1. Task 4
IPC is a magazine company that was put together in the year of 1963 joining the
UK’s three main magazine publishers- Odham’s press, George Newnes and
Fleetway (formed internation publishing corporation- IPC.)
1. What types of magazines and target audiences have IPC been associated
with over the years?
IPC aims to target a range of audiences with a range of different magazine
preferences. For example, they have been associated with the following magazine
publishers:
Country Life, Yachting World, Caravan, NME, TV Times, Family Cycle, Marie Claire,
Nuts, The Railway Magazine, Ideal Home, Woman’s Own (a popular weekly
magazine) and Amateur Gardening/ Amateur Photographer.
These vary in the types of magazines they are and therefore what gender/age
group they are specifically aimed at. Women’s own is a popular women’s
magazine so would be aimed specifically at this gender. Whereas, magazines like
nuts and different as they are aimed at men rather than women.
2. Why might IPC be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?
What sorts of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish?
Why might alternative publishers like Bauer be appropriate?
IPC may be an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine because they are
well known magazine publishers and so people would recognise and take it into
consideration if they were to release a new magazine for this reason. IPC have
previously made music magazines with NME, this means that they have had
experience and so are able to know what audiences to attract to music magazines
and how to do this.
NME was created in 1952 and since then the music industry has changed which
means that IPC may not be up to date to make a success out of magazine
publishing. This is because internet downloading has become more and more
popular since NME first launched. The wide spread of internet downloading has
cause a major effect on the interest that audiences will take in reading music
magazines. To overcome this, IPC will need to publish a specific music magazine
that will work at attracting audiences that are the most dedicated to reading by
using a particular genre.

2. Task 4b
Research into a specific music magazine that links in some way to your chosen
genre and find out who publishes it. Do research into this publisher and why it
might or might not make a suitable publisher for your final magazine.
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is
one of the oldest trade magazines in the world; it is a magazine company which is
based on many different genres. The publisher of Billboard is Lisa Howard and the
owners are Prometheus Global Media which is organisation based in New York
and former publisher of magazines GQ and Vogue – this means that they have
had previous education and this industry and Billboard will be therefore a good
music magazine. It was launched in the year of 1995, firstly as Billboard online as
Billboard.com. Billboard has become a main source of information to there music
fans providing information about artists, albums, singles, your promoters,
publishers and many more.
Billboards publisher would be a good publisher for my own magazine because it is
a well known and successful magazine that specialises in chart music. My
magazine will be based on R ‘n’ B which is a genre based within chart music. My
magazine will have information about the top R ‘n’ B music at that time and where
they are in the charts, Billboard is a good magazine to look at for help with this.
Other publishers may also be good to use for my magazine. Publishers such as,
Bauer and IPC who have produced Kerrang and MOGO magazine being other
successful and well known magazines. Bauer is a magazine publisher that has
published magazine for all sorts of genres rather than specialising in one like
Billboard does- this may also be another reason it would be a good publisher to
use.
IPC have published NME- this is a very large and well known magazine and could
be good publishers for me to use for my own magazine also for this reason. NME
is an extremely successful magazine although they have only had experience of
publishing 1 music magazine so doesn’t have as much experience as Prometheus
who published Billboard.
Task 5
Research into similar music magazines on which you could base your magazine.
Map out possible ideas for your music magazine including names, possible
musical genres and ideas for articles.
Task 6

3. Choose a musical genre/genres to feature in your magazine. List the names of
bands/artists that are part of this genre, a brief history of the genre and the type
of imagery associated with it.
The musical genre I have chosen for my magazine will be R ‘n’ B.
Names of bands/artists:
Nicki Minaj
Jay Sean
Chris brown
Tu Pac
Eminem
Janet Jackson
Jay-z
Ciara
Beyonce
Rihanna
Kanye west
Drake
Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B, R'n'B or RnB) is the name given to a wide-
ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s
and early 1950s. The term R ‘n’ B has regularly changed in meaning over the
years. In the early 1950s and beyond, the term "rhythm and blues" was frequently
applied to blues records, for example - John Lee Hooker's "I'm in the Mood"
became number-one on Billboard R&B Music Charts. Starting in the 1960s, after
this style of music helped with the production of "rock and roll", the term "R&B"
became used to refer to music styles that developed from electric blues, as well
as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, the term "rhythm and blues" was being
used as a term for soul and funk. Since the 1990s, the term "Contemporary R&B"
has been used to refer to a modern version of soul and pop music.
The imagery that is associated with this specific genre of music is if a particular
kind. The people presented on the fronts of the magazine are presented as
outgoing and possibly unfriendly. In comparison, pop magazines such as “top of
the tops” seem to present the people used on the front covers as friendly and
smiling whereas in this genre of music the people are more reserved – either
looking away or have a frown on there face. The men are dressed in baggy clothes
which portray them as bad boys – this will attract certain readers. The women are
presented as sexy to male readers as the clothes they are wearing are very
revealing. These are examples of the imagery that R ‘n’ B is associated with.
SECTION B. AUDIENCE RESEARCH
Task 7
Audience Research using quantitative methods such as questionnaires

