Initial Ideas.

Intial Ideas

After researching into different types of genres and I have decided that my magazine is going to be based on Alternaitve/Indie genre. I have chosen this genre as it appeals to me, and i listen to the genre  frequently and read magazines such as NME, in my free time. I know alot about this genre and the types of bands and artists associated with in it. This means that i am able to create the magazine to my best ability.
 The genre appeals to a niche target audience audience, and is slowly becoming more popular with in the music industry. I have already annotated indie magazines previously and I understand the conventions of a magazine, and i have researched the main publishing companies of indie magazines, the most famous including NME.
After researching various amounts of music magazines, I have discovered that the indie music culture is dominated by male artists, and that females are rarely seen on the front cover of indie/rock music magazines, and there are very few women in the indie scene. I would like to challenge the conventions and use a female model, instead of a male. Women are usually seen as pop icons, however I am going to challenge this by creating a female indie/alternative icon.

Possible Name

Digital
Interzone
Reflektor
Transmission

Genre

1. Indie/Alternative Music
I have chosen this genre as it is popular and current. I feel that i am able to create my magazine to the best of my ability as I already have a few photoshoot ideas, and have an outstanding knowledge of artists and culture from this genre. I also read magazines of this genre frequently, and have already researched many magazines such as NME. I have also studied the conventions, and regulations of similar brands such as NME and Rolling Stone.

House Style

House style is when a magazine uses a consistent layout and structure, including colour schemes and logos. House style is used to give a specific look and layout. I will be using a constitent colour scheme, using colours that are subtle, and convey the genre of my magazine. Most indie magazines use colours such as red, black and grey. Where as other genres such as POP, may use bright neon colours such as pink and green. The masthead is always placed in the same position on all issues, so each issue looks similiar and the audience are able to identify new issues.

Mode of Address

The mode of address my magazine will convey will be colloquial chatty language. I will use sarcastic language, which follows other indie magazines. The chatty language will make the magazine easier to read for the reader, and they will be more enticed to read more of the magazine. The colloquial language used, will create a calm atmoshpere for the reader. After discovering that most indie/alternative music fans are students, aged 17 and above, I have decided that the use of sarcasm will attract this certain type of audience, as they will find the content more comical and informal.

Star Image

For my magazine front cover, i will be using a female model. I will turn my model into an indie/alternative icon by dressing her, in laid back clothing with minimal colours. I will also be including props such as sunglasses and instruments to fufill the indie/alternative image. When creating my artist I must consider that the image of the artist should fit to the theme of the genre of the magazine.

How frequently will my magazine be published ?  

I will be releasing my magazine monthly, to ensure that all content and issues are up to a high and professional standard, this will also ensure that spelling errors are less likely to occur. The content of the magazine will not be rushed, but sophisticated and clean. By releasing my magazine monthly, the editing process of images and visual layout will look neat, and will appeal to the audience. The more sophisticated and professional the magazine appears the more successful my magazine will be,  my magazine will be printed on glossy paper, therefor my magazine price range will range from 3 to 6 pounds due to the high quality paper, and content.

What next...

Before I come to terms with final ideas, I am going to create a questionnaire to find out how my target audience's opinions effect my initial ideas. As I am currently unable to decipher what name or colour scheme I would like to have for my magazine, creating a questionnaire will help me to decide on final outcomes. I may feel that the feedback from the questionnaire may change some of my initial ideas.

Intitial Ideas Brainstorm

MY GENRE

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980s.Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include indie pop, jangle pop, C86, and lo-fi, among others.
The genre influences, not only music, but fashion and style. Indie is popular because it is unique and different, popular indie bands include, the Stone Roses, Vampire Weekend, Kasabian, The Cribs and Arcade Fire. 
Indie music varies and mostly every single band or artist produces something unique and different, where as genres such as Pop and Hip-Hop, tend to sound similar because it is manufactured and handled by big production companies. 

Audience

What is an Audience ?

Audiences can be difined by the Gender, Ethnicity, Age, and Nationality. There are niche audiences
when it comes to music magazine. As music magazines are based on genre this already determines the type of audience that the magazine is appoonted to.

 

Product Analysis

I have chosen to research an NME magazine and run a product analysis. Once i have gathered this information I will then discuss why the statistics are the way they are, and what can affect the defined target audience.

