7. Looking back at my preliminary task, what do i feel i've learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 

Looking back at my preliminary task, I think I have mainly learnt how to give my magazine cover a more authentic and realistic look by using different tools within the "Canva" program, and concentrating on the finer details, like choosing fonts that sync well together and a colour scheme that suits my genre and speaks to my target audience which is teens and young adults. I would also say I have improved on the visuals and my cover photo from my preliminary task, I took a lot more care selecting and editing a photo which would convey the message of my magazine whilst also giving a clear depiction of my genre. Overall I think my music magazine cover outshines my school magazine cover based purely on the authenticity of it, this is down to the more carefully chosen colour scheme, fonts and finer detail that I did not think about the first time around.

6. What have I learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the time I have taken producing my coursework and ultimately creating my magazine, I have used a variety of technologies, computer software's and programmes, and also props and equipment. They have all aided the production process of my magazine and over time I have required new knowledge and skill I previously was unaware of, whilst also developing and expanding the skills I had already when it comes to computers and IT.


I primarily used blogger to publish and showcase my whole coursework. It wasn't the easiest thing to use at first due to it being completely new to me, however over time I started to get the hang of it and began to find features that enhanced my written work and make it look more presentable, I am pleased with how my coursework has turned out I couldn't of achieved it using a different site. It was effective and there was no hassle if I wanted to edit posts or move them around.



Canva was another programme I used during my coursework, I first used it for my preliminary task and later used it to construct my final product. This was also completely new to me and unlike anything I have used before so it took my a fair while to get to grips with it and how it works, you can see this with the difference between my preliminary task and final outcome. It had loads of different styles and editing features you can use and many magazine covers you can use for inspirations.




I used Photoshop which is unarguably the best editing software out there, I am quite familiar with this programme prior to this task, so this was not hard to get a hang of. Especially as my photos did not need that much editing anyway, just a few colour alterations and cutting out of the background, this is by far my favourite editing software and the one I enjoyed using the most.

5. What kind of media institution might distribute my media product and why?

A media institution is defined as a company that makes and distributes media products, specifically for my chosen media product, magazines. This can be undertaken using various methods for example, marketing or the actual production.

On my previous blog spot I briefly spoke about two different magazine publishing companies, Bauer and Time Inc. Both are arguably the biggest publishers in the industry, so which one would I choose to print my magazine? Bauer have produced such magazines like "Q" and "Kerrang" whereas Time Inc. produce less music magazines however are still responsible for the production of "NME". My target audience is a niche audience because grime is seen as an underground genre of music that only a select group of individuals can listen to, although that is changing and grime is becoming more and more globalised. Bauer publishes a range of music magazines all varied with genres, I feel as if my magazine would add to that range however Bauer are known to publish to mass audiences and they rarely deal with smaller scale magazines like mine would be. On the other hand Time Inc. are known for taking chances on lesser known publications and media products, the biggest and most inspiring to me would be the hip hop magazine "Vibe", founded by Quincy Jones in 1993 (see History of Vibe post for more detail). At the moment the market is over saturated with too many mainstream or "pop" magazines in my opinion, in fairness "pop" stands for popular so everyone is just printing what's popular, however I see there to be a current gap in the market for which my genre of magazine can fill, there are so many fans of grime out there today that would love to read the content my magazine has to offer. As culture has taught us in the past, sometimes its the least popular things at that time that turn into the most popular later on. I think my product will satisfy though who are fed up of mainstream and trendy magazines and offer a fresh outlook and style we so desperately need.

I took a lot of inspiration from "Vibe" and see them as a similar style of magazine to mine, for this reason I would favour Time Inc. as a publishing company that I would trust to produce my product, they've had many successful prints in the past and present and I believe they would take my magazine to the top.

4. How does my media product represent particular social groups?

My target audience would be referred to as being in the social group of "roadmen". These are individuals see themselves as outcasts and extraverts; they consist of lower-class young people who use grime and social media to express their opinion which otherwise would go unheard in society. Although, I believe my audience are a sub-group, they tend to stay on trend with the things they feel are trendy or acceptable which to others would seem not, and aren’t focused on mainstream music as my audience stray away from this type of music and find new and unique styles of music many other individuals wouldn’t enjoy and find beats that many people would find odd. Therefore, my magazine will speak to and reflect their taste in music however they can be careful when selecting other forms of media to enjoy or use to express and so that is why I included a varied choice of artists and MCs to appeal to all sub-genres of grime, from freestyle to garage. My artist on my final front cover of my music magazine is defiantly representative of my chosen audiences social group; he is wearing clothes that many of my readers would consider regular clothes and this will in turn call out to them and give a personal vibe, he is also standing arms folded with one finger pointing upwards, this is quite a common pose when my chose social group take photos. The social groups I have not included within my audience would be those of whom are the "mainstreamers", these are individuals just follow trends, and whatever is pop grime at the current time, which means grime tracks that would be in the official charts, for example Skepta, rather than finding their own sound and artists who aren’t as well-known but have considerably better beats and lyrics. These people are excluded because my magazine only follows on or two mainstream artists as to appeal to a wider audience whilst also staying original and keeping that underground craftsmanship.

