AS G321- Adam Barham: March 2010

Thursday 25 March 2010

Music Magazine Evaluation- Market Research

The Sample who took my questionnaire was as follows
14 year old girl
16 year old boy
23 year old boy
21 year old girl
16 year old girl
19 year old girl
18 year old boy
17 year old boy
15 year old boy
25 year old girl

Question 1 - Would you buy the magazine?

Yes- 80%
No- 20 %

I would consider this as a success as it was given to 10 people in my target audience and 8 out of 10 people said they would buy it.

Question 2- Is the price appropriate?

Too Much- 70%
Too Little- 0%
Spot On- 30%

The price seems a bit high according to my target audience, as they are predominately students and possibly have a low disposable income and could be lowered in order to meet their demands to around 2 pounds and make my magazine more appealing.

Question 3- Is the front cover appealing?

1- Not at all appealing - 0%
2- Not very appealing - 20%
3- Average - 30%
4- Appealing - 50%
5- Extremely appealing -0%

I wrote this question with a scale of one to five of how appealing the front cover is. 30% said it was average, 20% saying it was not very appealing with 50% saying it is appealing. This shows me that I could make my front cover more appealing to my target audience.

Question 4- Is the article interesting?

1- Not at all - 0%
2- Not very interesting - 10%
3- Average - 20%
4- Interesting- 60%
5- Extremely interesting -10%

I used the same style of question on how interesting the article is. This seemed to be more successful than the front cover as 60% said it was interesting and a further 10% said it was extremely interesting. Only 1 out of 10 saying it wasn't very interesting and the final 20% saying it was average. I would take this as a success, and am pleased with the reaction from my double page spread.

Question 5- Do you think it appeals to the target audience?

Yes- 80%
No- 20%

80% of the sample said it does appeal to the target audience of 14-25 year old's and 20% said no. This is a good set of results, but if was wanting to improve, I would be looking to interview the people that said no it doesn't appeal, and ask them what I could do to make it more appealing. Then make the necessary amendments.

Question 6- How does 'Civic' compare to other music magazines you read, or have seen?

Better- 10%
Worse- 20%
On Par- 70%

20% of the sample said my magazine was worse than those already available on the market. 70% thinking its on par, with only 10% thinking it was better than those already on the shelves. I am disappointed with these results. However they are good for evaluative purposes as I can look at it and use them to create a better magazine given another chance.

Question 7- How often would you like 'Civic' published?

Weekly- 20%
Bi-weekly-10%
Monthly-50%
Bi-monthly-10%
Quarterly- 10%

I asked the target audience how often they think the magazine should be published. Civic is released bi-monthly. Only 10% of my sample agreed with me, 10% also said quarterly and every two weeks. 20% wanting it weekly and majority wanting it released monthly. So if i was to re-market my magazine I would publish it once a month.

Question 8- Do you like the contents page?

1- Very Poor - 0%
2- Poor - 20%
3- Average - 40%
4- Good - 20%
5- Very Good - 20%

I used another scale type question to see if my target readers liked my contents page. 20% didn't like it, 40% found it average, 20% liked it and 20% thought it was very good. These are average set of results. But I would be asking the sample for what they would prefer, and see what would make it better.

Conclusion

If I were to re-do my magazine I would make it slightly cheaper, and produce it more often at once a month. And possibly improve my contents page. I would get feedback for every area of my magazine to try and make it the most appealing it could be.

Music Magazine Evaluation

I have chosen to create a music magazine on local music in the Hastings area aimed at ages 14-25 of a mixed sex, mainly males though. It is a local magazine with a friendly and informal yet informative style, so the readers feel like they have a relationship with the magazine and makes them want to buy it every week and keep going back. It is filling a gap in the market, and there is nothing similar to it in the area. There is a magazine called Pulsezine, but that’s aimed at clubbing and nightlife mainly. Civic is predominantly indie, but has other varieties of music in it to add a bit of variety and get in more people and broaden the target audience.

My magazine represents the social group of young people well, as this age bracket gain a lot of bad press in other Medias such as newspapers and television. Young people doing positive things, represents them in a positive manner. The image on the front of Civic gives the magazine a professional look, as it is shot on a stage with professional lighting.

I would publish my magazine independently because I wouldn’t need a large producing company like Bower, because it is only being distributed within the Hastings area. The magazine would also have its own website as I realise that magazine sales have significantly dropped since the increased popularity of the internet and Civic would have a website for readers to check the latest news and also view the magazine online. It would be sold in newsagents, supermarkets and available for subscription. The option of subscription would be good due to the increasingly sedentary lifestyle in the UK.

The magazine would be aimed at young people in Hastings aged 14-25 of a mixed sex, who are interested in music. Although I would expect males to buy the magazine more than females. Hastings has a large population of people who are interested in music, with no kind of magazine to fit the gap in the market. With my magazine I aim to offer these people a media that offers latest news and articles on bands and music in the area. Due to this gap in the market I believe that there is a broad enough target audience to do this and succeed.

Attracting and appealing to readers

Image- looks intriguing and will make the reader want to know why they look moody and looking away from each other and the camera, as it is an unusual shot to use on the front of a magazine. This will entice the readers to read on and find out what has happened
Layout- short sub-heading saying ‘The Dogghouse Split’ this is not too much information, but enough to get the reader hooked. Asking themselves ‘what’s happened?’ making them want to read on
Font- the font of the title saying ‘Civic’ is old looking, all the other writing on the front cover is also old style handwriting. I chose this because Hastings is a town which has a lot of history.
Colour- I chose the colour (purple) because it’s different to any other magazine on the shelves and will stand out against them.
Language- the language is informal and chatty on the front cover, for example ‘get your free gig guide’ saying ‘your’ makes it seem personal and as if the reader has a relationship with the magazine. This makes the reader feel invited, and want to buy the magazine

Before I started this AS level Media course I had never used programmes such as Adobe Photoshop, and was apprehensive about using this programme, and it slowing me down. Yet now I feel confident in using basic skills and enjoyed learning how to use the software. Classmates helped me on parts I was unsure of, but I taught myself and didn’t need to use any of the tutorials.

I believe that I didn’t use my preliminary task to my advantage as well as I could of because I didn’t learn how to use Photoshop at all really. If I had I wouldn’t have gone into the music magazine task as much of a novice as I did and been more confident and possibly been quicker. Furthermore I should have conducted more research into magazine structures in my preliminary task, as the magazine I produced didn’t have the conventions of a magazine.