Target Audience
After conducting thorough research into music magazines belonging to the alternative/indie genre, I have been able to determine the psychographics and demographics of my alternative magazine's target audience. In contribution to this research, I used the internet to find out from the publishers themselves who this was; I decided to use www.ipcadvertising.com to examine that of NME magazine and gathered some findings that would prove to be useful to me in the production of my coursework.
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| The statistics of NME readers shown above offer interesting and helpful findings that helped me to consider the target audience of my own magazine, which is of the same genre. |
I could then determine the age range of people that should participate in a questionnaire designed to give an idea of 'AMP' magazine's target audience; this was aided by the discovery of that of 'NME' magazine. Since the median age of readers of the alternative music publication was shown to be 25 years, I decided to question those of a similar age. When analysing my results, I found that most people living in my area who listen to this genre of music or read magazines that discuss alternative music differ slightly and are aged between fifteen and eighteen. This meant that in order to appeal to my target audience of mainly adolescents, I must consider a number of aspects which would appeal to their age range; I feel that I was an exceptionally good candidate for the understanding of the appeal of certain elements to this age range because I, being seventeen years of age, belong to this group too. This meant that even prior to the research undertaken, I had accumulated a strong understanding of the psycographics of adolescents through experience of friends and peers collected throughout my school life and of my own tastes as well.
An effective way in which I encouraged readers of this age range to read the magazine was through making it relatable to them. I chose to include photographs of musicians of this age within 'AMP' magazine for this specific purpose, with the main feature being written about seventeen year old Kate Whinnett and anoer article which is mentioned on the contents page being about Ashley Riley, another musician of this same age. This means that the musicians will seem relateble, therefore the readers will identify with them and realise that the magazine itself and the music included within it is aimed at them and will be relatable.
One conventional characteristic of adolescents is their short attention span. Because of this quality, which has been accumulated by the environment of immediacy and constant entertainment that westerners are exposed to, the mode of address had to be thought through carefully. It had to be ensured that the tone present throughout the text of the magazine did not come across as too informal as this could cause some readers to feel intimated an unwelcome, deterring them from continuing to read 'AMP'. As a result of this, short and exciting text has been used throughout the magazine in order to enthuse the reader and to prevent their attention from being lost. Some examples of this are the cover lines situated on the front cover; the most prominent of these, the cover story, can be perceived as rather exciting. This line, which reads "Touring has been wild!" connotes mischievousness due to its use of the word "wild", which is fun and rebellious. The exclamation point further excites the reader with its urgency, capturing attention of the adolescents and appealing to the easily distracted teenagers of whom desire excitement in their life which can be offered by 'AMP' magazine.
Another aspect of the magazine catered especially for the target audience possessing this excitable and easily distracted nature is the article residing on the double page spread; this is written in a question and answer format to break up larger amounts of text so that the interview can be read quickly and easily so as not to bore the reader. The text written on the contents page is also designed to capture attention so that the reader is not required to read large amounts of text at one time, offering the option to skim read using short headings relating to the artists and topics being discussed on certain pages. An overwhelming contents page may have put readers off from reading the magazine before they'd even seen the first page, creating a poor first impression by inducing boredom from the start.
Also chosen with the target audience in mind were the fonts used; serif font has been used sparingly throughout, leaving more space for sans serif fonts. This will further support the fun brand identity of 'AMP' and ensure that readers will not get bored whilst reading. Red font is used across many areas of the publication, further attracting attention and connoting rebellion. This will excite the young reader and connote that the content is as interesting as the appearance of the magazine.
