Double Page Spread

My Double Page Spread includes:
• A clear heading
• Main body of text
• Clearly depicted questions
• A pull quote from the article itself
• Two main images
• A similar/relevant colour scheme

My double page spread was the final build to the magazine and it was definitely the hardest challenge. At first I was overcomplicating it trying to make it too fancy. Things were not fitting together so instead I decided to go for the simple approach. The pages are split up so you can see very clearly where the details are and can really see what is said on the interview. You can also view a close up on the grime artist split apart. A reason for this is that on existing magazines the grime artist covers a lot of the magazine, to be the figure head of the magazine to emphasise the stamp the grime artist is making on the grime scene.

The colour scheme isn't bright and bold like my cover which was intended as the focus should be on the grime artist. The blend between the font, background and colours fits in well with the main image as it almost pushes forward the main image more to the reader to make it eye-catching. Wanted the font to be out shadowed by other aspects of the magazine.

All these elements are very similar to a popular magazine and these all pull together to form a respectable collection of magazine pages using all regular conventions of a media magazine product that both speak and appeal to the target audience and convey the genre of UK grime and rap.

Evaluation: Looking back at my preliminary task, what do i feel ive learnt from it to the final product

7. Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I've learnt from it to the final product?

Overall looking at my preliminary and my finished magazine. I think I have mainly learnt how to give my magazine cover a more genuine and lively feel by using different tools exploiting the "Canva" program to its good uses, and distilling on every , like choosing fonts that sync well together and a colour scheme that suits my genre and speaks to my target audience which is teens  I would also say I have improved on the visuals and my cover photo from my preliminary task, I took a lot more care selecting and editing a photo which would convey the message of my magazine whilst also giving a clear sketch of my genre.

Preliminary and Magazine

Evaluation: What have i learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product

6. What have I learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the time I have taken producing my coursework and ultimately creating my magazine, I have used a variety of technologies, computer software's and programmes, and also props and equipment. They have all aided the production process of my magazine and over time I have required new knowledge and skill I previously was unaware of.

I dominantly used blogger to post the entirety of my coursework. I have used blogger very briefly before but I did not realise how useful it was back then. It is very easy and quick to understand although at first I found transferring work from other places slightly difficult at first but as time went along and the more I used it blogger became almost second nature. The site is extremely effective. It look simple but in actual fact it is very efficient and advanced for what it is.


Canva was another programme I used during my coursework, I first used it for my preliminary task and later used it to piece together my final product. This was a whole new experience and at first I wasn't too keen on the site but gradually improving saw me use the site for my magazine. Canva took a little bit longer to adjust to than Blogger but I got there in the end. I don't think I have fully encountered and used Canva to its maximum potential, maybe down the line I will see what the website can really do. For now it has done the job for me.

Evaluation: What kind of media instituion might distribute my media product and why

5. What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

media institution is an established, often-profit based organization, that deal in the creation and distribution of advertising, entertainment and information services. Bauer and Time Inc. Both are arguably the biggest publishers in the industry, to pick one is a tough one to call. As a result I have analysed both industries. Bauer are know to be publishing to mass audiences and have produced magazines such as Kerrang whereas Time Inc. produce magazines that are of a lesser scale but still accountable for producing the NME since grime is more on the lesser scale market it would be sensible to choose Time Inc. My genre is noted as an underdog in the music industry even though grimes popularity is growing at a quick rate and soon to become a worldwide stage. Although Bauer have a range of magazines and my magazine would add to that range they very rarely deal with smaller sized magazines. On the other hand Time Inc. give a platform for lesser known magazines to thrive upon. The closest example to my magazine would be Vibe the hip hop magazine.
I think my product will satisfy though who are fed up of mainstream and trendy magazines and offer a fresh outlook and style we so desperately need.

To conclude I would pick Time Inc. as they have a lot of experience in handling magazines like mine and would help me become a sought after magazine. To become a very famous magazine publisher.