2. Who's the audience for my media product? & 3. How did I attract/address my audience?

2. When choosing my genre for my magazine, one critical factor I took into account was what music I enjoyed listening to and what spoke to me as both an individual and my social group. For this reason I chose to do grime/UK rap, as this is the genre of music I personally enjoy the most along with my group of friends, it is something we really connect to. So in order to decide the target audience for my magazine I had to first identify the demographic of grime music as whole as this is who I expect and want to buy my magazine, due to the terminology used and subject matters which will in turn only mean something to as select group of individuals. As it so happened, I found this group to be both males and females between the ages of 16 and 25. This is also partly why I chose grime as my genre, it is not gender specific and although the younger generation will only tend to enjoy it, the music has such a wide net of all ages, genders, ethnicities and religions. 

(see Ideal Reader post for further detail on the specifics)

Penumbra Effect

The penumbra effect is basically an individual or group of individuals buy your product even though they do not fit your target audience. As the grime genre is an ever expanding and growing genre in this modern day, with more and more listeners daily I have prepared for this effect as to reduce cause of discrimination against any social groups or demographics. My magazine is targeted at a smaller audience then many other products as to give it a more personal and less saturated feel, so for the penumbra effect to take place is unlikely however it could happen, as history of rap has taught us, anyone can get into the music and it speaks to everyone.

3. I will attract and address my target audience by making the prose and content seem as if it speaks to them personally, based on their own experiences and lifestyle, I have made my magazine offer an outlet to escape from many of my audiences life struggles or problems, immerse themselves and get lost listening to their favourite MCs whilst having them speak directly to them via the words on the page. The content is such a vital part of a good magazine, and I have chosen particularly captivating font types, word choices and colour schemes to draw the audience in. I want my magazine and the music genre of grime to go hand in hand, so in order to capture this I wrote the mode of address seem as they could be lyrics in a track, whilst this was hard to do in places I feel in particular the interview really spoke a story that could easily have been real lyrics in a real rap or grime song.

1. In what ways does my media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Front Cover

 

 

My cover includes:

• Masthead
• Issue/Date
• Price
• Barcode
• Main cover line
• Subheadings
• A Main image
• A Tag line

For my final cover design I chose to use various bodies of texts and fonts to surround my main image in the centre, I feel that this gives it an authentic look and makes it look more professional. I chose each font because they reflected the register and the genre of the magazine well and they all sort of go well together. 

The bottom text of the cover is lapped over the main image, I did this to create a sense of depth and a kind of 3D effect. I found out, in my research that most other rap magazine covers had their main image covering part of the masthead, or the name of the magazine itself, so I tried to capture this in my design, again, to give it a more authentic feel to it.

The main image was the most difficult to get right I found, it had to come across as street and threatening but not off putting, I think I chose the right image from my photo shoot as it also shows him pointing at the text that tells the reader about his interview, I feel that this is quite effective at capturing the readers attention.


The clothes he is wearing also reflect the genre of the magazine perfectly as this is what most grime artists might wear, also my target audience and ideal reader can massively relate to this as they would also wear something similar, which adds a personal touch






.
Contents

 

My Contents page includes:

• A clear heading
• A Tag line
• Sub-images
• Subheadings
• Page titles
• Page descriptions/summaries
• Page numbers
• A main image
• A similar/relevant colour scheme

For my contents page I had to start out by making both the background and the colour scheme the same or similar to my cover, this is because I wanted a sense of consistency and theme throughout my magazine. I decided to use the same background image as I felt it contrasted very well with the fonts and colour scheme as it did for my cover, and I think the texture in the background image gives the page depth and is a lot more interesting than a standard black page. "CONTENTS" is clearly written at the top of the page in big bold letters, this is because the reader has to be informed what page this is clearly otherwise it may be hard to tell, the font is quite bold and outstanding which keeps with the genre of the magazine.

 

I used multiple images with page numbers next to them so the reader can easily and straight away can identify where to find each article. Each image is somewhat relevant to the articles topic which can really assist the reader when they are trying to find a page to go to. The main image is a lot larger than the other two and is a lot further up the page, this is because it represents the main article in this magazine and what my double page spread will be about, I wanted it to be the first thing the reader saw when turning to this page and I feel I've captured that well.

