traditional norms and values?To me, the entire concept of indie acoustic has no boundaries but holds signature only in what music is played and not defined by power, success and vast amounts of greed. For this alone I chose the image on the front cover to be something slightly arty but still something down to earth and street, thanks to the graffiti, this challenges traditional codes and conventions as the usual choice is the over made up star, mid-shot against a plain gray/white background. This image has comparisons between other professional indie/pop/rock magazines and my own.

My text within the publication kept mostly to two fonts, Orator Std, for highlights and important text, and Helvetica, for my feature text, due to it having a more professional appearance. Colour-scheme wise, I kept things simple, black and white, accented by purple and the odd bit of gray where necessary; I chose these colours as they are soft and gentle, much like the music promoted, to add a bit of colour and brighten up the publication as opposed to the standardised black on white with images.

The majority of my shots were mid-shots, this allows the model to envelop a character and portray them effectively; Mid-shots appear to be a common convention within the music magazine industry. I used a long shot within my feature as to break up the page further and also add the full effect of the photo, created by body language and musical props. The feature is written in Standard English; however the tone it is written in leads the audience to derive a much more personal feel for it.

Self Analysis - Feature

The feature supports a more mature approach, more similar to that you would see in a publication aimed at an older target audience, this is shown via the tone and register of the text. It focuses on Sara Spade, and how she got to where she is today with a side bar of what inspires her, the aim of this text, and this publication, is to not only raise awareness of fresh new artists but to also inspire others who wish to become an artist. I decided it would be nice to have a couple of pull quotes embellishing the imagery I have used and to also add more of a personal touch. Keeping to the colour scheme of the publication I have used the purples to highlight headings and names, this helps make the publication stand out more and be more bold. Using the large heading aims to catch the readers attention.

Self Analysis - Contents

I decided to take influence from the NME magazine as I really liked the layout and it's approachability, the fact that it was non-conventional, in some respects. I chose to have my main attraction feature as the centralised picture boost, this way the publication not only entices readers in with the front cover but theres extra tease on the first page. All my major features are picture boosts, accompanied with a titled heading and a talkie headline to entice the reader.

Each individual image has been touched up and edited to fit the necessary sizes, and I have included an image of the front cover in the subscription section as a more personal touch.

Self Analysis - Front Cover

I worked as closely as I could to my design layout, as possible, having already pre-planned what it was that I would be using as my front cover. The aim of front cover is to reflect the kind of publication on it’s inner pages, which is why I chose an aesthetic and personal, in style, photo for the back ground. The title and tag-line are both bold and explanative about the publication, as explained earlier. I chose the tag-line ‘music for the soul’ as it reflects the genre of music I will be covering, music that has candour, that is raw and that is emotionally fulfilling. The type of music my publication will cover, is not ‘pop’ and far from it; but music that may still come under a mainstream category. I kept to the style of more of an indie-publication to retain that sense of personal touch and involvement with the intended reader and to highlight the difference in the kind of publication it is; that it is not a glorified glossy magazine.The front cover aims to convey the message the publication aims for, that the genre is a unisex music magazine aimed at a younger audience. In context of representation, that the image used conveys a very relaxed pose of an edgy lesbian, this promotes that the content is not bias and that the model in question has a creative look to her. Her pose connotes that she is connected with the graffiti, as if they are looking at each other, creating mystery. With the image background being that of her against a graffiti covered brick wall creates a sense of realism and rawness.

Audience Feedback

 I interviewed fifteen people about their music and magazine tastes. They appear to have a rather eclectic taste of music, being casually varied across the results. When it comes to the magazines themselves it appears the most bought magazine type through those I interviewed appears to be womens mags, whether this will affect my tone of writing will yet to be seen. Those asked would prefer to pay between £2-3 so I will place my publication at the £2.25 mark.

Photography

The images I have used have all been those that I have taken in the last years or so, having always been one to dabble with photography, and so I have picked out images most appropriate to the style of my publication.
These images have then been uploaded to Photoshop, modes changed to CMYK, adjusted levels and touched up if necessary (cropping, spot removal, patching, liquifying, etc) and saved at 200dpi.
I had to ensure that the images I used were not only clear, but already had a base contrast that was workable to edit with.

Rough Designs

Front Cover:

The front cover I took inspiration for publications like Q and NME with the layout, having a strong image to advertise the artist and also as the main focus.

Contents:

This layout was influenced by a contents page of NME, in trying to keep to codes and conventions; I also really enjoyed the busyness of it and how it had a lot of information for the reader to sink their teeth into.

Feature Page 1:

Feature Page 2:

The feature itself was influenced by articles I have read across the board, where there is equal focus on both the text and who it is focused on, the imagery.