Penumbra Effect

Penumbra Effect
The penumbra effect is basically an individual or group of individuals buy your product even though they do not fit your target audience. As the grime genre is an ever expanding and growing genre in this modern day, with more and more listeners daily I have prepared for this effect as to reduce cause of discrimination against any social groups or demographics. My magazine is targeted at a smaller audience then many other products as to give it a more personal and less saturated feel, so for the penumbra effect to take place is unlikely however it could happen, as history of rap has taught us, anyone can get into the music and it speaks to everyone.

Evaluation: How do i attract/attract my audience

4. How do I attract/attract my audience?

The way I will attract my audience is through exhilarating stories and the latest news on their favourite MC's. The magazine is a way of escaping reality and immersing with their favourite artists. Almost a chance to speak and listen to the artists. to keep up with their lives and what the future holds for the artists as in live shows, albums releasing or even gang life which is very common to be part of artist's life especially upcoming ones as they feel its the only way to make a living but music also is an escape from harsh reality and allows them to speak what they desire. My audience will be able to realise that there are more MC's that tell stories through their music, tell you an important message in life, the politics in the world or purely down to the fact of pleasure. This will all attract the audience as it would be authentic and they can live every moment with their heroes. The interview draws the readers in as they want to know what she/he said.

Evaluation: Whos the audience for my media product

3. Who's the audience for my media product?

One determing factor for why I chose grime was that I already was a big fan of the music and culture. Along with that my friends enjoy the genre, hence why I decided to go with my target audience of teenagers as it is a wide market. I studied the demographic of grime and the terminology at hand. I gathered that it mostly appealed to ages within the region of 16-25 it is not gender specific as it is with a lot of music genres. It seems to be a generally small age bracket however grime can appeal to anyone out of the age bracket to all ethnicities, religions and both genders. Another factor as to why I chose grime as in theory anybody is welcome. 

Evaluation: How does your media product represent particular social groups

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My target audience would be referred to as being in the social group of "roadmen". These are individuals see themselves as outcasts and extraverts; they consist of lower-class young people who use grime and social media to express their opinion which otherwise would go unheard in society. My audience is a sub-group so things that may seem irrational to others who are not outcasts will be seen as fine. My target audience likes the way the genre allows freedom in the music; what you say, the unique flows and natural garage music stems through to the audience and makes them feel part of a community as if the MC's and audience are making music together. My artist on the front cover is wearing a regular coat, normal clothes. This says to the reader/audience that they are just normal people like everyone else and shares the belief that anyone can do any type of grime from freestyle to recording studios for example fire in the booth. Many poses and gang signs are used to intensify where they come from and what it means to belong to a group.

Evaluation- In what ways does my media product use, develop,or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

1. In what ways does my media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

 For my magazine design I went with using a variety of texts in a contrast of different colours to compliment the main image. This I feel. emphasises the power of the magazine to catch a readers attention. All the fonts, colours and designs fits in well with the genre of the magazine which in turn blends in well and makes an efficient and adept magazine.

My magazine included a sense of a 3D effect as in my research many existing and well known magazines involved some sort of 3D idea in their own unique ways.

The clothes the model is wearing hints that grime originated from the streets and signals what the majority of grime artists these days would wear, therefore adds a sentimental value to the magazine.

Finished magazine

Conventions of my magazine

Attracting my audience

My audience will be teenagers. The way I will attract them to my magazine will be in many forms.

Firstly I will make sure the content is up to date with clashes and keeping up with the most well known grime artists and grime artists that have burst onto the scene such as Santan Dave and AJ Tracey. There will be links and news on new music that has been released and inform the audience on concerts in advance. The magazine will include Grime phone cases ( IPhone and Samsung) and also include Grime stickers and covers for game consoles.  

