Audience Research (Wide).

Create your own user feedback survey

This is the survey I had made for my Audience Research on SurveyMonkey which I distributed through SnapChat and WhatsApp (two different social medias in order to gain attention). These are the results I had obtained and in total, 12 people had taken my survey. Through Snapchat and WhatsApp, I ensured by the types of social media used, I was asking those in my target audience.

Analysis: 

Q1) I had asked this question in order to see where my target audience's interests lie with magazines and their use for them. It is clear in the answers to see that many don't prefer to buy magazines as it is either unnecessary or expensive. As I am targeting teenagers within my genre, as the majority are aged in their teens, expensive magazines such as Wonderland are off-putting as articles on the internet are free. This will help me create and decide the price and type of my magazine to attract my target audience. 

Analysis: 

Q2) By asking this question, I gathered knowledge on what may urge a consumer to pick up a magazine and draw them in. Different answers such as 'quality' or 'what it includes' helps me understand how I may present my magazine in order to successfully suit the consumers I will be targeting. This question helps me in my research in beginning to see an idea of how I may want my magazine to turn out.

Analysis: 

Q3) I found the answers to this question helpful towards my research into creating my music magazine. This is because the answers allowed me to understand what is more likely to draw in consumers to attract and favour my magazine among others. It is shown by the majority that the picture of an artist is what draws in most readers. I now understand that when taking my shots, I must focus on the angle, props etc in order to successfully interest my audience.

Analysis: 

Q4) Similarly, this question also allowed me to understand where the interests of my audience lie. By asking this question, I am again able to see what sticks out the most to consumers on a magazine which can deter them or look bad overall. The answer of colour schemes makes me understand that when creating the idea of my magazine and it's flat-plan, I must carefully pick out colours that can suit my target audience as well as look professional.

Analysis: 

Q5) Lastly, I had asked this question in order to see what my target audience may link my genre too. This will allow me to see what is popular within my target audience and when looking at a magazine can make them instantly guess that it is an Indie-Pop magazine. Answers such as an 'aesthetic theme' or 'neutral colours' help me understand how my magazine should look like in order to suit not only my target audience but also the genre I am basing the magazine off.

Market Research.

Internet Research:

Store Research:

Magazine Stand at WHSmith

(22/12/2015)

Magazine Stand at Boots

(27/12/2015)

Analysis: I was recently told by a friend who works at WHSmith that music magazines that are more popular in stores will be shown and seen at the front, this makes it easier to grab the consumer's attention. As you can see from the picture above, magazines such as I-D, Vogue and Dazed are most popular. Magazines often feature anyone in public interest such as Adele, mainstream artists.

When looking for the music magazine stand, I found this surprisingly difficult. Magazines such as food, fashion and comics were bluntly placed around the store for consumers however the music magazines were discreetly placed at a bottom shelf with a quick arrangement and empty back shelf. This may imply that these types of magazines aren't as popular as others due to many possible reasons such as price, layout, colours etc. 

Indie-Pop Artists (Detailed).

This is a slideshow in depth about Lana Del Rey in order for me to understand a current indie artist in detail while also looking her music style and fashion style to begin to create an image of the artist I will create.

Indie-Pop Artists (Overview).

This is a Prezi showing an overview of different Indie-Pop artists/bands that were and are in the genre today. This provides me an insight and understanding at the differences and similarities within the genre as well as understanding their style and branding with how they look in pictures, videos etc. 

Indie-Pop Music Videos.

Lana Del Rey - Diet Mountain Dew.

Lana Del Rey has been present in the music scene from 2005 with independent works such as Siren and Lana Del Rey (2010). Her music varies from different types of pop including indie-pop, trip-pop as well as R&B and other styles.

Diet Mountain Dew is included in her album, Born to Die (2012). This song can be included within aspects of light melodies and a catchy rhythm though with an echoing distant yet sad tone from Lana Del Rey's voice. The melody matches well with my target genre, Indie-Pop and she is a popular artist in the genre. With no matching music video, fans are left to question the facial expressions/feelings of Lana Del Rey which makes the song that much more enticing. Many of Lana Del Rey's music videos, however, do show aesthetically pleasing visuals as well as being elegant and clean. These types of styles are common in indie-pop music videos.

The Smiths - This Charming Man.