 

On the right hand side I've included sub-headings with other page numbers and articles that might spark the readers interest, whilst they aren't the main topics I want the reader to see first I still included them as to give the reader a choice of what page to turn to and to give them a sense as they are not being limited. Each page number and title includes a short description or summary to give the reader an idea of what each article or page will be about, this is important so the reader can identify what they would like to read straight away without leaving the contents page.

Double Page Spread

My Double Page Spread includes:

• A clear heading
• Main body of text
• Clearly depicted questions
• A pull quote from the article itself
• Two main images
• A similar/relevant colour scheme

My double page spread was the final piece I created for my magazine, and I found it to be the trickiest of them all. I started by trying to choose the correct image, originally I had the idea of having two separate photos on either page with text surrounding them, however after looking through my research and looking at other rap magazines, I found that usually when focusing on one artist they would have a close up image, so I took that on board and came up with the idea of having a close up image but that is split down the middle of the two pages, I feel that this way it brought the two pages together and linked them rather having two separate pictures that would give off a different feeling. The image itself was shot and chosen because I wanted the artist to have a mysterious and illusive vibe, this will make the reader want to read more into the interview as to find out more about him.

The colour scheme isn't bright and bold like my cover and contents page, I did this on purpose as I wanted the main point of interest from the viewer to be the image, as using this colour scheme it is clearly depicted and presented well. It stands out from the background and will contrast with the rest of the magazine, this is in order to grab the readers attention as they are flicking through the pages quickly because it is the main article in the entire magazine. I wanted the font to sort of contrast this and be rather subtle and not outstanding as to reflect the mood of this article.

I think this uses many elements to which a regular rap magazine would consist of in the real world, and these all pull together to form a respectable collection of magazine pages using all regular conventions of a media magazine product that both speak and appeal to the target audience and convey the genre of UK grime and rap.

Are Music Magazines Dying Out?

In this modern day of 2017, changes are being made in every aspect of the entertainment business in order to keep up with the high demands of the consumers, if they don't, they are caught behind and are surely doomed to fail. This is no different with magazines, especially music magazines, the changing times cause publishing companies to adapt to various forms of media in order to reach out to their target audience, the recent boom of Spotify, apple music, and platforms like YouTube and Amazon starting to adapt to the music consumer market, magazines like, NME, Mojo and Vibe are starting to become redundant and lag behind.

Jonah Weiner wrote about the reasons that he felt were killing the music magazine industry, in the article, "Spinning In The Grave". He stated three main ways in which this is happening, they are:-

• "There are fewer superstars, and the same musicians show up on every magazine cover"
• "Music mags have less to offer music lovers, and music lovers need them less than ever anyway"
• "Music magazines were an early version of social networking. But now there's this new thing called Social Networking"

1.  There are fewer superstars, and the same musicians show up on every magazine cover.

This point, basically states, thinking of nowadays music superstars like Kanye West or Beyoncé, if they released a new album, every big music magazine will want them on the cover of their next issue, and there lies the problem, its too saturated. Think about it, if you were to go into your local new agent, how many magazines would you find with the same cover star, probably a few, and what Jonah is saying, along with many other critics is that its getting too boring for music lovers and consumers too see the same star over and over again. You can of course say that not every consumer will read a magazine purely because of its cover star, and that's right, but how can you ignore how the majority are drawn in by the cover, and if all of them look the same, where is the appeal?

2. Music magazines have less to offer music lovers, and music lovers need them less than ever anyway

In similarity to the first point, this one looks at how little music magazines have to offer due to the over saturation of the market. If you really think about it, how much can a magazine actually offer you, yes a few articles on a few tracks or artists, maybe some suggestions, but with the changing time people want things there and then, they don't have time to wait, and they certainty do not need some critic playing the middle man and swaying their decisions, if they wants to listen to a song, they don't have to buy a whole album or single record to listen to it, they can simply stick it in on YouTube and listen to if for free. Many readers would prefer to listen to a track rather than read about it first, technology has well and truly leapfrogged over the printed word, no one can argue with that, and people want what's hot and new, and they want it now, who has the time anymore for an absolete form of media?


3. Music magazines were an early version of social networking. But now there's this new thing called "Social Networking"

Back in the day, music magazines offered a different view point on the music industry, it offered interviews, behind the scenes, and soundtracks you wouldn't of heard usually, basically all things you wouldn't of known about, unless you read that magazine. But now, you can get all of that and more online through websites and social media, so the question stands... Why pay for something when you can get it for free? In practical terms most people would go for the free option for obvious reasons, but you get that small minority of people, who like to buy magazines because they are "old fashioned" or "hipster", and there is the answer to the question really, for the small amount of people who buy magazines to call them "hipster", which in general terms means outdated or vintage, can show that magazines are dying out and there isn't much we can do about it, but that's life.

