What I Have Learnt And My Own target Audience Profile For My Magazine

Demographics and Psychographics will feature heavily in my own music magazine now that I have discovered more about it. I haves learnt that my target audience can be  and will be very specific if I use demographics and psychographics in my magazine. I will use this new information to help me create my own magazine audience profile.

My target audience profile:

My target audience will be a mass audience of aspirers who are serious and seek status, explorers who are full of energy and seek discovery and also reformers who are socially aware and seek enlightenment. The age range for my target audience will be mostly female, between the ages of 14- 26 years old. My magazine will include the uses and gratification theory, which is split into four different sections, these include: Identity, education, entertainment and social. The two main uses of my pop magazine are to entertain my audience and help them find their identity. Your typical pop audience will have all four uses, which mine will, but not in such close detail as my chosen two uses. My audience, as it is slightly older than your usual pop magazine, will be more adult than your normal pop based magazine. This means that the articles and topics discussed inside will be of a more mature tone and style. Rather than being aimed towards 10-15 year olds, my magazine is aimed at the slightly older age range so that pop can maybe not always be seen as a 'young magazine' as it stereotypically is. Identity applies to my magazine because because people aspire to be their idols, also it is very easy to tell the difference between a pop magazine and any other music genre or magazine. My audience will want to read about artists, how they became famous and their backgrounds. People who read pop magazines are interested in peoples lives as well as their music. This gives the magazine more of an identity as other magazines do not do this sort of thing. People will aspire to be artists and realise that they don't have to be well off to be famous. Entertain is one of my main two also because the whole reason people buy magazines is because they enjoy reading about their favourite bands and artists as they find this enjoyable and entertaining. My audience will be typically white british females, with a social grade C1-E. They will be young bubbly people, who are very interested in pop music, own an iPod or some form of music playing device and listen to music frequently.

My Psychographic Target Audience Profile

Pop magazines appeal to a few psychographic groups these include; Reformers, aspirers and explorers. Reformers are socially aware and usually very free minded people who aren't restricted, like this genre of music isn't restricted in any way. Aspirers because they are young and look up to the artists and are interested in the look of the band. Explorers fit well because they are normally quite young and energetic and loud like the pop genre itself. 

Pop Magazine Audience Research

Billboard:
Billboard has a reader total of 48,000 people. However, it's gender statistics state, that it's readers are gender neutral. With 71% of it's readers at and age range between 25-54, this puts it's median aged reader at 47 years old. This particular magazine has a social grade A-B. Billboard is published by Prometheus Global Media and has a circulation figure of 16,327 people a week.

We <3 Pop:
We <3 pop has an audience us mostly girls, with it's reader total at 135,000 , that's a lot of girls. It's readers are aged 13-15 year olds, this happens to be their primary target audience also. We <3 pop has a social grade C1-E class. It had circulation figures of 42,864 a month and is published by Egmont UK.

Top of the Pops:
82% of Top of the Pops readers are female. Top of there Pops has a reader total of 357,000 people who's average age is 12 years old. It sits with a social grade of 64% at ABC1's and 36% AB's. It is produced by Immediate media company LTD and has a circulation figure of 78,352 people every 6 months.

My Demographic Target Audience Profile

Genre: Pop music

Class/earnings: My primary target audience, will be between social grades C1 to E.

Gender: male & female pop music fans.

Age: 14-30 years old.

Nationality: British 

Ethnicity: White British

Sexuality: Straight/Bisexual/Gay/Transgender 

Audience Appeal: My target audience will want the magazine to use it for Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution celebrities (pop stars etc) for family life OR using the magazines as a social event).

Analysis Of The Background Of A Magazine From My Sub-Genre, Pop

Billboard:

Cover of Billboard (January 26, 2013).
Categories	Music magazine
Frequency	Weekly
Circulation	16,327
Founder	William H. Donaldson James Hennegan
First issue	November 1, 1894; 121 years ago
Company	Prometheus Global Media
Country	United States
Based in	New York City, New York, U.S.
Website	billboard.com

 Here we can see some information about Billboard. The group behind billboard has an imprint of the Crown publishing group (itself a part of Random House) which bought the imprint from Nielsen in 2008. The publishing agency describes itself as "a leading publisher of music and entertainment titles". Billboard is published by 

Prometheus Global Media.Prometheus Global Media was funded by Guggenheim Partners and Pluribus Capital Management in excess of US $70 million.

Other publishers of pop magazines include: 

• Egmont
• Prometheus
• BBC

Online And print Magazine Differences

•  Online editions include not only the print edition articles, but also all the blog posts and video/audio pieces.

•  The online-only content, the blogs etc,  are free to everyone. Also if you have a subscription, you can get full access to the print articles online.

• Online media is cheaper than print magazines in the long run.

• Online magazines are better for the environment.
• Magazines can publicise the internet and vice versa. There is also opportunity for an exchange of content between magazines and their online versions.
• Magazines encourage people to go online and see extra features not in the magazines.
• If people buy the magazine, then go to the online version through magazine advertisement, then the company is gaining money in two ways. Rather than just through the magazine.
• Magazines can come with free products inside, this will convince people to buy them as they feel they are getting extra for the price they are paying.