Also found was that the ratio of women to men who regularly read alternative music magazines was around equal, with 40% of participants of the questionnaire given out being male and 60% being female. The statistics of this are similar for that of NME magazine, however for this magazine then are are slightly more male readers than female readers. This meant that my magazine should be aimed at both sexes, so possessed a gender neutral house style of a black, white and red colour scheme and photographs of both men and women in order to appeal to all readers. Had especially feminine colours been used, for example, male readers would have felt excluded, leaving little interest in the actual content. Also attatched is the stigma of femininity in men, in which male readers would be discouraged in reading a feminine publication so that they can remain to be seen as 'masculine' and will not be mocked by their peers. This is important to remember because the majority of adolescents are rather focused on their reputation and popularity; I know this because many of my questionairre's participants, when asked, revealed that they enjoy spending their free time with friends.
Another way in which both genders are attracted to the magazine is that photographs of both men and women have been used throughout the magazine; this means that both genders can relate to the musicians included and also be targeted by the approach of sex appeal of the opposite gender. A female musician's photograph has been used on the front cover of the magazine because the majority of readers, as revealed in the results of my questionairre, are female. This means that the target audience will find the artist not only relatable in age, but in gender too. This will assure the female readers that it the magazine contains many articles aimed at them and will encourage men tro read due to sex appeal.
Many listeners of alternative and indie music possess an avid interest in fashion, being amonst the most stylish young people in the world. Alternative music is accompanied by alternative fashion, which when worn by musicians of this genre is up to date and trendy; this style is often emulated by fans of the music and is a huge part of many of their lives. I have taken the chance to use this knowledge to my advantage by specifically allocating models for the photographs included within the publication with equally fashionable clothing. For example, the musician featured across the double page spread of this issue has been photographed wearing Dr Marten boots; this brand of shoe is extremely popular at this moment, so will make the artist relatable as she may share her style with other similarly minded alternative musicians and fans. Her wealth of style also causes her to be seen as an 'icon' because the readers may look up to her due to her desirable image. For this very reason, the models used within the magazine are conventionally attractive so will increase the magazine's desirability to the young readers, many of whom are image conscious. Below are some examples of this:
An effective way in which I encouraged readers of this age range to read the magazine was through making it relatable to them. I chose to include photographs of musicians of this age within 'AMP' magazine for this specific purpose, with the main feature being written about seventeen year old Kate Whinnett and anoer article which is mentioned on the contents page being about Ashley Riley, another musician of this same age. This means that the musicians will seem relateble, therefore the readers will identify with them and realise that the magazine itself and the music included within it is aimed at them and will be relatable.
One conventional characteristic of adolescents is their short attention span. Because of this quality, which has been accumulated by the environment of immediacy and constant entertainment that westerners are exposed to, the mode of address had to be thought through carefully. It had to be ensured that the tone present throughout the text of the magazine did not come across as too informal as this could cause some readers to feel intimated an unwelcome, deterring them from continuing to read 'AMP'. As a result of this, short and exciting text has been used throughout the magazine in order to enthuse the reader and to prevent their attention from being lost. Some examples of this are the cover lines situated on the front cover; the most prominent of these, the cover story, can be perceived as rather exciting. This line, which reads "Touring has been wild!" connotes mischievousness due to its use of the word "wild", which is fun and rebellious. The exclamation point further excites the reader with its urgency, capturing attention of the adolescents and appealing to the easily distracted teenagers of whom desire excitement in their life which can be offered by 'AMP' magazine.
Another aspect of the magazine catered especially for the target audience possessing this excitable and easily distracted nature is the article residing on the double page spread; this is written in a question and answer format to break up larger amounts of text so that the interview can be read quickly and easily so as not to bore the reader. The text written on the contents page is also designed to capture attention so that the reader is not required to read large amounts of text at one time, offering the option to skim read using short headings relating to the artists and topics being discussed on certain pages. An overwhelming contents page may have put readers off from reading the magazine before they'd even seen the first page, creating a poor first impression by inducing boredom from the start.
Also chosen with the target audience in mind were the fonts used; serif font has been used sparingly throughout, leaving more space for sans serif fonts. This will further support the fun brand identity of 'AMP' and ensure that readers will not get bored whilst reading. Red font is used across many areas of the publication, further attracting attention and connoting rebellion. This will excite the young reader and connote that the content is as interesting as the appearance of the magazine.