Research methods

Characteristic	Quantitative research	Qualitative research
Type of data	Phenomena are described numerically	Phenomena are described in a narrative fashion
Analysis	Descriptive and inferential statistics	Identification of major schemes
Scope of inquiry	Specific questions or hypothesis	Broad, thematic concerns
Primary advantage	Large sample, statistical validity, accurately reflects the population	Rich, in-depth, narrative description of sample
Primary disadvantage	Superficial understanding of participants’ thoughts and feelings	Small sample, not generalizable to the population at large

 

Ideology of music magazines

What is an ideology?An ideology is a world view, a system of values, attitudes and beliefs which an individual, group or society holds to be true or important; these are shared by a culture or society about how that society should function.

Dominant ideologiesIdeologies that are told to us repeatedly by important social institutions such as the church, the law, education, government, and the media are called dominant ideologies.

Dominant ideologies are ideologies or beliefs that we live by in our day-to-day lives and often do not question – they have become 'natural, common sense' things to do. This effectively dissuades people from rebelling against these beliefs, and keeps a sense of stability in society.
Dominant ideologies include beliefs about gender roles, about the economy, about social institutions.

Consumerism has been a dominant ideology in the western world since the industrial revolution. Consumerism is a world view that a person has more worth if she or he has more material possessions and that we are made happier by consuming more goods.

How ideology relates to media studiesMedia texts always reflect certain values or ideologies though sometimes we may not be aware of this. An example might be that in some texts, such as action films like the Die Hard or the Lethal Weapon series, solving problems with force is seen as an acceptable value and reflects a certain ideology.
The media is a successful carrier of ideology because it reaches such a huge audience. The study of the media allows us to consider and question dominant ideologies and look for the implications of different ideology and value systems.

Some studies of the media concentrate on viewing texts from particular ideological perspectives, for example a feminist perspective.

Magazine Institutions

IPC Media Music magazines are dedicated to music and music cultures featuring many different famous musicians, but also new musicians that specialize in certain types of music. In the majority the music magazines focus on one genre although as well they do focus on the closest other music to this genre which they also include features, up and coming and profiles on artists. For example if they choose Rihanna she could be represented in a pop or an R&B magazine so she would span across two different genres. Also each of the different genres of music attracts certain types of audiences. The magazines need to relate to the target audience and this also relates to the whole content and style of the magazine as well. It might as well have an age difference for their audience from Teenagers through to mid-twenties and also by gender so this is often a very difficult for magazines to appeal to their entire readership with exactly what they want to appear and feature within the publications. More and more the music magazines are featured heavily on-line and through different digital and social media channels as well, as their target audience are now choosing multi-media channels to access information.

There are 4 main institutions: BBC, EMAP, IPC MEDIA, BAUER


IPC Media is one of the leading of both consumer magazine and digital publishers in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1963 as International Publishing Company and currently produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults –their websites collectively reach over 14 million users every month. IPC is owned by Time Inc., the publishing company of Time Warner Inc.
The company has many sub-brands within their portfolio such as: IPC Media Connect, Market Force, Southbank, Ignite, and TX.
The iconic music magazine brand that IPC Media is well known for is New Musical Express (NME) which was first published in March 1952 and will be celebrating 50 years in the music industry in 2012. It was the very first British paper to include a singles chart. Their genre is advertised as rock which would therefore attract a wide audience of both mixed age, gender and target groups such as rockers, punks, and new age groups. The types of musicians they include are Kings of Leon, The Killers, Arcade Fire and Artic Monkeys. NME has become a truly unique multi-platform media proposition. Across the magazine, nme.com, NMETV, NME Radio and the brand's live events and awards, NME reaches over one million music fans every week. NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music, including award winning features, the latest releases, live reviews, the definitive guide to the best new bands in its Radar section, as well as a regular look back through the magazine's incredible 58 year heritage.





