Ryan Denner

Music Magazine Research: Questionnaire Analysis

The purpose of my primary research is to collect information about music and, particularly music magazines from my primary audience to find out what they would expect from my magazine, allowing me to gain information that I will use when designing my magazine to make it suitable for the target audience and, so I can try to meet all their preferences.

I conducted my primary research through the use of a questionnaire. I collected quantative data on my questionnaire as all my questions were multiple choice meaning the data could be used to work out percentages. Some of my questions had a choice to put another option meaning the responder could choose another non listed option allowing for some qualitative data to be received aswell.

The majority of responders who filled in my questionnaires were all students aged between 16 and 25, as this is my primary audience who my music magazine will be aimed at. A small proportion of the responders were aged under 16 but, were still students which provided information about a possible secondary audience for my questionnaire. 80% of my responders were male while 20% were female. I interviewed mainly males as I decided that this would be my primary target audience.

PopDance

RockDubstep

Indie/AlternativeClassical

Heavy metalCountry

R 'n' BOther

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Favourite Genres Of Music

Favourite Genre Of Music

This shows that the most popular genre of music from the people I questioned was pop, closely followed by indie/alternative and Dubstep. The least popular genres were classical and, country. 2 people responded with the other category and, said ‘screamo’ as another genre of music they liked that wasn’t included in the questionnaire. As pop music proved the most popular, that is the likely genre that I will likely choose to do for my music magazine as it will appear to the largest audience.

Ryan Denner

30% of people I questioned listened to music for more than 6 hours a week. The people who listened to music for this time were most likely to buy music magazines or attend concerts/festivals as they had a bigger interest in music. Everyone I interviewed listened to music for more than 1 hour each week suggesting that music is a popular culture among students in this age group. This suggests my magazine should aim towards this age group as they listen to a lot of music. It also suggests that the audience will already know a lot about music so, I should be writing it to an audience who already have an understanding about the topic.

The most popular methods to obtain music were a joint amount between in-store, I-tunes and, other. People who specified other all put illegal download sites such as Pirate Bay or UTorrent, or they put a YouTube converter. The amount of people who illegally download music through these methods may not be 100% accurate as people don’t want to admit to doing it. Overall, it shows more people now attain their music online, oppose to in store although a large percentage still get their music this way. From this data, it has indicated that my magazine should be available in a digital form as most people go online for their music. I will also make any free merchandise available via a download as this is the most popular way to consume music. It also suggests more people are buying individual singles so; reviews should be about them and not full albums.

In Store

I-Tunes

Spotify

Amazon

Other

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Where do you obtain your music?

Where do you ob-tain your music? 10%

20%

20%10%

10%

30%

How long do you spend listening to music each

week?Less than 1 hour1-2 hours2-3 hours3-4 hours4-5 hours5-6 hoursMore than 6 hours

50%50%

Do you buy music magazines?

YesNo

50% of people said they did buy music magazines suggesting half of students, of this age group do buy them. This means there is a large amount of people that buy music magazines within my target audience suggesting that this is a good audience to aim my magazine at.

Ryan Denner

None

Kerrang

NME

Q

Rolling Stone

Vibe

Billboard

Other

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Which music magazines do you buy?

Which music magazines do you buy?

This back up the previous data that 50% of people don’t buy music magazine. The most popular music magazine bought was Kerrang suggesting a lot of people who buy music magazines are rock music fans as this is who the magazine is aimed at. Q was also popular and, that is aimed at a different audience who listen to various genres of music suggesting people often like a variety of different genres so, I could include more than one genre of music within my magazine. 2 people choose other, and said they also bought metal hammer and, FHM. This suggests a wide variety of magazines are popular within the audience.

20%

30%40%

10%

What would be the average price you

would expect to pay for a music magazine?

Under £1£1 - £2£2 - £3£3 - £4£4 +

The majority of people would expect to pay between £2 - £3, so my magazine will cost between these prices. No-one said they would pay more than £4 suggesting this is too expensive for my target audience so, I should definitely charge less than this for my magazine.

40%

20%

40%

Which of the following mostheads is most appealing

to you?

NMEBillboardQRolling Stone

The joint favourite mastheads are NME and, rolling stone. This shows different people like different designs as some prefer the more simplistic design of the NME logo while others prefer the fancier font of the rolling stone logo. I have decided from this I will make by font bold and, simplistic like NME as the target audience like the style and, it will help the magazine stand out. The least favourite was the billboard masthead with no votes showing people don’t like the style of the logo so; I will make sure mine doesn’t look like that, as it won’t appeal to the target audience.

Ryan Denner

This market research has aided me in making some key decisions for my music magazine based on the feedback from my target audience. It has provided an insight into what people expect from my music magazine aswell as providing information about my target audience. The information I found through my primary research has allowed me to make a decision on what will definitely be included within my magazine, and I decided that Album/Single Reviews, High Quality Pictures & Interviews will all definitely be within my music magazine. Additionally, it helped me decide what I will design my masthead to look like, as I decided it would be in a bold simple font that would stand out similar to NME. It also helped me decide on the price my magazine should cost, which I decided would be £2.99 and, it also helped me decide the genre of music that will be the primary genre featured within my magazine which I decided would be Pop. These findings will allow me to design a music magazine that will appeal to my target audience.

Interviews

Free Merchandise

Album/Single Reviews

Concert Reviews

Festival Guides

Info About Upcoming Artists

High Quality Images

Other

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Which of the following would you expect to find in a music magazine?

Which of the following would you expect to find in a music magazine?

This summarises what people want from a music magazine so, I can use their responses to help when creating my music magazine. Album/single reviews was the thing most people would expect within a music magazine so, I will make sure I include one within mine. I will also include high quality images and, interviews as these were also popular choices of what my target audience would expect in a music magazine.