Focus group

The questions I asked my focus group:

When I say indie/alternative rock music what are main bands you thing of?

How often do you buy music magazines?

How often do you think a music magazine should be released?

How much would you pay for a music magazine?

Out of these names which one would you prefer?

When buying a music magazine what do you look for?

My focus group 

Demographics

Demographics are the measurable characteristics of media consumers such as, age, gender, race, education and income level. Having a good understanding of the demographic the magazine is aimed at is vital for any magazine. By understanding the needs of the demographic a magazine can be altered to fulfil these needs, thus making the magazine more appealing to the audience. For instance the magazine Q charges £3.99 for each edition, whereas Kerrang charges £2.20. It is clear just from the cost that Kerrang is aiming its magazine at a lower demographic audience than Q. The design of these magazines also reflects their target audience. 

Here is a cover from one of the editions of Q. The cover is relatively simplistic, it looks clean and professional. This is something that appeals more to an older reader, which is a person who is more likely to fall into the higher demographic categories.

Now here is a cover from an edition of Kerrang. The cover is much busier than Q's. There are more colours, fonts and pictures. This is something that would appeal much more to a younger audience, people who fall into the lower demographic categories. 

After looking at the chart above I have concluded that I want to aim my magazine at the lower demographic groups. The groups E to C2. I am aiming it mainly at the younger people and students that fall into these categories rather than the older people. I want to make the magazine affordable for them as they likely have no, or a very low paid job. As I wish to realise the magazine fortnightly, I think charging a price of about £2.50-£3.00 is reasonable and isn't too much to put off the targeted demographic. For this particular demographic I believe the best free gifts would be things such as posters, music downloads and possibly free CDs. To appeal to the audience I wish to have a cover which is more similar to the style of Kerrang's than Q's. Something that is bright and lively, which would be sure to stand out to that particular audience.

Costume design

Some artists in the genre wear suits or a blazer and jeans. Pictured above are Gerard Way and the band Spector. The look is smart and it is a look which is unique to the indie/alternative rock genre.

(Above: Blazer- Urban outfitters, Trousers- Urban outfitters, Tie- Topman)

Colour scheme ideas

Colour scheme research

  The genre of my magazine tends to attract a mainly male audience, because of this I am looking for a set of stereotypical masculine colours. It is also important to keep the amount of colours down to a set of just 3, this is conventional for a house style as it creates continuity across the magazine and keeps it looking professional.

  When I had a look at the colour schemes of some of the magazines already existing in the genre the colours I found that were most common were red, black and white.

Kerrang

After doing a Google search these were the first results shown for Kerrang. As you can see Kerrang is one of the magazines which uses black, red and white. However Kerrang also tends to break convention of having a set house style, and uses more than three colours in a scheme. Kerrang also tends to use blues and yellows along with the red, white and black. I want to point out that some of the images above are of older editions of Kerrang, and so the masthead and style is slightly different. Kerrang is bit different to other magazines in the genre as they use different colours for their masthead in each release of the magazine.

 Mojo

I also did a Google search for the magazine Mojo. Mojo uses darker colours and their mast head only appears in black of white. They too tend to use blacks, whites and some reds. However as you can see for some editions they may use other colours. Unlike Kerrang they do tend to stick to the conventional 3 colours for a cover. 

                                                                   NME

I again did a Google search for NME and it is clear that they also seem to use reds, whites and blacks on a majority of the covers. Like Kerrang they use some yellows and like both of the magazines above they have some special edition covers in which are different colours from their regular releases. Like Mojo, NME sticks to the three colours, which create a house style. 

Ideas for a name

WIRE 

WIRE would be a good name for my alternative music magazine, as the it is snappy and memorable. It is important that the name is short and snappy as this way the magazine can be advertised more easily. Also as it is shorter it is easier to remember, The consumer is more likely to use the product is they can remember what it is called . The name also has connotations of alternative rock, as it makes the audience think of the wires that are used on the instruments, such as the amp wire for an electric guitar. 

ELECTRIC

The name ELECTRIC would be suited to the magazine as it has connotations of music genre alternative rock, as they use electrical instruments. It is also a short and snappy name, which I explained before is a good thing for a name to be.

AMM

AMM is a name which would be conventional to other magazine in the genre. Magazines such as NME and Q are two other magazines that use just letters or an acronym as their titles. I thought of AMM as it stands for Alternative Music Magazine, The name is memorable and catchy. Although because other magazines in the same genre already use a name like it, it wouldn't stand out. 

OVERDRIVE

OVERDRIVE is another name that has musical connotations. Overdrive is a setting on an electric guitar that many alternative artists use. When overdrive is used the music is much louder, and can make the music more exciting. By having connotations of excitement it entices a possible reader. The name again is a single word which makes it easy to remember. 

LIVE

LIVE has the musical connotations of concerts and other live music. It also gives the idea of being right now, the information in the magazine is new and current. The name is memorable and short which are two things that are important in a magazine title. 

PULSE

The name PULSE is one which has musical connotations as the beat of music can be described as a pulse. People also associate music to the feeling of being alive, so the term pulse also connects to the pulse of a persons heart. The name pulse is easy to remember and it is a catchy title. 

HYPE

HYPE is a name which is suited to a music magazine as at concerts a band makes the crowd 'hyped'. The name may be catchy, and suited to a music magazine, however I don't think it's suited to the genre. The term hype is more connected to pop or possibly RnB, less so the alternative rock genre. 

Name research

WHY ARE THEY CALLED THAT?

Kerrang has been named after the onomatopoetic word that derives from the sound made from playing a power cord on a distorted electric guitar. The reason the word has been chosen is because Kerrang is dedicated to rock music, and the electric guitar is an instrument which is associated with that genre of music. 

Q magazine was originally called Cue. Cue was chosen as it is the act of cueing a record, as in getting it ready to play. However the magazine was changed to be called Q so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. It has also been stated that another reason for the change is because the name Q would be more prominent on newsstands.

NME stands for National Musical Express. The title was chosen as it clearly advertises what the contents of it is. The magazine started off as a newspaper, at this point the entire name of the magazine was printed on the cover. But over time as NME developed into a magazine format the name became known by the acronym NME. The abbreviated format also helps the masthead stand out on newsstands.  

Mojo is a magazine dedicated to classic rock. The founding editor Paul Du Noyer, has stated that the title of the magazine was a homage to delta blues music mythology and as a reminder of the magic at the core of music. Delta blues music was one of the earliest styles of blues music. This genre was a very strong inspiration for the style of classic rock that Mojo originally was dedicated to. 

What do they wear?

In the alternative rock genre the artists have varying styles, however somethings are conventional throughout most bands.

For instance;

Most bands tend to wear darker colours or just blacks and whites.

The 1975

Catfish and the Bottlemen

Fall Out Boy

Most bands also tend to dress causally and there seems to be a theme of leather jackets and black skinny jeans. most artists also have longer hair and possibly tattoos which add to their alternative appearance.

Who's in the charts?

According to The Official Charts Company the top 10 singles in the alternative charts are;