Institutions Research

Who publishes music magazines? 
Two major music magazine publishers are Bauer Media and Future PLC. An example of an independent magazine publisher is The Wire.

Bauer media group: It's first issue was published in October 1986.Bauer Media is Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire with over 300 magazines in 15 different countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations.Bauer Media is a sister company of H Bauer Publishing, the publisher of the UK's biggest TV listings, Take a Break and Bella. For example a magazine Bauer media produces called Q, has circulation figures of 52,781 (ABC July-December 2013. Bauer media publishes many magazines such as closer, heat magazine and smash hits also.

Future PLC :The company was founded as Future Publishing in Somerton, Somerset in 1985 by Chris Anderson with the sole magazine Amstrad Action. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers, the first company to do so.Anderson sold Future to Pearson PLC for £52.7 million pounds in 1994, but bought it back in 1998. It publishes more than 30 magazines. Total circulation figures for a magazine called 'Guitarist' are 25,047 ABC between January-December 2013. Magazines published by future PLC are Rhythm, edge, computer music, guitarist and many more.

The Wire: It was founded in 1982. The magazine is run by a small, dedicated team of full-time staff, plus a large international group of over 60 freelance writers, based in different places around the world. A digital version of the magazine is available on iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire, Android and via your web browser.In December 2000 it was purchased in a management buy-out organised by the magazine's staff and has been run independently ever since. The wire has a monthly circulation of 20,000 people and a subscriber database of 9,000 people.

Magazine Contents Page Analysis: We Love Pop

This magazine contents page is a lot more simple than the Billboard one. This may give the representation that their target audience is not capable of reading as much, connoting that they are a younger audience. Again the colour palette shows connotations of love, youth and girls. This shows that the audience is young. This fits Laurie's 1965 theory "Teenagers are presented as a class in themselves." Young teens (12-16), are a class of their own. The enjoy very different things to what say a 20 year old may enjoy. It is for this reason that this magazine contents page uses young, girly, bright colours to attract this specific audience and draw in their attention.

Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis: We Love Pop

The pastel colours of this magazine suggest that the magazine is aimed at a younger target audience. The boy band featured are liked by many young girls this suggests that the magazine is aimed at a younger audience. The milkshakes they are holding show connotations of summer, fun and youth. The fact they are in a magazine that is targeted at younger girls this represents them as a young band also. This magazine almost fits Laura Mulvey's 1975 theory of "The male gaze" within this theory she states women as being "sexual objects of desire for the audience to admire." This magazine is doing the opposite of this theory. Making the boys the objects of desire. This is done by choosing things that young girls would like, for example; Pastel colours, milkshakes and young boys. It has been proven that Laura Mulvey's theory is now changing and magazines are including more males as the sexual object of desire to attract more of the female target audiences.

Magazine Front Cover Analysis: We Love Pop

This particular magazine is represented as if it has a younger target audience, which it does. The pink and purple colour palette shows connotations of love, barbie, hearts, flowers etc. However the yellow within the colour palette shows connotations of happiness and sunshine. All connotations represent the audience as young and immature. This cover fits Stanley Halls's 1904 theory "youth must have excitement." With words on the page such as; SCREAM, SHOCKER, soap alert and GLAM, you can see why this it fits this theory. The thrill of excitement in the titles draws in the youth's attention.

Contents Page Analysis: Billboard

The simple layout of this contents page represents it as popular magazine. However the layout is filled quite heavily with text, this connotes that there is a lot to be read about in the magazine. The colour palette sticks to the same simple colours in the logo; black, red, yellow, blue and green. This represents it as a well known magazine. Because of the simple layout of this contents page I feel it aims at a slightly older target audience. However I do feel that it fits Stanley Hall's 1904 theory that "Adolescence is a time of stress and storm, making teenagers common mood a state of depression." The pale blue and grey effect of the page almost seems like it connotes sadness and a dull setting for the magazine.

Double Page Spread Analysis: Billboard

Shakira is dressed simply, this shows that she doesn't have to dress up for the magazine and is not being sexualised in any way. This represents her as a strong character. This also goes against Laura Mulvey's 1975 theory of the "male gaze", this theory states that "women are seen as erotic objects of desire for the characters in the story or people in the audience." Because of her natural beauty, she does not need to show off her body to be seen as pretty or sexy. Her natural features make her attractive enough. Her smile connotes she is confident and doesn't need to be sexualised to show this.

Front Page Analysis: Billboard

The colour palette shows female connotations, I think this is because the deep purple has connotations of love, calmness and it is a female orientated colour in general. The font is simple, this connotes that it is easy to read and shows the simplicity of the magazine without the ned of fancy fonts. The image shows a medium close up of Shakira. Her pose is bold, this has a representation of power and shows that she is strong. However pretty and delicate with her hair flowing and makeup perfectly applied. This image, is not like your typical magazine front cover image. Shakira is  plainly dressed, well covered up and looks very respectable. This goes against Laura Mulvey's theory of the "male gaze". Her theory states that women are seen as " erotic objects of desire for the audience to enjoy." Shakira is proving this all wrong by looking gorgeous, yet classy in this very feminine image.