MUSIC MAGAZINE EVALUATION

By Rushelle Mckoy

I started to look at hip hop magazines after typing ‘‘Hip Hop magazine’’ into Google images and a number of magazines came up, that is similar branding to the one I wanted to make for example http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hip+hop+magazine&safe=active&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=luR0UZ_0L-mw0QXrw4D4Bg&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1920&bih=986

I have chosen my central image to be a young black female, for the reason that in the world of Hip-Hop most iconic rappers are black females as well as male with the exception of Eminem, but most of the big Hip-hop artist such as Usher, Nikki Minaj and Amber rose are black and I wanted to follow this specific convention by using a black female model in RU$H magazine. I’ve used the same model on my front cover, contents page and double page spread. By doing this it shows the link between each page and the audience would have a better understanding of what RU$H magazine is about. People, audiences and potential buyers of the magazine associate Hip-Hop with black people so the clear choice was to have a black Hip-Hop artist. For example (Vibe magazine), (the Source magazine) (XXL magazine) my magazine used the forms and conventions of other magazines. On the cover of ‘Source’ and ‘XXL’ magazine the models were generally male but I’ve decided to use a black female model instead, posing as an artist for my front cover, contents page and double page spread. The tag line along the top challenged my music magazines as they usually appear in more pop based magazines. I added a price, issue date and website to give a preview about the RU$H magazine before they buy it. I noticed this being used on most magazines Barcodes are typical conventions on all magazines, these are essential as they allow the magazine to be sold. In my magazine, I have included most the typical conventions of a hip-hop magazine, for example the interesting masthead that would create a unique brand identity for my urban oriented magazine that it is. While researching on XXL magazine I saw that they used large even numbers on the contents page for their page numbers so I decided to do the following with RU$H magazine. For my double page spread it also follows the basic convention in music magazine for example it has a caption under each of the pictures. This would appeal to my target audience specifically. I have tried to make my magazine look as much like a magazine as the one you would see on the shelf today. The images I’ve tried to make them look as professional as possible by editing the contrast and brightness on publisher and editing anything when I needed to. Another ingredient that I included that is a classic convention in a music magazine is a letter from the editor, I did this although from audience feedback and asking friends I found out that most people don’t bother reading it. However I still felt the need to add it in my magazine. Also I have not included any competition advertisement on the front of the cover as I feel that the interviews alone and image would interest my intended audience, but I’ve put ‘freebies’ instead because I wanted to challenge the conventions of music magazines as they don’t usually appear in them. “Freebies” usually appear in most fashion magazines giving away sample perfume etc. I have decided to include a free poster of the main artist I talked about in my magazine to appeal more to readers as they like to get exclusive free stuff.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a music magazine?

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT PRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUP?

In my music magazine, I have represented social groups from teenagers to mid-twenties, male and females but mostly males who are interested in Hip-hop music. I have represented them by using a young adult as my featured artists so my audience would be able to relate to not only her age range, but also her contemporary and modern style in fashion that represent today’s youth. The colour scheme that I’ve used is interesting and fresh that relate to my genre but not dull or uninteresting. My front cover image is of young girl similar to my target audience therefore this would interest the intended age range I intend to represent which is teenagers and young adult. The brownish colour I have used on my front cover, contents page and double page spread all linked together and connote earth which associate with the material side of life and it also give the feelings of solidity; by doing this my hip-hop magazine aim at certain social group, people that not only love the unban music but also enjoy reading the magazine. The language that I mostly used in my hip-hop magazine is slang, because it connect to the target audience and working class black young adults and teenager. I have used slightly more images than text as the audience would be of a more working class age group and would prefer looking at their favourite artist pictures than reading information. In the research I’ve done state that a lot of teenagers, mostly black males than females are into Hip-hop however it’s not just teenagers that rap, so do older people that are into Hip-hop.

Most Hip-hop magazines, it could argue that the designed from the “male gaze”, women put on the front covers for the gratification of men. However there are females artists about such as Nikki Minaj, Amber rose and a lot more. So I designed my magazine to be more modern in its representation and challenge the genre, with regards to the role that a women play.