During the 1980s, the Smiths were seen as one of the most influential bands to emerge into the scene. They were seen as making music fitted in an alternative rock and indie-pop. Their music style exploded into the 'punk' scene with contrasting difference, gaining popularity for the genre and attracting a large fan-base.

This Charming Man (1983) holds a catchy rhythm and melodic. The delicate vocals is used to deter from the typical rough and 'macho' voice of men in punk used commonly during the time it was made. Though moderately successful, the song has gained high praise overtime and suites the scene of indie-pop well with it's aesthetic visuals and catchy yet somewhat soft melodies. With this song, unlike the other, there is an official music video which is seen as hazy, simplistic with many images that are aesthetically pleasing such as a floor covered in flowers. 

Fun - We Are Young.

Fun, an American indie band is best known for this song which earned them a Grammy. They have been known to experiment with different types of indie-styles such as indie-rock as well as venturing in alternative rock.

We Are Young, featuring Janelle Monáe, in the album Some Nights (2012) includes soft melodies much like the two above with light yet catchy vocals. Indie-Pop music tends to have repetitive yet addictive rhythms which interest fans. The music video, though, conforms to the Indie-Pop image as the band of men look somewhat vulnerable and 'twee' with their suits. The actions in the video (of people going crazy) paint an image of freedom and youth, heavily connected to the Indie-Pop scene. 

History of Indie-Pop & Indie-Pop Today.

This is a Glogster showing the history of Indie-Pop. Here, I have talked about the roots and origins of the genre along with it's influences and popularity as it grew. 





This is a PowToon presentation about Indie-Pop today. This vaguely mentions artists now linked to the sub-genre however, I mostly talk about the changes and images of Indie-Pop today along with how it is different from the style when first established. 

Research Rationale.

After looking over different genres of music, I have decided to conduct my research and planning on Indie-Pop which is a sub-genre. I chose this as it is the type of music I listen to regularly. The majority of consumers around sixteen to early twenties tend to listen to this sub-genre and as I am sixteen, I find that it would be easier to collect information regarding audience research as well as being able to understand what they think about music magazines. Additionally, as I go to a Sixth Form, it will be easier to ask my peers questions on different reasons to make a strong magazine. I can also use students of younger years to collect information to receive broad opinions and feelings about music magazines. This will enable me to understand what my audience feel about music magazines in the market, their interests towards them and what they feel is misrepresented as of right now in the media. For example, I can understand what may attract them and ideas on how my magazine should look to fit my target audience. By doing this with a wide range, my research will be non-biased and comprehensive. 

The type of research I am carrying out is qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research will enable me to receive in-depth answers rather than short, simple answers. This form of research benefits me when planning my magazine's appearance and being able to understand what may look good or bad. This is effective because I can recognize my target audience's preferences and reasons for them. However, quantitative research is set to gather statistics and facts of my target audience in order to meet my end result and this will allow me to create an overall image to be able to interest them.

Different ways I could carry out qualitative research will give me a wider range of views. I can use interviews with a focused group or a one-on-one interview and create questions and surveys to direct at my target audience. Along with this, for quantitative research, I will be looking to do charts and frequency diagrams to see trends going on. By doing qualitative and quantitative research, I will begin to create a general picture of the interests of teenagers and their views of music magazines.

Additionally, I will be furthering my research to wider my understanding and ensure I know both about the market as of right now and audiences. I intend to do this by going into shops to purchase indie-pop magazines or taking pictures of them. I will also use Web 2.0 to my advantage by going through brand’s sites or browsing through images to see similar or different conventions used. I am also working towards finding out popular indie-pop artists and carrying out small fact-files on music magazines that are popular right now. This will be my market research though I do plan on furthering both my market and audience research to develop a better sense of what is trending and what my target audience lean towards more.

In conclusion, I am confident with starting my research and look forward to creating a stronger idea of different music magazines along with indie-pop. 

Typography.

 

This is a slideshow on the different fonts I have experimented with, looking at both Microsoft fonts and magazine mastheads, to determine which would suit my genre well. I have thus chosen which are my favourites and why along with what would have not matched well with my chosen genre.  

Magazine Deconstruction.

 

Music Magazine - Brief Outlining.

https://youtu.be/0qBkTFHuGtE

This is a short video of me talking about the brief given in AS Media's Music Industry. This is about the brief outlining along with my own response to receiving it and my initial ideas to the task that has been set.