Name for Music Magazine.

For my music magazine I wanted to come up with a title that is attractive and eye catchy. As my magazine is a mainstream magazine I couldn't come up with a name that is specific to a genre of music so I had to make up a title that is attractive to a wide range of music fans. The title names that I had in mind are;

• Style 
• Mainstream 
• Music 
• Beats 
• Rhythm 
• Bass
• Tunes 

I recorded my results and I let my colleagues decide on which name they prefer. 

here are my results.

As you can see, many people voted on which name they preferred the most. Mainstream received the most votes while Tunes received the least.

This didn't change my decision as Mainstream was my favourite from the beginning. 

I have decided to call my magazine 'Mainstream'  

Uses and gratifications theory

Today we learned about the Uses and gratifications theory. What is the Uses and gratifications theory?. The Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication.  In this lesson we had to answer 5 questions. To help me answer them i used wikipedia as it is a very useful free encyclopedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications_theory). The questions we had to answer are;

• What information is provided about the music artist/band itself?

The information provided about the music/band will be events, upcoming tours, new albums, life stories about the band members, etc.

• What sense of personal identity has the reader with the magazine and music forms that it promotes?

The personal identity my magazine will promote with the reader will create a sense of self belonging to there preferred genre of music.

Interview Magazine: Lady Gaga

Interview with Lady Gaga.

INTERVIEW: Your album The Fame came out last year, but, inarguably, 2009 has been the year of Gaga. How are you feeling?

LADY GAGA: It's been a life-changing year for me creatively as a musician and a performance artist. I walk away from the Fame Ball humbled by my little monsters-my fans-and proud of the Haus for all its successes amidst the adversity of the industry. We killed it.

INTERVIEW: You got two tattoos in Japan. What's the one on your inner arm that you got in Osaka?

LADY GAGA: That one commemorates my favorite writer, Rainer Maria Rilke, a poet and romantic philosopher. In German he writes, "Confess to yourself in the deepest hour of the night whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. Dig deep into your heart, where the answer spreads its roots in your being, and ask yourself solemnly, Must I write?"

INTERVIEW: What about the second love tattoo on your shoulder, the one you got in Tokyo?

LADY GAGA: That was to celebrate the Haus's collaboration with legendary Japanese photographer Araki. I was bound by Araki's personal bondage artist, by several ropes and Japanese knots, and through a visceral bondage and sexual-torture experience, Araki photographed me, using a series of several cameras. He did not photograph my image; he photographed my soul. We spent the night with Araki and his friends at a members' only bar he's owned for more than 20 years, where he displays his work. Here, he painted me and took Polaroids through the night. I was honored to be the first American woman he's photographed, and only the second pop artist, in the company of Björk. He signed the Polaroids "Tokyo Love," and the Haus got tattoos of his marking in celebration.

INTERVIEW: Lady Gaga fans are some of the most obsessive out there right now. How do you relate to them?

LADY GAGA: I love my little monsters. Now I live and create only for them.

This interview is with Lady Gaga about her album 'Fame'. 

The first subject interviewer talks about is Lady Gaga's feelings to her rise to fame.  He/She compliments her power, 'The year of GAGA', this symbolises her talent by implying that she has stolen the year and have had a massive impact on the public eye  and her music production. The use of language here is simple but powerful, words like inarguably suggests that there is no doubt that she was the star of the year, recognisable around the world. 

Gaga replied positively straight away that it had been a life changing year for her and her career. 

Then the interviewer goes on to question Lady Gaga about her tattoos, she asked her what the tattoo represents. 

Gaga replied that it represents her favourite writer, Rainer Maria Rilkem. She quotes one of her lines written in German', this could have been key to her inspiration and success. 

target audience

My target audience for my general music magazine would be for both male and female from the age of 14 -20. As I have chosen to do a general music magazine so I won’t stick to a specific genre of music. This is good as it would appeal to a wide verity of music fans and go on to be more successful than other magazines that limit them self’s to one genre of music. The music genres I will include in my magazine are; Pop rock, crossover jazz, indie rock and Hip hop. I chose these genres as they interest my taste in music. Also, I will base my own fictional singer - song writers on famous singer - song writers such as, Jason Mraz, James Blunt, Jamie Cullum, Jay Z.
I think this would draw the attention of many young music fans of those genres.  

My Ideal Reader

This is Oliver Macknight

 He is 23, and lives in North London, he was born in Brisbane, Australia and is currently studying Sports Science in Loughborough University. He is quite fashionable in the way he dresses.

He shops in high street fashion shop such as, H&M, Top Shop, Hollister, River island, ect. He enjoys films like the American Pie series, Eurotrip, The Hangover, Tropic Thunder, The Dark Knight. Also, he watches programs like Friends, Scrubs, Family Guy and American Dad. His hobbies consist of Rugby and football. He listens to Pop jazz, Indie Rock, Pop rock, Alternative Rock, Blue eyed soal. The radio stations he listens to are XFM, Kiss 100 and Radio 1.

