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.