Proposal

Outline

My Music Magazine that I am going to create will be a punk rock style magazine. As the genre I have chosen is punk rock (as it is my favourite genre of music and overall style) I plan to include some of the genre stereotypes for example, black clothing and red tartan, along with dark make-up. The magazine will be aimed to people my age and above so teenagers to possibly late twenties. Therefore I will use certain colours, layouts and artists that will appeal to a teenager demographic. For example the main artist will be someone who is roughly the same age/style of the target audience. I would like my music magazine to resemble other magazines like Kerrang, as it is geared towards a slightly more youthful generation due to the artists/bands used. Moreover, the style of the magazine is very punk rock and it is a good magazine to inspire mine. I will include artists along the lines of Fall Out Boy, The Pretty Reckless and Green Day in my magazine or use them as a guideline as to who my music magazine will feature. The magazine will feature a main artist that will be on all of the pages, however on things like my contents page I plan to include images and brief information about other artists to make the magazine more realistic and interesting. The clothing that I will include will be quite dark and rebellious and resemble the punk rock style. The clothing of punk rock is very distinctive and is very important to the genre as a lot of the music and lyrics is reflected in the clothing, so it is vital to portray the image that the artist fits the particular punk rock genre. The clothing style and colours will be my inspiration for my overall design, as it will be quite rough and use the colours like red, black and white. This is so people are full aware of what type of magazine genre it will be.

Purpose

The purpose of my production will be to both entertain and inform the reader. This sense of inform will be apparent in my article as I plan to write an article that includes more detailed and relevant information about the particular artist. I plan on making my magazine educational, but in a way that does not seem like you are being told a lot of information. I intend to make it interesting but at the same time informative. As it will be aimed at teenagers it is important to not make everything really wordy and long as they will not want to read and/or pay attention. Consequently I hope to provide a magazine that is interesting but not taken over by mass amount of writing, therefore I will include pictures. However, I do want to include a decent amount of information because it needs to be educational of the set genre and artists and what is currently happening to them.

The front cover will include relevant sell-lines that are short and snappy and make the reader curious. The magazine Kerrang is quite fond of using puns on their front covers which is a very good way of engaging the reader more, whilst still being informative. The magazine will have an element of playfulness due to the stage at which the artists are going through I their lives, as the featured artist will be in the same age group as the audience. Furthermore, their lives are at an exciting and more active stage so it is necessary to include this. On the other hand, I do want an element of genuine writing. Whilst it is important to keep it playful and upbeat, it is equally critical to be taken seriously and write in a way that shows the magazine is a decent magazine and knows what it is talking about.

The magazine will propose a more rebellious nature in comparison to magazines like billboard, this is due to the genre and stereotype that is accompanied with the genre of punk rock. I intend to make it clear that the magazine is pun k rock, and that it will probably have opposing views that you will find in the more mainstream/pop magazines. Therefore, the magazine will be quite honest in its views. For example if I include a rating of current albums I would be sincere and give it the rating I believe it deserves. This is because in most punk rock magazine they are quite honest and seem to be rather critical especially of other genres. However I am purely sticking to only the punk rock genre as a whole. It is important to be honest in reviews because people would like to trust a magazines opinion and it does not seem right to give an incorrect opinion. However, I would have to be careful that the magazine did not upset anyone who may like an album that the magazine gave a bad review on because if the rating is too blunt and harsh, people may stop liking the magazine.

Target Audience

The target audience of my magazine will be from teenagers to late twenties. This is due to the type of music/artists that I will include, as they will be more youthful and therefore appropriate for the target audience as they will resemble them in age and style. This is also due to the importance of the audience being able to mirror the featured artists and recognise the comparison between the two. Moreover, the audience will be the type of people that listen to punk rock and are stereotypically rebellious against society, however this is just based off the norms that society would assume people that read the magazine are like. Additionally, this means my magazine will not be too conserved and formal as it would not be appropriate to the audience and it will also not be too expensive as the target ages would probably not have masses of money.

