Audience Feedback

The following is listeners of grime music's responses to my magazine idea, I asked for opinions and suggestions and ideas for improvements.

'Good idea, I think it's smart to make the focus of the magazine about the music genre and not about listeners.'

'I like the idea, I think you should stick with a monochrome colour scheme, black and white suits Grime music.'

'Looking forward to seeing the end magazine product, i think its a good idea.'

'Nice ideas, but I think from your test shots their needs to be improvement for when you take your actual photos, the mock artists look uncomfortable, maybe try different people?'

'Great idea, I can't think of improvements.'

'Nice ideas, I like the name idea but I think it would be better just being called: Grime Culture.'

'Well thought out ideas, I think you should make your magazine similar to the mock up, it suits the music genre well.'

'Definitely go with black and white colour scheme, the artists should also look serious in their photos.'

'Has potential to work really well, I think you can get away with using other people for your artists as long as the design of the magazine is done correctly as well as the correct clothing is used for the artists.'

'Good ideas, you have a good opportunity to be unique as there are no current grime magazines and so you can set your own guidelines.'

'A simplistic tone would suit your magazine ideas'

After reviewing the comments made on my magazine idea I have decided on the following things.
 - I will be changing the magazine name to 'Grime Culture', abbreviated to 'GC'.
 - I will most likely change the people used for my magazine, I will however choose the appropriate clothing they will wear for the photos.
 - I will be using a black and white colour scheme, however some colour may be used in selective places to draw attention to certain things.
 - I will use a simple layout with only important things to the reader shown on the magazine cover.

Test photos

Flatplan designs

These are my flat plan designs, after taking my test photos I will decide what style will best fit for my final magazine.

Magazine mock up

Review of peer's pitches

My reply to Amber's magazine

My reply to Amelia's magazine:

My reply to Amy's magazine:

My reply to Aran's magazine:

My reply to Bridie's magazine:

My reply to Charles' magazine:

My reply to Charlotte's magazine:

My reply to Edie's magazine:

My reply to Eleanor's magazine:

My reply to Ellie's magazine:

My reply to Emily's magazine:

My reply to Jack Goodman's magazine:

My reply to Jack Horne's magazine:

My reply to Olivia Hill's magazine:

My reply to Olivia Hughes's magazine:

My reply to Shannon's magazine:

My reply to Tom's magazine: 

Replies to my pitch

From reviewing comments made by my peers I have seen that I have gained lots of praise for my ideas, there were no offers for improvement which can only lead me to believe I have been successful in my ideas and how I pitched them to class mates. Despite this, I can't be too assured from these replies that my magazine has been completely thought out and will be appealing as only a finite amount of these replies came from fans of the grime genre effectively voiding their opinions if they are not fans.

Analysis of an institution

International publishing company

IPC media is one of the UK's leading consumer magazine and digital publishers, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. IPC groups its magazines under five different categories: Womens weekly, leisure and specialist, men's lifestyle and entertainment, women's lifestyle and home interests, and television. They own music magazines 'NME' and 'Guitar and Bass'

IPC would be a suitable institution to publish my magazine as they are based in the United Kingdom, they also work in the music magazine industry already. The 'NME' magazine is similar in terms of the genres of music it promotes to what I plan to make my magazine into. Therefore the institution would already have experience working with magazines similar to my own which would allow them to adapt current knowledge to fit my magazine and would also be confident taking on my magazine and ensuring it becomes a success.

Using IPC would be more beneficial than using other institutions such as 'Bauer Media Group' which are a large German publishing company based in Hamburg which operates in 15 countries worldwide as although it is a music magazine that publishes 'Q', 'MOJO' and 'Kerrang' it is based in a different company and would not be suitable for a small start up magazine based in the UK.

Language Register and style decision

Language register from davo28

After reading these magazine extracts I have decided to use an informal style of writing and use slang to promote my magazine as it will be the most effective at connecting with my target audience. I will look to write information in a similar style as to how it would be told from one friend to another in conversation.