My target audience are black females, and black males but rarely other race. My Hip-hop magazine represent them in a more positive way. By targeting to male and females it widens the audience and attracts more females to the magazine because Hip-hop is a very male dominated genre. RU$H magazine attracts its target audience in many ways. One way is that on the front page the magazine have girl posing sexy which going to attracted more male than female for that section because it is female gaze. This is because my magazine is presented in a female perspective that reflects female attitude. RU$H magazine is deliberately aimed at male audience.While my magazine is not restricted to looking at sexy men but it is more important that expectations of the presumption of the audience relate. It also includes big British artists within the magazine such as Eminem which will draw in the audience to read about the artist, or just look at the pictures. The contents page targets the target audience because the main image is an image of a girl which shows that the magazine is not just male dominated. Having females within the magazine can attract both genders. Males that are attracted to females and females that inspire. The content page also includes features like interviews, upcoming artist, albums, singles and latest tours; this can capture the audience’s eye, and persuade them to read the rest of the magazine. It also includes the website for the magazine, this gets the audience more involved with the magazine and can find out more online than what in the magazine, for example free poster. The double page article is an interview with JW. In the interview questions from the audience are asked, this lets the audience know what they want to know about her. If the audience want to know a question about their favourite artist and the question was brought up in the interview they would read the magazine to see the answer. This makes the audience want to be involved within the magazine.

Female is represented more frequently in RU$H magazine rather than male, for obvious reasons that it is both mostly male audience. However, RU$H magazine represent female as independent and strong strong figures for their readers. For example, JW who features on the cover, contents page, double page spread and an article within about her music aspirations represents a strong female who knows what she wants. Males however feature dimly in the magazine; one male is featured alongside a model on the contents page as a sort of sex symbol to sell the magazine and have a wider market. In contrast to this, Union J boy band from X-factor finalist appeared as sexy and eye candy. The fact that males are portrayed as sex symbols and in contrast women are portrayed as independent and fashionable is very conflicting. The reason behind this may be because today, debatable or not, that women are still seen in society as lesser of their male counterpart. The fact there is fewer males in the magazines make sure their audience can relate more to the magazine and articles and to not feel secluded. However, the magazine does not feature women of older age (30+) Which suggests that I am not representing everyone, this may be because older women (the majority) do not show a particular interest for fashion culture which the magazine widely focuses on.

 WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

Publisher that I would use to publish my magazine would be IPC Media. The reason for this is that they are one of the leading media institutions in the UK, and also that “NME magazine” and “Guitar & Bass” both use them as their publisher, however RU$H magazine would have different target audience because it is Hip-hop magazine. IPC Media is a very well known publisher, 26 million adults in the UK read a magazine published by IPC Media, and so by using them to publish my magazine I will definitely know that they will be doing a good job. Also, because they are such a big and well known company, there should be more advertisement options as it should be both easier and cheaper to advertise with help from such a big media institution. The kind of distribution methods that I would be using would firstly be the most common way, of putting physical copies of the magazine in various popular retail shops (For example, WH Smiths and Newsagents). This is so that I reach all of my target audiences as most people who want a magazine still goes straight to the shops. Nowadays, big chain supermarkets such as Tesco and Morrison’s are becoming the main sellers of magazines and are the first place people now go to buy magazines. This is why I would make sure to distribute my magazine to supermarkets to get the most people seeing and buying my magazine as possible. I would also however have visual copies of my magazine online and use internet distribution. Many more magazine companies are now putting their magazines online, so by putting RU$H issues online also, I would be keeping up with the competition. Also, it would help to attract younger audiences to my magazine as many more young people are spending their time online, rather than in magazine shops. IPC Media “The guy whose uniform includes woven shirts, narrow ties and vintage-style accessories. Who’s downloaded Arctic Monkeys to his iPod and Lucy Pinder to his phone” “IPC Media is a leading content provider for today’s man, providing products with multiple contact points to connect with and influence, the 15-26 year old male” Another reason that I chose IPC Media to distribute and publish my magazine is because I feel that they will also help me to appeal to my target audience. On their website there is a section on the audiences that they reach, and one of the sections is called “Men and Music”.

WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

My media product is aimed at age group, from 15 to 25 because of the range of aspects within the magazine.

Initial audience

I want my magazine to be able to be enjoyed and read by a wide aged audience; 15-25 is a niche market not a wide market at all! Make sure you keep your intended audience clear, which all share the passion of Hip-hop music. As most current Hip-hop magazines are aimed mainly for the enjoyment of the younger generation, I have created RU$H magazine, which appeal to the mainly younger age groups 15+. The images I have used are a mixture of professional looking long-mid shots of my main model and band. Also shots of more people and contestant at X-factor tour at 02 Arena London. The research that I have done clarifies that the main audience who watch X-factor are mostly15 year old girls and young adults; by adding pictures from X-factor tour live are my target audience and provide awareness for my magazine. My magazine is primarily attracted by the male audience but by adding X-factor contestant into the magazine it creates a more male gaze to fascinated and attracted more female to buy the magazine and also by doing that it extend target audience of the magazine and which would be for both male and female but still mostly male. RU$H magazine is a magazine that they will not be embarrassed to pick up and read in front of their friends. However, as I have found from research, talking to a lot of people about Hip-hop music, there is still a large audience of the young adults that enjoy Hip-hop music, so I try continue to keep the traditional Hip-hop style of props, clothing, famous rappers and mise-en-scene, simply update and modernize my magazine to become bolder and less colorful, including editor note, features and information on Hip-hop music for the younger generation and more interviews, with the likes of Nikki Minaj, an extremely popular Hip-hop musician, for the younger generation. By doing this my magazine is mainly appealing to teenagers as it will consist of mainly raping which is traditionally in Hip-hop, but by keeping the reviews and the traditional style it gives the opportunity to be enjoyed by anyone. The target audience for RU$H magazine is mostly post-modernists with the attitude of aspiring "to have, to be and to play". They dream for the best and work hard in life for what they have and what they want. As they are most likely to be students at the age of 16+ I would say they are currently an E on the jicnar scale, but aiming to be a C1 maybe even B and become the likes of a teacher.

Demographic profile

Age and Gender

My magazine to be aimed at both genres and a wide age group audience. However, when producing my magazine I found that it would be very hard to please such a wide audience so narrowed my audience down to male and mainly aimed it at a younger audience, but could be enjoyed from a wide age range of 15-25 year olds as it is suitable for them also.

Jincar scale

My target audience would range from D to E on the Jicnar Scale. This means that the audience would include semi and unskilled manual workers and unemployed people, or people with a low income job. My magazine appeals to the younger generation which means that they will either be in education or be in a low income job. I also felt that many young boys would be interested in the magazine, as it’s due to with holidays and dance music, and this comes under the semi and unskilled manual workers.

Social values

Although my genre of music magazine is commonly stereotyped to be associated with the traditionalists, ghetto person who keeps things how they are, this is not the case for my magazine as it is aimed to challenge the ideology that Hip-hop music is only suited for ghetto and young people. There are many people especially young people who are fans of Hip-hop genre nowadays, especially rapping and beat boxing, with popular artists such as Drake and Jay-Z. Because of this I would say that my targeted audience would be modernists with the attitude of ambitious.

Psychographics

• The connotations of my magazine make it aimed at radicals and aspirers. The audience believe that they are individuals, and have individual style and taste. They also feel that they can achieve more and are always aspiring for better. The way that my magazine shows off the luxurious side of life would appeal to aspirers as they might want to experience these things later on in life. I feel that on a social level the audience of my magazine would be hedonists and post – modernists. This describes them as outgoing, enjoyable, and to play, have fun and enjoy what they have now.

CONTINUE – WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

 To attract my target audience I used:

• brownish color – to represent the dance industry which also connote earth that associate with the material side of life and it also give the feelings of solidity.

