1. {
Evaluation of Music
Magazine cover,
contents and Double
page spread.
Shelby Hincal – AS MEDIA STUDIES

2. I believe that my media product, which in this case is a music magazine develops the
codes and conventions of real media products of the same category rather than challenge
these. I have demonstrated the use of knowledge by using the codes and conventions
used in real music magazines. Altering the magazine so it fits within the same category
whilst creating my own take on the indie genre. I chose the name “INDiEPENDENT” as I
believe it resembles the genre well, based on the history of independent industry. Indie
rock comes from the word "independent” hence the name INDiEPENDENT toys with the
original word and the audience can begin to develop an understanding of where the term
indie actually derives from. Another reason I used “INDiEPENDENT “as the name for
my music magazine was, that Is represents the typical 16-24 year old age group are
usually very independent as they are beginning to find themselves and take their own
paths from teenagers to young adults. I believe I have developed the “typical”
photography used in music magazine, which is generally either in full or just black and
white. I have developed this by creating black and white images with colour preserved in
areas of the photo. I did this by adding colour filters, changing to black and white and
preserving colour in one area of the photo. I did this as it adds a twist on the traditional
colour photo for a front cover as you rarely see this style used. I think the style works well
as it expresses individuality, a feature I have seen expressed in the indie genre and the
music industry frequently. Many social groups are represented by my media product.
The age range is the “typical” 16-24 year old”, as I believe my product is right for a
college or university student, as these tend to be the generation who turn to music as
methods of escape or to unwind from the stresses of study and exams. From research I
have found that there is a gap in the market for this type of product. I believe that my
media product is suitable to both female and male readers but may have a higher rate of
female readers due to the appeal of the female model. To ensure I had a mix of gender
readers I ensured that the cover was appealing to both female readers may relate to the
model in an aspiring manner where male readers might find the model visually
appealing in order that they might purchase the magazine. The 16-24 year old category
are usually people with a greater disposable income. I am confident that they would want
to buy this on a monthly basis. The product would also relate to the users of social media
networks. This again relates to the target age range. The product offers web 2.0 sites such
as Facebook and Twitter options for readers. In this way the audience can keep up to date
and will gain assurance that the quality of the product is reliable and worthwhile as they
would dedicate their time to reading it. As the magazine is aimed at young adults, I
wanted to portray my target audience in a way that breaks the prevalent media
stereotype , without associating 16-24 year old with drugs, violence and crime because
not all young people should be characterised this way. I believe that my magazine helps
to aspire young artists to follow their dreams and helps others to get motivated by
reading other young artist’s success stories. I wanted to show this throughout my
magazine so I researched PJ Harvey, an English musician, who projects an unorthodox
view of feminity which is more androgynous. She does not wear a lot of make-up which
makes more realistic. This is what I wanted to achieve in my front cover. I did this by
portraying a young artist on my front cover who has written on her stomach giving her a
rebellious image. The word written is “indie”. This way the magazine establishes its main
messages clearly as the magazine is focused on message: independent music.