25 word pitch

Audience profile

The audience I will target for my music magazine will be fans of Grime music, typically male but also female aged 15-25, the age bracket is chosen based on the ages when teens first start going to parties and listening to a wider range of music genres besides chart music, typically grime as it is a popular form of music played at parties and nights out due to it's catchy backing tracks and memorable lyrics. For example Stormzys 'Shut up' and Skepta 'Thats not me' both have such memorable hooks that even some people uninterested in grime know them. Also the magazine will not be targeted at younger than 14 due to some explicit content most songs contain referring to drugs, alcohol and crime. It will target more inner city youths who typically are not seen to be as well off as other youths as grime music itself is also this way. The audience will want the magazine to use modern slang so they can associate the articles and the way they are written in the same way they would then tell friends about the topic, this would make the audience feel like the magazine is personally made for them and their needs.

Audience research

As grime music is a music genre I am interested in highly myself, I searched UK tribes for tribes I would apply to and found similar ones to these. This way i have found descriptions on the types of people I will be targeting as my audience. The following is the information I gathered:

Most of the tribes I will be targeting as my audience come under the same section, this is the 'Urban" section on UK tribes. The Urban segment is intrinsically linked to inner city living – young people living in busy multicultural hubs, with rich and varied influences, where wealth and poverty sit side by side – and with access to the latest sounds, clubs and fashion.

Across all segments, Urban Tribes are strongly influenced by what they see and experience in their immediate environment – many cite family, church and the local community as huge influences. Being part of the ‘local’ scene is key – there’s enthusiasm for supporting grass roots talent and local movements, and many Urbans identify themselves with a specific area in the city – such the grime duo Newham Generals or gangs across big cities.

Urbans are best known for music – from r’n’b, grime, UK bass and funky to old school jungle and rap. Members are proactive in their search for new sounds, getting behind new releases, picking up digital mix tapes and sharing them with their social networks. Urban Tribes play a hugely important role in dictating the artists that break through to the mainstream. 

The individual tribes are:

The Get Paid crew: More straight-laced than their innovative DIYer cousins and likely to be working hard to set up their own business, get a good job and make money, money, money – once connected to dodgy dealings, there is now a huge amount of respect for the success orientated GPCs. 

Due to the tough backgrounds of many grime artists, self made money is seen as important and a very valuable thing to the grime industry with many songs being based on the matter, therefore this type of people would be a good audience to target.

Stylers: Stylers hold strong on the UK Tribes map – innately cool and stylish, the rising influence of Urban fashion and music have made them a hugely aspirational Tribe for youth today. As luxe sportswear and Urban high fashion has hit the Aspirants, more young people than ever before are looking like a Styler and aspiring to their luxury lifestyle.

Grime music can also be a fashion statement as it is often associated with designer clothing, therefore this tribe will also be a target audience for my music magazine. 

Trackies: They’re all about hanging out, playing sports and computer games, ordering pizza and getting their hands on a bit of weed! Typically seen as those with the potential to achieve but lacking in motivation, these guys just want to chill out man! Because grime music is known for its catchy backing tracks and meaningful lyrics, often fans will listen to it in a chilled out atmosphere meaning this group of people would be perfect for a magazine to be targeted at.

In conclusion, my target audience will be aimed at the 'Urban" category on UK Tribes as their personalities fit best for grime music.

Music playlist

https://soundcloud.com/davo2802/sets/media-coursework-music

This is a link to my soundcloud playlist for my magazine, I couldn't embed it to my blog due to internet problems.

Moodboard

This is my moodboard, it contains photos of things I like and associate grime music too, I hope it will help find the correct style when designing my magazine. It also contains the fashion pictures as they are still relevant to this moodboard.

Relevant fashion

Above is a collection of fashion and styling pictures associated with grime music, as it is a genre of music I am most interested I also follow these styles of clothing and footwear and therefore I did not have to research too much and I have no worries that this may be wrong.