Music Magazine Photo Shoot

Magazine Publishers

Bauer

Bauer media group is a European based media company based in Hamburg, Germany and was founded in 1875. They manage over 1000s forms of media products which of that includes around 600 magazines.
As of 2013 they had approximately 11,00 employees working for the, all over the world making them one of the largest media publishing companies in Europe.
Some of their most sort after and famous magazines they have published over the years includes Q, a music magazine originally published in the UK and Kerrang, a brand of rock magazine that has grown into its own radio and TV channel.
As of 2013 their yearly revenue is around the 2.4 billion euro mark, which not only makes it one of the most successful music magazine publishers in Europe but one of the most successful companies based on annual profit in Germany.
They mainly deal with very popular music magazines to a wider audience as to ensure the most profit, however they have been known to publish the occasional "niche" magazine to appeal to a select audience, this variety is what makes them so popular and successful.

 

Time Inc.

Time Inc. is an American based, mass media company founded in 1922 in New York city by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden. It currently publishes over 100 magazine brands, including its most famous title Time Magazine, and its main headquarters are situated in New York city. It produces many forms of media including magazines, events like concerts and websites.
It also has a UK based magazine publishing company called Time Inc. UK, which create such magazines titles as Country Life and NME.
As of 2016 they had around 7,200 employees working for them around the globe, this also includes their UK base.
In 2015 its revenue grew to a staggering 3.1 billion US dollars, however it saw a 881 million dollar decrease of the year before, this is due to the very low demand of magazines there is in modern day society, with the growth of the internet and web based articles, Time Inc. are struggling to keep up profits and adapted to out modern day needs.
Although Time Inc. is still today one of the most successful magazine publishers of all time with a great history, it is proven to struggle to change along with the demands of our 21st Century society, which sees them to loose money, however they have shown in the past they can turn it around.

Magazine Publishing Process

During the magazine production progress, a write must always have in mind how or who to get their magazine published with. The process is long and not always successful but it is always and important factor a writer must be able to over come.
The process of making my magazine, got me thinking about how I can get this published if it was for real? So I researched online and found an article by  Jeff Goins explaining the publishing progress in a step by step guide.

 

 

"Step 1: Start with a topic

Think of an idea that is original, interesting, and compelling.
Try to do some free-writing or mind-mapping to flesh it out on paper.
Focus on what you know, on what you have a unique perspective on.

Step 2: Make a list

Do some research. Take note of a few publications you’d like to pitch. Make sure you have a good variety. This will increase your chances of getting published with one of them.

I usually pick a few smaller and larger publications when I do this. I vary the list to improve my chances.

Step 3: Write a Query Letter

Query letters are short, formal letters that you send to to the editor to consider you for publishing. If the magazine has more than one editor, send it to the person who accepts pitches for your particular topic.
Address him or her by name, include the date, and pitch the idea in a short outline form.
It’s also a good idea to provide some sample work that you’ve done (in the form of links, preferably, if you have published anything online).
If appropriate, try including more than one idea in the letter. This will increase the likelihood of getting a response.
If you need help writing one, try this tutorial: How to Write a Query Letter

Step 4: Wait

This is important: Give the magazine adequate time to respond.
If they have a policy for pitching articles, read it. Most likely, it will be something like this: “If you don’t hear back from us in [X amount of time], you can trust that we weren’t able to use your piece.”
Wait a week or so before following up. If you don’t hear back within a few weeks to a month, send a letter to the publication, telling them you’re moving on with the idea. When in doubt, ask permission to follow up. For example, if I’m wanting a quick response on a piece, I may say:

If I don’t hear back from you in a week or so, would it be all right for me to follow up?

If they say yes, then you never have to feel awkward about sending a follow-up.

Step 5: Follow up

If they do respond to your pitch, they will tell you one of the following:

a) They don’t like the idea.
b) They want you to tweak the idea.
c) They want to publish the idea.

Oftentimes, I go back and forth with a publication before we land on a good idea.

Once you land on a good idea, they may ask for outline.

Once you’ve agreed on a deadline, then it’s time to start writing. The hardest part is done. Now, all you have to do is write the article. And next time, you probably won’t have to go through this process.

The more you do this sort of thing, the easier it gets, especially as magazines and editors begin to know and trust you."

 

- Jeff Goins (https://goinswriter.com/how-to-get-published-in-a-magazine/)