Uses and gratifications theory

Today we learned about the Uses and gratifications theory. What is the Uses and gratifications theory?. The Uses and Gratifications Theory is a popular approach to understanding mass communication.  In this lesson we had to answer 5 questions. To help me answer them i used wikipedia as it is a very useful free encyclopedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_and_gratifications_theory). The questions we had to answer are;

1)What information is provided about the school/college?
2)What sense of personal identity has the reader with the magazine and sort of school it provides?
3)How does your school magazine promote a sense of belonging as part of a community of readers?
5)What form of entertainment does the magazine provide for the reader?
6)What from does entertainment take and how does it create from the reader?

To begin my main task I researched exciting popular music magazines and identified the use of colour, the masthead, the fonts used, the style, The target audience.

 Kerrang Magazine:

The target audience for this magazine would be mid teens.I think both male and females who have an interest in rock/new prog would have interest in this magazine. This particular magazine is advertising a rock band named after the lead singer, Biffy Clyro, Who, by the name on the cover, is what this magazine is mainly about . As shown on the magazine, he is the main picture as he is the most popular member of the band. There are two dominant colours presented, white and black. Although they are quite dull colours, the magazine itself is moderately bright. The fonts used are nothing special but are big, simple and clear. The use of language is quite serious. eg.' UNFOLD THE PUZZLE OF LIFE,' this is in no way humorous but gets the reader interested. Also this magazine offers the reader a free poster and doesn't hesitate to advertise that clearly. this magazine is mainly pictures and lacks in text, however it gets it point across to the reader of what it consists of. At the bottom left hand side it noticeably says 'PLUS!', this is eye catchy and  attracts the reader toward that area which leads them to find out what other bands are included in the magazine.



Vibe magazine:
The target audience for this magazine would be again, mid teen both male and female who are interested in hip hop. the dominant colours shown are blue, grey and pink. these make the magazine vibrant and without tedium. however, There is only 1 font used but in a vary of sizes and colours. The only picture shown is kanye west's face. this is interesting because by looks of it, the photographer has made him look scruffy and tired. I recognised this as he looks like he hasn't shaved or hasn't neatened his facial hair for a while and his hair looks rough . Also, his facial expression looks depressive and fed up. the caption to the left of it describes why he looks like this , 'The truth hurts KANYE WEST'. The fonts used are neither serious or humorous but informal. this magazine is mainly text as there is only 1 picture. 

whsmith

For our homework assignment, we were asked to visit a shop that sells magazines and analyse how they present them to the buyers,E.g where they placed, which shelf, where in the shop are they ect .ect
The shop I visited was WHSmiths, This provided me with a very wide range of all different kinds of magazines.
what I first noticed was where in the magazine section they were placed. Firstly there were magazines for little children such as 'Pokemon' and 'Disney Adventures'. Most of there magazines had a free toy inside to attract the children.

 After the children's magazines there were game magazines such as 'Gamer', PSM3, X-Box 360, 'PC Gamer', Some of these magazines included a free CD for a free demo of a new upcoming game or a trailer for a new game.This genre of magazine is aimed at a gamer audience, probably mostly teenage boys.

After the gamer section was what I assumed to be leisure/hobbies. I noticed that there were allot of boating magazines such as 'Classic Boat' and 'Motor Boat'. I couldn't figure out why they displayed why they decided to display such a vast amount of boating magazines but I assume maybe because its almost the Christmas holidays and many people like to go away for the time. Also, in this section was fishing magazines. This is clever as it was mixed in with the boating magazines. If you enjoy sailing, you are likely to take pleasure in fishing. This is a good way to sell many magazines at once.

Following the leisure/hobbies were magazines for an male adult audience. These included 'Nuts', 'FHM' and 'Zoo'. I was confused as to why it was placed in between leisure/hobbies and Music magazines.

 Past the leisure/hobbies magazines was a huge amount of music magazines. these included magazines such as 'Vibe', 'Classic FM music', 'Classic Rock', 'Clash', 'Kerrang'. The popular magazines such as 'Vibe' and 'Clash were displayed at the front, as they are most likely to be sold the most.

In my opinion, I didn't like how they ordered there magazines. They were quite randomly placed. From the genres above and adding a few others, the order I would have placed them would be :

1) leisure/hobbies magazines
2) Mens magazines, Sports magazines, male Adult magazines
3) Children's magazines
4) Mother/ New mother (Pregnancy)/ glossy
5) Gamer magazines
6) Music magazines

I think this would be a better magazine layout than the one I saw for the reasons that;

• I put Men's magazines together as separating them could loose sales. If they are all together it might increase a males interest and lead to another magazine purchase.
• I placed the children's magazines in between men's magazines and mother/woman magazines as there could be a family looking for a child magazine, the surrounding magazines could catch an eye of the mother and/or father.
• I positioned gamer and music magazines together as they would both attract the same kind of audience, teenagers. Most teenagers are into games consol's and music so placing them together would increase sales of both genres.