• I used bold fonts to connote cool and laidback.

• Young attractive model – to appeal to young girls.

• A life story – like real media products use

• Genre appropriate artists – like Lily Allen Genre

• Appropriate language – to add to the effect

• Informal mode of address – to appeal to the young readers

I also attracted my target audience by having an interesting front cover with a brightly colour masthead; this gives the magazine a brand identity. The magazine has a website which gives the audience more information and also my magazine included a 3D barcode to scan to gain access to discount on future magazine; this is likewise including a modern convention. The cover lines on my front cover are features that would be interesting to the target audience. For example bands featured and exclusive interviews. The image on the front cover would attract the target audience as it is a good looking female model that is well known in the music world. The colour pallet I have used is mainly brownish colour; this would attract more male people to my magazine. The way the magazine talks to the audience by using slang because that’s what ‘Hip-hop’ magazine like. I wanted to keep it informational, grown up, fresh and classy. My audience feedback showed that they were interested in dance and Hip-hop music and the picture on the front would interest them the most and also the use of bright red colour on the masthead. The picture I used on the front cover has a direct mode of address which draws more attention to the audience. I chose to use a girl on the front cover doing sexy poses to attract the male gaze and young audiences.

• Front page – I had a unique selling point for my magazine which helped me capture my target audience which was wide range of people of both men and women around the age of 15-25. My front cover uses bright colors and a house style of brownish and white. Using these colors I have a mix of masculine and feminine colors which would attract both audiences but main male audience. Although my image shows a feminine image of a female I think it would attract to both men and women as it uses a comprehensive range of colors which are not too bright and colorful. Another way in which I have tried to attract my target audience is by including free posters within my magazine, as when deciding who my target audience would be I decided they would take a large interest in technology. Featuring what is inside my magazine allows my target audience to know further information just by looking at my front cover.

• Contents Page – My contents page uses a variety of masculine and feminine images that would appeal to both male and female. I have once again used a mix of brownish and white as my color scheme which would attract my target audience. My contents page also includes a variety of different topics which would also attract my audience as it allows my audience to gather more information of what is inside my magazine and also I have used page number next to my features and images to it easily guides my audience to certain pages of my magazine. I have also featured a subscription box and 3D barcode to scan which I think would appeal to my target audience as it allows them to know more information of my magazine and discount on the next month magazine. I also stuck to my color scheme of brownish, and white. I wanted to choose colors that I thought would stand out and make my magazine look attractive and color and I think my colors I have used throughout my magazine look attractive and are not too bright and colorful which attract my audience and also address them as I have used feminine and masculine colors.

• Double Page Spread – I mainly tried to attract my target audience to my double page spread through my catchy headline which stands out the page. I used a big and bold headline that instantly catches the reader’s attention and it introduces the article. For my main text I have shown an interview with my main feature of my magazine. From my target audience research I found that many audience would most likely prefer and interview featured in my magazine which allowed me to address my audience. I have also stuck to my color scheme in my double page spread to create a consistency throughout and I have chosen different colors for my questions and answers in my interview which allows a clear structure for the audience to easily read and provides attractive text. My main image is of the female posing would attract my audience.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES FROM THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTING THIS PRODUCT?

There are four main computer based package I used for my magazine. Each of the software I used was for different steps of my magazine construction. I used Photoshop to edit and cut my images, as well as my background for the front page. This was a postproduction technique as I knew the images that I had taken were good but needed improvement. I also used this software for my school magazine for the same reasons. During the process of making my magazine I have become more experience with using the software. Photoshop is very helpful and easy when you know how to use it properly, and now I fully know Photoshop and its uses, it will help me in the future. I also used publisher to put it together and edit my photos. Another web programmed that helped me widen my use of media was slide share. By using slide share you can put you can import you PowerPoint into a slide share, and upload onto Tumblr. This is an online website that I upload all my work and research on. This shows that I have used different types of media programmed to make my work look more interesting. Throughout this process all my achievements and research I have been able to upload my PowerPoint on to Tumblr with no difficulty at all. This keeps my work into categories in order. Tumblr is a big help when it comes to carrying on from my last piece of work. By looking at the last post I made helps me progress onto my next piece of work, making it clear of what I have and have not done. I have learnt a lot about how different technology software can help and affect my product in different ways. I also improved my digital camera skills when taking my photos and setting up my photo shoot. I used white walls, dark walls and lighting to create shadow. I also changed the brightness of the flash on different photos. For my group photo I had my models pose in funny positions that would be interesting for my target audience. For my image on the front cover I have edited it on Photoshop making it lighter, on the face and blending it into the dark background. On my contents I have used a range of images that would be included in my magazine; I have edited them together to make it one large image. For my double page spread I used one large picture of whom I writing my interview on and a picture of a band she was in. I edited the background out the group image to make it fit in better with the brownish background to make it seem more professional.

LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE LEARNT IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FULL PRODUCT?

Looking back at my preliminary task I have learnt how to make my magazine look more professional by taking better photos and planning my photo shoot. I have also learnt that time keeping and planning is important to keep up to date and on top of creating my media products. Although I had experience with this software I still had some difficulties using it, and have learnt new things about Photoshop that I never knew before for example how to brighten an image, cut out the image from the background accurately and neat, how to rotate and resize images, how create masthead, edited, cut and manipulated the imagery. By doing this it helped me to increase my knowledge with the software. With these primary techniques I’ll feel more confident when using Photoshop. Also I have learnt that editing my photos gives my magazine a professional touch to it. Making sure that I took in my audience feedback when creating my magazine I think I have managed to create a magazine that would appeal to my target audience and I also learnt how to use Photoshop better than I could before. Throughout making my music magazine I have changed a lot of things from colours to the layout. My finished product has improved a lot from my flat plan, even though I changed certain things, however two things stayed the same; the layout of the masthead and the position and camera angle of the central image. This is because while creating, my magazine I have learnt about more codes and conventions for music magazines. Codes and conventions are crucial to a successful magazine. I have learnt this by comparing my magazine to professional magazines. I used a hip hop magazine to compare my magazine because they are in the same. By using a hip hop magazine I learnt how they attract the audience by using codes and conventions. One thing I learnt is how they edit the face of the artist/model, no matter what the genre of the magazine is. Hip hop magazines try to keep everything as simple and as ‘raw’ as possible however they do edit things such as the background, even if it’s just a filter. I knew most of the codes and conventions for music magazines, because I researched on them, yet I learnt them in deeper concept while creating my magazine. I learnt more on the difference between a feature and a main story, on the front cover. Most magazines in general have a main article that stands out on the front page and the including features around the picture, this applies the same for hip hop magazines, but some hip hop magazines have not got features on the front cover of the magazine, just an artist. Even though some magazines are like this, because the magazine is so popular the audience knows that the artist on the front is more likely the main story in the magazine. Throughout researching about music magazines, I found that magazines have a continually break in them because they have no commercial pressure-talk. This shows that magazine have to have more persuading images and headlines to attract their audience, on the other hand television commercials used audio and moving images which attract their audience much quicker. To attract their target audience, magazine producers have to make the magazine as persuading as possible. They do this by a certain layout, certain images and certain catch phrases and headlines. The way images and text are placed on a page can make a lot of difference to the attraction. For example, if the pictures or text are scattered, the audience won’t find it as appealing as if they were in order or in a certain form of pattern this is because it’s easy to figure out and easier to read. Another example is the colour scheme, if there random colours on a double page article or front page that doesn’t match a colour palette or the genre of the magazine. By having a catching headline and font it draws the audience into wanting to read the magazine, this is why magazines use big bold fonts for the main features. If a magazines main story was a small font it wouldn’t attract the audience because they wouldn’t think to read it because the font is so small, however when the font is bigger they can’t help but read it. Something that is manufactured and presented as reality in the world in the magazine will also attract the audience especially if the demographics are teenagers, middle class and students. This attracts the audience because they can relate to the stories within the magazine even though it’s not a gossip magazine.