I have also carried out primary and seconday research about my target audience:

 

Secondary Research:

https://infogr.am/Target-audience-research-analysis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rock_genres

http://magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/Q

 

From these sources, I have found out that rock music is targeted at white male students aged 16-24 living in London or the South East of England. It also showed that fans enjoy concerts and using social media, so I will include content that revolves around these aspects in my magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary Research:

I have obtained results from 20 questionnaires which were answered by fans of rock music of both genders.

Also shown below are the results of a few interviews I carried out. Whilst carrying out this research, I found that the majority of my rock-loving peers are female. As a result, I have decided to target my magazine at a female demographic as I can obtain more research this way. Having said that, I will not discard the males' responses, as they are representative of a wider audience.

 

Questionnaire Results:

A lot of people said they don't buy music magazines, and when asked why the majority said it wasn't value for money or too expensive. I personally feel that this is down to the amount of advertising in magazines. Kerrang! for instance has decreased in musical content and instead shows other brands' adverts. As this is clearly a repellent for much of the market's audience, I may highlight having minimal advertising in my magazine, as a puff for example.

 

The responses also highlighted that the audience is passionate about the music (rather than the gossip  surrounding artists like with pop for instance.) One person said they like Megadeth because their "skills are a lot more advanced." Another stated they liked the emotional meaning behind the lyrics.

 

Fourteen people admitted to using Facebook/Twitter/Instagram to 'follow' their facourite band, so I will incorporate social media into my magazine - perhaps using the icons on the contents page and double page spread.

 

The most common favourite colour was black, a typical house colour of rock music magazines. Red ranked third after blue, so I will be use these colours in my magazine. Some were more specific, saying they like "teal" or "dark blue" therefore I will try a variety of shades and ask my audience which appeals most to them.

 

What's more, the responses regarding sub-genre preferences were mixed, so I must feature a range in my work to have maximum appeal. This is also represented in the favourite bands; ranging from Brit Pop artist Ed Sheeran, to the gothic Black Veil Brides.

 

Below is a sample of the completed questionnaires.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with Davon & Emily:

 

I aksed my female peers (whose favourite music genre is rock) the following questions and recieved these answers.

 

Like with the questionnaires, the results show that fans have a passion for the music as opposed to tabloid material surrounding the artists. This implies my target audience is more mature than pop's audience for example, and I will portray this in my work.

 

As for content, I would like to include something personal and insightful; both girls affirmed the idea of an "interview [...] or 'a day in their life'" and agreed they like "finding out about them." Given the response to the first question, I feel an interview behind the song lyrics would be appealing as it revolves around the "deeper meanings" and the personal traits that inspired the songs as well.

 

I also concluded that rock music shouldn't be represented as violent, contary to popular connotations. To avoid this stereotype, I won't use threatening postures in my photos or a lot of graphics that can be associated with violence such as Kerrang!'s shattered logo. Instead, to appeal to my mature audience, I feel a magazine focused on the emotional and truthful aspect of rock music will be more successful.

 

Evaluation & Planning

Overall I will be aiming to create a magazine with an artistic look similar to Kerrang!'s, as this magazine appeals to the same aged audience as I intend to target. It also covers a wide range of sub-genres which my research highlighted as important. Furthermore, I will use the conventional colours surrounding rock music - red, black and white - in order to achieve a professional look whilst appealing to my predominantly female audience. In addition, I know I must emphasise my magazine's content for it to be strong against real music magazines. Featuring "no adverts" in a puff on the front cover will provide a USP for my magazine, and increase attraction to the musical content. Finally, having looked at real rock music magazines, I now understand a freebie is not compulsory as no others include one. However they are still appealing, as shown in the questionnaire responses. Therefore I will include some promotional material, perhaps a coverline with the buzz word, "WIN."