Showing posts with label I. Appendix: Main task planning work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I. Appendix: Main task planning work. Show all posts
Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Font/Colour Moodboard
I feel that I may use the first Dimitri font for my magazine's masthead depending on whether it suits the rest of the page in production. I am currently undecided on the colour scheme although I may wait until I have the main image so then I can perhaps match the colours.
Gender representation and the Music Industry
In the music industry, gender is used as a guide for who to target which genres at. For instance, boy bands would be aimed at female audiences while heavy rock would probably be more of a male taste. This is shown predominantly in magazines where photography and mode of address is important. In rock magazines (Rolling Stone, Classic Rock etc), masculinity is key for making the men look big and strong. There is often a lack of females in these sorts of magazines but when they do appear, they are shown to have the key masculinity to suit the genre, whilst trying to be sexually appealing at the same time. For the Hip Hop genre magazines (Hip Hop, XXL etc), masculinity is less evident but still present. There is more appearances of an 'intimidating' gaze used mainly by men which is quite a stereotypical feature when it comes to rappers and hip hop artists. It gives that feel that they are quite strong, powerful and not to be messed with. As this is what has come to be expected for this genre, audiences can therefore relate it straight to the idea of Hip Hop, and perhaps notice the magazine if this gaze is used on a front cover. Another common representation used by artists in hip hop is the idea of having money, muscle, girls and drugs. This can make young audiences look up to these celebrities as they have it all, and must be going 'right' in life. Female artists are often sexually explicit on these magazines as this can gain attraction from male audiences rather easily. In this genre, the idea of being misogynistic and macho is looked upon as a positive thing for the genre, violence being good. This really signifies who the audiences are, as these sorts of things would get completely different feedback if they were mentioned in The Sun or Daily Mail.
Magazine Industry Overview
The magazine industry in Britain is a massive market catering to many different audiences, varying on age, gender, location, sex, hobbies, lifestyle and so many more! There are 8000 titles published in Britain, 3200 being consumer magazines (consumer magazines being aimed at audiences to entertain and inform). Over 2.74 billion pounds was spent on magazines in 2008 from both consumers and advertisers. Recently, however, there have been issues faced by magazine companies such as the recent increase in popularity for technology-based media such as online magazines, newspapers and books. This has had a massive impact on the printing and publishing companies due to a shift in the market, but this doesn't mean that the demand for magazines will decline but rather that they must work harder to survive. The recession has also brought down sales in the magazine industry including a hit on the massive music magazine 'NME' causing their sales to drop 14.3% in the first half of 2011. If you are looking to make a new magazine, you must be prepared for disappointment as only 3 in 10 survive for more than 4 years, and with 500 new magazines launched every year, competition is tough.
The biggest magazine publishers are Bauer with a market share of 25% while Time Warner has a share of 20%, BBC with a share of 7.8% and Hearst with 7.3%. I believe that the success of these companies is down to the fact that they cater to many gaps in the market.
Overall, the market for printed magazines seems quite fragile yet the fight, drive and determination is still present in the industry, even if that means adapting along with the rest of the market by integrating technology into their business, such as apps and online magazines. Where the recession is concerned, most industries have been hit and it's just a case of repairing damages caused. After all, 85% of the population is said to read magazines.
My Original Ideas for a New Music Magazine
I want to make a new magazine which focuses on recording the music charts. I have searched 'Music chart magazines in Britain' and I could not find any results so I may have found a gap in the market. I am hoping to aim to a range of audiences such as professional music producers who like to find out about what is going on in the music industry and also to ages from sixteen who just want to find out about the latest big track. I am looking at having eye-catching colours which stand out, and perhaps have images, fonts and language which is intended for those who are really into the music industry. Currently, I think a mixer would be a suitable cover picture but I may have a change of mind once getting into the production.
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