3. One media institution that might distribute my media product could be Bauer Media:
This is because it reaches over 19 million people across the UK using multiple media and
formats adding a music magazine title to its collection purely based on indie will increase
the amount of consumers reading Bauer’s media products. In addition, Bauer media does
not have a magazine fully dedicated to indie in their market, but instead have magazines
such as SmashHits, Kerrang and Q, which have a broad range of music it covers. So
adding a different type of music genre will increase interest in the genre. Bauer Media
also has Bauer Radio, which consists of Heat Radio, Q Radio, Smash Hits! Radio and The
Hits Radio which are available on DAB and Free view. Having an Indie music magazine
may encourage the audience to start a radio station, which broadcast Indie music in order
for Bauer to increase the number of people viewing their media via magazine and radio
so increasing their sales overall. My magazine is targeted at a less stereotypical image of
youth, and represents those who are interested in the more independent side of music
and culture. This is represented through the magazine with the use of repeated colours
such as red, white and a bright blue. Instead of using primary, younger colours such as
pinks and yellows, the magazine is automatically represented to an older more
sophisticated audience, but also not to a mainstream music audience which the magazine
is targeted at and created for. I believe that my music magazine, “INDiEPENDENT”
portrays a niche market of indie and would be successfully aimed at the social group or
class of 16 – 24 year olds, these are the older teenagers who are turning into young
mature adults who are trying to build their confidence and become independent
individuals. I believe I have attracted my audience through manipulation of technology. I
did this in Photoshop and changed the images to black and white as I thought this
worked well and added a eccentric touch to the independent music genre. On the cover
photo I added a slight red filter and preserved the colour of the models earrings. I also
did this with the feature photo on the double page spread by preserving the colour of the
guitar to make the focus of music still evident in the magazine. It attracts the audiences
by reflecting the codes and conventions of the genre of independent music, through the
emotions the central images demonstrates. For example the facial expressions are very
soft creating a wistful content atmosphere for the entire magazine. My aim in terms of
images used was to develop and construct an emotion which mirrors the happier and
carefree side of being a young mature adult. I did this in order for the genre to become
more recognisable and attractive to its audience. The use of colour and font used four
main colours: red, white, and black with a subtle hint of blue as I found that the blue
could be too overpowering. In terms of addressing the audience, I think these colours
worked successfully as I think they are colours to be used when relating them to the Indie
genre. In order to attract my target demographic, I included features such as freebies by
including a free poster as a strap line for the cover of my product. This way the audience
feel obliged to buy the magazine just to get the award of the freebie, attracting them to
the magazine even more as they might purchase it again the month after. The social
group of 16-24 year olds may be still living with their parents, in full time education or
have a part time job so money is restricted. Therefore, I ensured that my product would
be a monthly not weekly magazine encouraging them to buy, as it will only be published
twelve times a year, compared to fifty – two times a year if it was a weekly magazine.
I felt that the design is the one of the most important part in attracting the audience.

4. I decided to go with a simplistic layout for the front cover but used the photo as the
focus. The masthead slightly overlapped the models head but did not take away from
the image, and I used a simple yet modern and bold font as i think it works best with the
edited image. I used white and red as they both worked against the main image and do
not blend in or take away the overall balancing the cover successfully. I included two
cover lines on either side to balance the cover out and the main cover line across the
model. This way the whole cover balanced itself out and worked together making it
visually appealing to the audience. The contents page was successful as it was a
simplistic layout but it worked due to the choice of font a colour. For the double page
spread I used a title, which looked a bit like an old cinema sign as it looked visually
appealing and made you wonder what the artist was like and what their story was. The
article was placed in columns as I thought they worked well with the image and layout
of the page , especially with the enlarged quote on the left with the images this tied the
double page together in terms of composition. Throughout the process of making my
music magazine I have learnt many new skills. Doing this task helped me expand my
knowledge, get a general grasp on how to use new programmes for example Indesign,
which I have only had little experience of using it but after this task I am confident in
using the programme. Looking back at my preliminary task, I feel I that I have learnt
many new skills and developed my current knowledge about the production of music
magazines. For example, what social groups certain magazines appeal to and why, how
to attract a specific audience, it was the depth of research and planning I had to do, in
order to make my music magazine successful. Taking on board the feedback, which I got
after making my school magazine, and giving out questionnaires for my research on
music magazines, I believe Ihave progressed a long way, in the completion of my
finished media product. I now have a stronger knowledge and understanding of
programmes such as Adobe Photoshop Cs3 and Adobe Indesign. I have gained further
advanced knowledge of how to how to alter, filter and edit images in Photoshop and
save them in the correct format, which allows one to take across to Adobe Indesign and
then build the magazine upon.
All in all a successful music magazine was made from interpreting research into an
appropriate product for the genre of music and its audience.