Also found was that the ratio of women to men who regularly read alternative music magazines was around equal, with 40% of participants of the questionnaire given out being male and 60% being female. The statistics of this are similar for that of NME magazine, however for this magazine then are are slightly more male readers than female readers. This meant that my magazine should be aimed at both sexes, so possessed a gender neutral house style of a black, white and red colour scheme and photographs of both men and women in order to appeal to all readers. Had especially feminine colours been used, for example, male readers would have felt excluded, leaving little interest in the actual content. Also attatched is the stigma of femininity in men, in which male readers would be discouraged in reading a feminine publication so that they can remain to be seen as 'masculine' and will not be mocked by their peers. This is important to remember because the majority of adolescents are rather focused on their reputation and popularity; I know this because many of my questionairre's participants, when asked, revealed that they enjoy spending their free time with friends.
Many listeners of alternative and indie music possess an avid interest in fashion, being amonst the most stylish young people in the world. Alternative music is accompanied by alternative fashion, which when worn by musicians of this genre is up to date and trendy; this style is often emulated by fans of the music and is a huge part of many of their lives. I have taken the chance to use this knowledge to my advantage by specifically allocating models for the photographs included within the publication with equally fashionable clothing. For example, the musician featured across the double page spread of this issue has been photographed wearing Dr Marten boots; this brand of shoe is extremely popular at this moment, so will make the artist relatable as she may share her style with other similarly minded alternative musicians and fans. Her wealth of style also causes her to be seen as an 'icon' because the readers may look up to her due to her desirable image. For this very reason, the models used within the magazine are conventionally attractive so will increase the magazine's desirability to the young readers, many of whom are image conscious. Below are some examples of this:
As well as images, text, mode of address and colours being specifically chosen to appeal to the target audience, content has been produced with the readers' psychographics in mind. For example, the heading advertising the pages discussing 'the week's best gigs' included on the contents page will appeal to the majority of music lovers who read the magazine because when asked about their hobbies in the questionnaire that I handed out, many answered that they enjoy attending concerts and festivals; live performance is a largely important area of the alternative music scene because of the raw essence of the music that makes it sound best when heard live. The concerts' popularity is also caused by the young age range of the majority of alternative music fans which makes them crave the buzz and excitement of the events and allow time to be spent with their friends and peers. "halloween shows" have also be written about because at the time of the issue's release, it would have been halloween. This keeps the magazine up to date with current events and may be of interest to the readers who wish to celebrate the occasion by doing something fun with their friends.
Consisting of mainly cool young people, it was essential that I ensured that the magazine was current. To achieve this, plenty of fresh new music had to be included in the magazine; new music was explored through reviews of albums and tracks as well as interviews, meaning that readers felt informed and up to date on the music. The music loving target audience are guaranted to enjoy reading reviews of new music as it will alow expansion of thier musical knowledge and taste and will be helpful in that it may suggest which albums and tracks are worth buying and listening to. It will also ensure that their friends and peers will view them in a positive light because they will be up to date with current music. This will also give the readers something to talk about with their friends, making the magazine relevant to their life and a factor in their popularity.These reviwes also provoke thought and diuscussion, which will be of interest to the demographic of intelligent young readers; the readers of alternative music magazines tend to be of this nature becuase the poetic or thoughtful lyrics of the music is often appreciated by these people. This means that the inclusion of reviews may engage this target audience especially.
Lastly, the actual topics explored throught the articles are sure to appeal to the target audience of up to date alternative music fans, with fresh new musicians such as Charli XCX, Lorde and Haim to inspire them are obtain their interest. The majority of bands and artists mentioned within the magazine are young in age so are relatable and are new so will be approached with much intrigue. These musicians are trendy so will be looked up to by the impressionable adolescents and young adults being targeted by the magazine.
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