1) The document discusses planning a hip hop magazine targeted at teenagers aged 16-24 living in urban areas. 2) The magazine will not target a specific gender or ethnicity as hip hop appeals widely, but will mainly target lower-income groups in social classes E through C2 who aspire to hip hop styles. 3) In order to attract this target audience, the magazine must portray women appropriately while still reflecting hip hop fashion conventions, and be priced affordably between £2-3.

1. AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS...

2. The genre I will be aiming at… The magazine I will be creating will be of the hip hop genre. This is because hip hop is a well known and popular genre and has its own unique sense of style. Due to the popularity of the hip hop genre I believe creating a magazine based on it will attract a large audience.

3. AGE Before constructing my magazine I will have to take in to consideration my target audience; as I have chosen hip hop as my genre the age range will be from about sixteen to twenty four years. This is because people around these ages are usually interested in hip hop. Also hip hop is a genre which has a sense of style which usually aims at the younger target market. This could be a perception of a male star or a hip hop fan who aspire to be like their male stars.

4. Gender My magazine will not be aimed at a particular gender as hip hop is a genre which can be adapted to both male and females. Also aiming it at both genders will broaden the target market attracting a larger audience. The gender of the artist will play a vital role in attracting the buyer. If a male or female artist is featured on the magazine they can be used to attract the opposite gender, also the featured person on the magazine could cause people to aspire to be like their gender.

5. SOCIAL CLASS Hip hop is a genre aimed mainly at urban areas, who could range from the E ,D, C1 and C2 category on the demographic scale. I believe this is because hip hop originated from a lower class society therefore my magazine will be aimed at people lower down on the demographic scale. Teenagers would fit in to the E category as they are mainly unemployed (some teenagers may have part time jobs). Although hip hop is usually aimed at urban areas and people lower down on the demographic scale there will be some people from the higher categories who are interested in and aspire to be the perceived "cool" and because hip hop is known as a cool genre they would probably buy my magazine. Also hip hop is beginning to take a peek in to the middle class society. Due to the social class of the main target audience of my magazine, it will be around the price range of two -three pound (which is quite cheap for a music magazine). SOCIAL GROUP I believe my magazine will be aimed at typical teenagers who live in inner city urban areas. Although these teenagers do not have parents with disposable income they tend to have the latest gadgets and designer clothes worn by their favourite hip hop icons or stars. They will be teenagers who usually spend most of their time surfing the web using sites like “Facebook, Twitter, MySpace” etc.

6. EMPLOYMENT Another factor that contributes to the price of the magazine is whether the target audience is employed or not. As my main target audience are teenagers they would usually be unemployed (as some teenagers could have part time jobs) ) therefore keeping the magazine cheap would be more appropriate. Also teenagers in the social class category I have selected do not have parents with disposable income therefore I have to take in to account not only how much they would be willing to pay but how much they are able to pay. People with disposable income are higher up on the demographic scale, these are people like doctors, lawyers etc. As these people earn a lot of money magazines for them can be more expensive. This is why classical music magazines which are usually aimed at the upper class market are more expensive.

7. Ethnicity Urban areas are areas which are extremely multi-cultural, also although there are many different types of ethnic groups, the target audience I have selected usually tend to follow the trend or what they perceive as "cool" therefore my magazine will not be aimed at a particular ethnic group but will be aimed at a number of ethnic groups as young people in inner city areas aspire to be what is referred to as "in" or "cool”.

8. REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN HIP HOP Hip hop is a genre which has a bad reputation for the way in which women are represented. This is because it portrays women in a very sexualised, provocative manner. This is done through the use of clothing (short skirts, tops that show off the cleavage, belly tops etc.) and their body language. An example of a hip hop song which has taken this portrayal of women to the extreme is Nelly Country Grammar where women are wearing minimal clothing and dancing in seductive ways, in this song the male is pleased by this. Men are also portrayed as very sexual people by the way in which they respond to the women. In my magazine I would like to break the way in which women are portrayed by having my artist dressed more appropriately however I will still follow the conventions of hip hop clothing by choosing something that is cool ( a aspect of the hip hop genre). You can see from this hip hop magazine the portrayal of women is extremely sexualised. Vibe ( a hip hop magazine) magazine has done this through the provocative manner in which the star is posing and due to the fact she is wearing minimal clothing.

9. PSHYCODYNAMICS My target audience will mainly fit in to the spectators category. These are basically people who are referred to as “followers” as they tend to follow the trend or what is “in”. Basically they are aspirers. They do this by wearing the clothes worn by their stars as it gives them a sense of stardom and makes them feel like their stars. Also people in this category want to be successful . As they want society to view them as rich influential people like their icons and stars they tend to wear designer brands and have expensive gadgets which are ways in which they aspire to be like their stars. As you can see from these psychodynamics, my audience could be a free form of advertising. This is if some of my target audience fit in to the category of the creators and critics, they could target people with a joiners personality increasing the market. Although my main target audience will be spectators I am sure their will be some people who fit in to the other categories.

10. MALE TEENAGER (ASPIRER) WHO WOULD BUY MY MAGAZINE… They wear tops on which you can clearly see the designer label, this is an aspect of their follower personalities trying male them selves feel wealthier then they actually are (aspiring). Designer (New era) caps Designer Trainers Designer jeans on which you can clearly see the brand. Jeans usually be baggy and loose.

11. FEMALE TEENAGER (ASPIRER) WHO WOULD BUY MY MAGAZINE… MAGAZINE… Female aspirers also tend to wear designer brands which are usually quite expensive. I believe that both the genders do this because of the aspirer/ follower personalities they have. They want to be some thing bigger and better like their stars.