 

Genre	Indie/Alternative Genre
Age	17 – 25 years of age
Publishing company	IPC MEDIA
Gender	27% Females and 73% Males
Price	£2.20
Income/Education Level	52% claimed to be studying music as a career/qualification. 18% claim to be working part time 26% are full time students 36% working full time

The genre that I will be basing my magazine on is Alternative/Indie, I have researched other indie magazine companies such as NME, and studied the statistics of their target audience.
New Musical Express, is magzine that belongs to the company IPC Media. The demopraphic profile of NME target audience would be aged bewteen 17 and 30. NME is a unisex magazine, and can appeal to both genders. However statistics show that only 27% of the audience are female, which leaves 73% of the audience male. The magazine uses languge that would appeal to the age range. Colourful language is used, to convey a relaxed atmosphere through out the magazine, this is mainly aimed at those who are young and are still in education such as college or university.
The magazine is published weekly so that everyweek it gives the readers the most current and exciting coverage of contemporary music culture, priced at £2.20, the magazine is affordable for all classes. Supporting earlier research, the magazine is cheap to appeal to students at university, who are music enthusiasts. It can also be aimed at working class music fanatics, 80% of NME readers agreed that music is a big part of their life, and 52% claimed to be studying music as a career/qualification. From this 18% are working part time, 26% are full time students, 36% are working full time, showing that the audience is well educated and passionate about what they read.
The audience are intouch with current technology, and are likely to posses a smart phone or mobile device, and can regularly download music.
As a result of this research, the core audience of the magazine, are males aged between 17 and 30, who are well educated, and have an interest in contepmorary indie music. NME audience depend highly on this magazine because it has an indepth and knowledge of the music and film industry, reader may look for advertisements, that promote upcoming gigs and festivals.

 

My Audiencence

Having a defined target audience, makes it easier for me to publish and edit my magazine. The target audience impacts the house style and mode of address that my magazine will portray. After researching into the statistics of NME, magazines, a popular indie magazine, I have gathered information that can influence my target audience. Therefore the target audience of my magazine will be fairly similiar to NME.

Star Image

STAR IMAGE.

A stars image becomes recognisable to the public eye, the star image involves the appearance, attitudes and behaviour of an artist which makes them recognisable and interesting to the public. An artist must posses a star inage in order to become popular in the media culture. Stars can use the fact that their image has a meaning by allowing it to be used for advertising purposes. Stars are made to appeal to audiences, which will inreturn benefit record label companies. Howver some artists are labelled as manufactured, and displease there audience.
As I am creating an Alternative/Indie magazine, i will be researching artists, and their star image.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS 

Red Hot Chili Peppers are an alternative band from Los Angeles in 1983. The red hot chili peppers are easliy noticeable by their famous logo. They use a star shape which recurs throughout their work. The logo appears on there album covers and on their merchandise. This is successful when selling the band and making money for the record label as the public will recognise and become familar with the band logo.
 The attitudes and behavior of the band is highly significant part of their star image. The band are conveyed as typical Californians, they are usually topless, and posses a "dont care" attitude. This creates a "cool" image that the band may portray.  Their musical outlook has always reflected the Southern California milieu, appealing to the hard-partying skateboard and slacker subcultures while also reaching those looking for sunnier, more spiritually uplifting grooves. The attitudes of the band act as a factor to how well the band sells, their audience like the cool attitude the band obtains. The change of hair styles also contributes to the hippy vibe of the band.  The Red Hot Chili Peppers have experienced triumph and tragedy in their 30-year history, scaling the heights of popularity while confronting drug addiction and the death of a founding member along the way.

The Creation of Lana Del Rey

Singer, Lana Del Rey is certainley one of the most controversial psycedelic rock stars in the media. Although Lana Del Rey is favoured by her fans, many critics label her as a fraud . However the controversy of Lana Del Rey has turned her into an international star. Elizabeth was born in New York as Elizabeth Grant, she started to write songs after high school. Grant signed to her first recording contract in 2007 with indie label and released her debut-full length album titled Lana Del Ray (note the different spelling) on iTunes with 5 points, but it received little attention or praise.
Due to her lack of success Grant hired a new mananger, and set off to reinvent herself. After eliminating Lizzy Grants persona, Lana Del Rey dyed her hair brown. Her videos were lavishly produced, over-the-top, and completely eccentric. Her voice got deeper, her lips becam poutier and she added as much confidence as eyeliner.  Her star image has led her to releasing 3 albums successfully. Lana Del Rey has been described as, "self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra", her music has been noted as a certain pop culture relating to the 40s 50s and 60s era.