Kiona Fuller's AS Media Blog: 2014

Sunday, 2 March 2014

The audience for my magazine would be someone that enjoys alternative music. As demonstrated in my magazine the colour choices reflect the music scene itself. The images that I have used in my magazine reflect those who chose to participate in this sub-culture.

Stereotypically a member of the subculture would be distinctive, for example they would wear thick eye liner and their hair styles such as black or darker hair styles they would also be more than likely to have a fringe which would associate them to this particular scene. There are many demographics involved with associating the target audience with the magazine contents. For example the genre that I have picked for my magazine is more associated with a male audience. However with my media magazine I have tried to incorporate aspects into my magazine that would encourage more females to read the magazine. Also I have aimed my magazine at students aged 18-25 years old. I have chosen this age group as I feel that this is the age group that would be most interested in my media product. The class of my target audience maybe working or middle class as the price of my magazine will reflect, also this reflects the results of my survey about how much the public are willing to pay for a music magazine. I have also considered the psychographics of my target audience, for example my target audience is very into their music therefore an appropriate advert for my magazine would be one for ‘HMV’ as this is something that they are interested in. many of my target audience members like to go to gigs and festivals so when advertising in my magazine I would incorporate adverts for different gigs and festivals and maybe include gig/ festival guides. Many of the members of my target audience will be musicians themselves and are interested in this particular music scene. Others that may read my magazine may be into body art such as tattoos and piercings. Members of the target audience will be interested in makeup and hair products this is so that they can be associated with this particular scene, this is included in my target audience mood board. This will appeal to my target audience as the sub-culture that I am selling my product to will be interested in this.

question one

feature article, a photo by kionafuller on Flickr.

question one

new contents, a photo by kionafuller on Flickr.

question one

front cover, a photo by kionafuller on Flickr.

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

The types of media institutions that may publish my product could be publishers such as. Firstly this publisher doesn't have a product that is the same as mine. Therefore this will expand their audience and bring in more profit. I feel that my magazine would be best suited in a medium publishers company. This is because I think that the type of magazine that I have produced would expand the publishers name to a different target audience, also the big producers such as IPC media and Bauer already have magazines like mine already on the market (such as ‘Kerrang! and metal hammer’) therefore taking away from the unique selling point of my magazine. I have noticed with the publishers that I have done background research on that they may only have one, maybe two, types of the same magazine. This means that the companies are looking to expand their business as much as they can without restricting the target audience. If my magazine was to be published through a big publishing company it would have to be published by a company that has a similar product but would feel that my product would reach more members of a particular target audience. The magazine that I have produced could be brought through subscription. In my survey people said that they would like my magazine to be published every two weeks, meaning that if the magazine would be sold by subscription as well as in the shops the time span of the subscription would have to be at least half a year plus, otherwise the costumer would not opt for the subscription as it would not appeal as a fair offer. The advantage of going with a medium sized publisher is that they are unlikely to have a magazine of a similar type and they are also likely to publish the magazine without it being too much of a risk to the company. However there are disadvantages to publishing with a medium publisher, this includes the publisher not being well known and well established meaning that this may not be a secure publisher to publish with also the magazine may not be able to compete with the top magazines in the same genre meaning that the magazine will fail.

If my magazine was to be distributed it would be sold at places such as WH Smiths and major supermarkets. By distributing in these places I think that more of the target audience would be reached. The reason I think that the magazine would be distributed in WH Smiths is due to the price. From knowledge of the shop I know that there are magazines sold in the shop that are in the same price bracket that I would sell my magazine for, therefore I think that this would fit into the magazines sold at this location. I think that distributing my product through major super markets will make the magazine more widely available to my target audience and may attract more people to buy the magazine itself. As well as being sold in person, my music magazine would have an online copy. This is to bring in more readers and to expand the potential of the magazine. Along with having an online version of the magazine there would be extra tie-ins such as I-tunes and energy drinks such as monster and relentless.

I think that my magazine has some potential in this industry as I think that it is a good product to sell, however I think that a magazine like mine have similar qualities to Kerrang! Making it less likely to succeed. If it were to be published I think that aspects of my magazine would have to be changed in order to improve the unique selling point and to attract a target audience that may be looking for something different. Magazines such as Fantastic Novels (‘pulp magazine published from 1940 to 1941, and again from 1948 to 1951’) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantastic_Novels) haven’t lasted more than three years at a time. Even after its second release the magazine didn’t last.