Magazine Analysis

The front cover uses an effective use of font that really stands out, making a bold statement. The use of colour scheme of text reflects the image used and immediately implies what kind of magazine it is, a women’s magazine that centres around fashion and lifestyles, aimed at BC1C2. 

The image used is the products unique selling point for that issue; it personally reaffirms interview with Lady Gaga by using a striking mid-shot to call the attention of the reader and to really stand out. This suggests that it was taken from a photo shoot made especially for the magazine.

The use of large cover lines attracts the audience and invites them to look inside the covers to see what else the magazine has to offer. It has an effective use of bold black text, reverse text and bright pink text in order to stand out. The use of tight leading creates an air of sophistication via showing an alternative to any usual text that may be seen on a flyer, for example.

The title uses large text to maximise awareness of the magazine’s title. It is an effective use of bold font to create a statement masthead. Over laps image in a non-obtrusive way to signify the importance of the name of the publication. It has a great use of non-standard text font to create personalisation and also a small price tag and issue number to use a reference. 

The layout is open and uses individual picture boosts to promote each major feature within the magazine, however it appears that the centre of visual interest differs from that of what is on the front cover. As well as using an array of striking imagery, it also uses a talkie headline in order to introduce the feature followed by a subheading explaining what the feature itself is. The features are the main source of interest having the regulars tucked away, this implies those who buy the magazine probably do so enough to know them. Striking use of subscription tab.

Using a pull quote as the heading splashed across the page draws the readers in, this combined with a large image of the artist makes it pretty hard to miss. Due to the choice to make a statement, there is little space for text and so the text has been reduced in size to fit it all in. The majority of the text is black on white, with reversed text for the heading, with colour on white text to highlight. Not only due to the content of who is feature, but the layout, we can deduce this is aimed at a C1DE audience of young teens.

Research and Planning: Comparisons with other publications

For a stylised inspiration I would look to those publications that already exist, and to analyse why they hold so much importance, why they are successful within the mainstream market: products such as NME a weekly publication and Q a monthly publication, both of which are highly successful. 

NME (National Music Express) is published by IPC- Inspire (IPC-Media’s Male division. It is considered an ‘indie-rock’ music magazine, complete with a relaxed view within its journalism and it’s approach to professionalism, combined it creates a sense of realism, not segregation between the artists and their fans. NME is aimed at a predominantly male audience, aged 16-24 in from an ABC1 background (Forrester 2002). As we can see from the front cover it is simplistic yet effective, adjusting the text and colour of the logo, as it is iconic within itself, to match the image used. This allows it to be both noticeable but also to attract the attention of fans of the artists featured.

Q magazine is published by Bauer Media Group. Although it is hard to find to whom the product is actually targeted to, it is safe to assume that the product is aimed at a more mature audience, they do not specify in a genre as per se, as it’s main interest is within new releases and upcoming artists. The concept that Q is aimed at a more matureaudience is shown by the use of polysyllabic lexis and elaborate code, the style of journalism is highly professional. Q’s iconic front covers follow a stylised tradition of a simple, yet highly effective, image of the featured artist, surrounded by other information. With the renown Q logo in the corner it is easily recognisable from a distance what the publication is, attracting those who follow the magazine and those interested in the artist featured.

Research and Planning: Initial Ideas

I, first of all, outlined my plans and ideas, focussing on the genre the product would contend with, it’s intended audience and finally the name of the publication. I believe having a product entitled ‘Heart Beats’ would be a good option: heart holding links to life and the integrity it holds for existence, beats, whether it is the beats of a heart or of music connote ideas of rhythm and tempo and essentially back to the concept of ‘music is life’. I have also aim to choose a font that will not only be statement but with the shape of the words in capitals hold loose links to a cardiograph. The product itself will focus on independent, and perhaps unsigned, artists who are making a name for themselves within the industry, with aims to boost their well-deserved reputation. This will set it apart from pre-existing products as it’s aims will be self-sufficiency – new artists are always looking for a break to become reknown and so if this platform is provided other new artists would look to my publication for promotion.
Like the majority of music is non-judgemental on gender, sexuality, ethnicity, as would be my publication, however I need to take into account those who are more likely to buy such a product; so I have decided my intended audience would be males and females from 18 – 35. I have made this decision as this younger generation has the most disposable income, the younger end of the spectrum interested in live music and nights out, the elder about local events, where a night out locally.

Introduction

Welcome to my music magazine blog.
This Blog will include my ideas, the follow up research and the eventual work that will compile the music magazine that I will be creating for my coursework this year.