The audience can use the magazine as a way of informing themselves about the current music industry of the punk rock genre, and what is happening in terms of artists, festivals, albums etc. In addition they would use it for entertainment purposes as it is there to entertain them and not be boring so it could be a fun way to gather information about the latest music. Furthermore, it can be used as a topic of conversation between friends as they can talk about the magazine and the issues raised inside the magazine.

Business Model:

The magazine would be weekly as I am using Kerrang magazine as a big influence and that is a weekly magazine. This means that the magazine would not be terribly long as the target audience will not want to read hundreds of pages. Moreover, as it is smaller and weekly it would reduce the cost of a single magazine as there is less content/pages to print on. Also as it is weekly it means it can be seen as more of a way of entertaining people as it is like waiting for a new episode of a TV show, but instead people are waiting for a new issue of a magazine.

Ensuring a loyal audience is key to the selling success of the magazine, and I would do this by having a running theme throughout the issues eg every week have a list of the best songs out in the punk rock genre and creating some sort of continuity that people would expect to see in the magazine. As well as making it well written and decent in quality so people are not disappointed and stay loyal. In addition, the magazine would not be too harsh in its opinions eg about a new album (but still be opinionated) so people are not offended and dislike it.

To create brand awareness I would utilise social media a lot as it is so popular now a-days and my target audience would be very active on social network. For example, I would include and instagram, youtube, facebook and twitter account (that I would make up) for people to follow that like the magazine and get the latest information, or keep the updated with regards to the magazine. The twitter and instagram accounts would be included in the magazine eg at the bottom of the contents page, so people can see it. Also, I would create an online magazine, along with a website that people could go on and subscribe to. If they subscribe they can get an online version of the magazine, and if they don’t subscribe (like the Kerrang website) there will be a snip-it of each weekly issue, eg the front cover, double page spread and a couple other pages, but not much of the magazine, so they can get a preview of what the magazine is like if they have never heard of it, or just kept up to date on the couple stories. Maybe, also sponsor some music events and familiarise people with the name of the magazine. As long as people are familiar with the name then there is more of a chance they would buy it.

Content of Magazine

The magazine will contain things like a double page spread (featuring the main artists) a front cover and contents page, other pages that tell other stories that are relevant to the present and the genre. Furthermore, it will have eye-catching pictures that will correlate with the style of punk rock. Some of the more intricate features of the magazine will be things like freebies on the front, a weekly update of a best songs out that week featuring punk rock artists, monthly honest reviews of current albums, some of those reviews will be written by the magazine team others will be reviews written from subscribers or music fanatics, moreover they could be tweets that people have written in to a specific hashtag and they would be included in the magazine. Additionally, it will include tour updates from artists and festival updates eg dates of tours/festivals, pictures from the events. As well as brief interviews with upcoming artists/current artists and exclusives from them. Also a fun extra could be if you scan a bar code with your phone you could see a video of the featured artist performing.

Content of Feature Article

The style of the writing would be well written and education/informative, however it would also be entertaining and fun to read. The featured article would be talking about the current life of the featured artist eg a new album, how they have overcome obstacles to get to the stage they are at. It will not be gossipy or in an interview format, instead it will be the artist talking about how they have got to where they are and a brief overview of their past. Along with their current plans and what is happening at the moment, most likely a new album and some sort of upcoming tour. Therefore, I will also include their tour dates and maybe a review of the album and a review of one of the tour shows either from a fan or a magazine worker. The purpose of the article is to inform people about the current life of the artist but keep it related to the musical/carer side of their life. Whilst also keeping it fun and entertaining and avoid being too serious but also not silly so people do not take it seriously.

The purpose of making this draft proposal is so that when I start making my magazine I can refer to all of the ideas in my proposal and reference them. I can also see if I have followed or changed any of my initial ideas for my magazine.