4. Audience Research: You need to carry out research into your target audience.
Produce a questionnaire focusing on 2 areas: their knowledge about the genre(s)
you will be covering (helping you work out where to ‘pitch’ your magazine) and
also their views on music magazines (stylistic preferences, approaches they have
found successful, for example). You should summarise your findings and indicate
how what you have found will influence your final product.
Task 8
Audience Research using qualitative methods such as Focus groups.
Interview 4-6 people who would be members of your target audience (eg if you are
making a rock magazine that targets males aged 16-19, you would be expected to
do a focus on this group of people. You need to find out any specific information
that you have not already found out from your questionnaires such as their
detailed preferences or opinions on some of your choices. Summarise your
findings and highlight how these will affect the making of your final product
SECTION C –PLANNING
Task 9
Write out a Formal Proposal. Use the subheadings below to make notes.
You proposal should contain the following:
Title of magazine you wish to produce – R ‘n’ B #MIX
Explanation of choice of genre – My choice of genre is R ‘n’ B (rhythm and
blues). I have chosen this genre because I feel it is a popular genre of music
nowadays. It is possibly not as popular as other genres though, such as
mainstream pop (chart music).because this is such a popular genre there is a
lot of music magazines in the industry today. Whereas the R ‘n’ B genre I feel
is lacking music magazines and there is more space in the industry for this
genre of magazine. R ‘n B is a genre that I am interested in myself and so feel
I will do the best in creating a magazine based on this rather than other
genres. I know a lot about the artists involved in this genre and so this gives
me more knowledge also.

5. Target audience – My target audience will be both males and females from
the age range 15-21. I have chosen this as my target audience because first
of all it is a genre that will attract both males and females so I will use this to
my advantage and aim to attract more readers by using neutral colours. The
magazine will attract mainly this age group because these are the ages of
people who I feel will be most interested in the magazine. I will work at
attracting my target audience based on a certain age and gender by carefully
choosing particular colours, images and text to use. It has to attract my target
audience. Because the age range is young I will make sure my text is not to
formal so they are able to understand and therefore take interest in what the
magazines about.
Initial ideas about front page – My main aim is to make my front page striking
and eye catching for the readers by using just one image so the front page
doesn’t look too crowded. I have been looking at the music magazine “vibe”
which is a magazine based on the specific genre of R ‘n’b that I am basing
mine on as well. I have used this magazine for inspiration as I think it is a
successful music magazine. I will try to make my front page exciting for my
readers with stories that will interest them in reading the magazine. The
colours I will use for my front page will be a limited colour pallet as I feel this
will fit in the best with my chosen genre so I will use just two subtle colours
and one bright colour rather than lots of bright colours – I think the target
audience will prefer this too look at also.
Initial ideas about contents page – My contents page, like my front cover will
work at attracting the readers to carry on reading the magazine with lots of
stories based on new artists, chart updates, celebrity gossip on R ‘n’ B artists,
some more striking images (more than two on the contents page for added
interest) and lastly, tour dates and album reviews. This means that my
contents page will be packed with useful information about things that are in
comparison to my specific genre and are relevant to the interest of my target
audiences. I will use two images on my contents page of two different people
unlike on my front page where I have chosen to use just one. The colours used

6. will be the same as the colours used for my front page so my magazine as a
whole looks professional. The text used will also be the same.
Initial ideas about double page spread - The double page spread will have
(like on the front page) a different main image of the same person I have
used for my front cover as this is what the article will be about. The image will
be either on the left hand side and I will make the page look fancy by having
larger text for certain parts of the article (the bits that will be more interesting
and eye catching for the readers) which will influence them to read the whole
article. At the top of the double page spread, in large eye catching and bold
text I will write the person’s name so the readers automatically know that’s it
an article and who it is I am writing about. I will stick to the same colour and
text choices throughout my whole magazine.
Initial ideas about photographs – I have already taken some images that I will
use in my magazine. I carefully chose the way my person was presented for
the magazine by choosing a specific outfit, makeup and hair style. I looked at
“Vibe” for inspiration and tried to follow the way that they have presented
there people in the magazine. The clothes I chose wear tight fitting and quite
revealing because this the same as it was in “Vibe”. I chose to dress her in the
colour black for this same reason and it is quite a simple colour. Instead of
having my person just standing I decided to have a more exciting and unique
pose which will work at interesting my readers more in the main image. I will
use another image of this person in the article and pictures of completely
different people for my contents page so my magazine is more interesting and
different page by page, this means it will not become boring for my readers.
Task 10
You now need to draw detailed drafts of your cover, contents page and article.
Task 11
Take photographs-“Original Images” (minimum of 4) that you intend to use.