BBC

BBC magazine is the magazine publishing arm of the BBC worldwide. BBC provides a varied and wide range of magazines that target many different audiences. They focus their magazines on music, gardening, children’s popular TV programmes, cooking, cars and astrology.
The music magazines that the BBC has published include:
Its Hot - Top of The Pops - Classical Music Magazine
The BBC publishes many different genres of magazines as well as major websites through their digital channels as well. There are only a few magazines that are of the same genre. Top of the Pops attracts age ranges from 11 up to 15 years due to the content, music articles such as ‘Glee’ and ‘X Factor’. TOTP – affectionately known was launched in February 1995 and is released in magazine style monthly, but now has a new website which is updated every day with new ‘Today’s News’ section and new features. The magazine concentrates on chart music and features and focuses more on the commercial groups. It was closely linked to the TV show ‘Top of The Pops’ which was all about the music that was currently in the charts and everyone who is into the chart music and that culture. The magazine and the website also feature interactive articles and competitions to win musical related prizes, posters and pop memorabilia of star personas.

Emap specializes predominately in the ‘b2b’ (business to business) publishing space. It has specific publications for each genre and in general these are quite different and contain specific content relating to an industry such as nursing, retail and media. This attracts a very wide audience which is attracted through magazines and on-line versions including rss feeds on breaking news within the industry publications.
Emap was established and founded in 1947 and has its Headquarters near Camden in London. The name Emap originates from East Midland Allied Press.

Smash Hits is Emap’s music magazine. It is primarily focused on pop music, and aimed at children and younger teenagers as its content is a mixture of very young pop musical groups, personas as well as content which isn’t of a mature nature. It was published in the United Kingdom by Emap and ran from 1978 to 2006 and was bi-weekly. It featured pop music artists, gossip and fashion that attracted young girls who liked listening to current music. Smash Hits and Top of the Pops were rival magazines trying to compete for higher market share at the same defined audience.

Bauer

Through Bauer Publishing Group own Bauer Media its publishing company;it is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing group. The Bauer Publishing Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 230 magazines in 15 countries. They also feature heavily online, TV and a wide range of radio stations.

Bauer Media is a multi-media platform UK based media group. The group consists of many sub-brands and companies mainly around two groups – Magazines and Radio – this is widely recognised and being innovative and industry leaders, which is reflected in many awards and accolades they have won within the industry.

On average over 12.4 million people listen to a Bauer media radio station. It owns the number one and four top commercial radio stations in London. Kiss is one of their prestigious radio stations which attracts and is targeted at the young dance audience.

The music magazines that they publish are Kerrang – this name is a word of onomatopoeia as it is represented to sound like a power chord on an electric guitar. The other publication they also publish is Mojo Magazine, which is also a multi-channel publication.

The research that I have carried out has helped me understand the different magazine constutuions and also understand how magazine institutions function.

Magazine article

My target audience

My target audience is specifically aimed at older teenagers around 16 to 20 because I have noticed that a large amount of this age bracket are very much involved with the world of grime and keep up to date regularly. I am a teenager myself who is very indulged in this brand of music and enjoys the style of music. Most of my friends are also a big fan of the genre as it is different and excites them, can sometimes lift the mood of a person. The genre grime can appeal to anyone from 12 to about 30 but I decided to go for the age bracket  that I chose as they seem to be the most consistent audience.

Are music magazines dying?

Are music magazines dying?

Music Magazines were very popular in the 90s but as we approached the 21st century TV and the internet became more prominent. People started to gain much more easier access to obtain music information rather than going to a shop to pay for a magazine.

In my opinion music magazines are dying as all the coverage and light is all over TV, Internet and on our smart phones which in turn allows much easier access to your musical needs.

History of music magazines

            History Of Music Magazines

Music magazines were very prolific in the UK. The NME ( New musical express) had the leading sales since its first issue in 1952. The NME had a long term rival called the Melody Maker an even older publication that was founded in 1926. However by 2001 the rise of internet music websites had caused Melody maker to cease publishing. Current Music magazines include Kerrang and Mojo.


Alternative Press: Magazine includes information on music, videos, books, movies, fanzine reviews, upcoming release listings and music charts.

Rock Rap Confidential: Monthly music and politics newsletter. Hip-hop and heavy metal ties in with racism and revolution.

Rolling Stone: Popular Magazine contains music and entertainment, videos, photos, Music reviews and online exclusives.