Target audience research for music magazine

Audience research for Music Magazine

Rap/R&B magazines(closest genre to bashement and afrobeats, my genre has no known magazines)

-Vibe

-XXL

-The source

-Rap up

-Hip hop

Title ideas

-LMFAO

slogan: Let music flow and on go

let the music speak

- Icon will be a microphone coming from the last O

-R.E.S.P.E.C.T, RESPECT

Slogan: music is life

Vybzing

slogan: let the music tingle, while you jingle

let the music sink in

Musicality

Slogan: Pop it and Drop it

Rhythmix

Sounds different, unusual, it could become a more established name across the young generation

slogan: Keep the rhythm flowing

Target audience

My target audience for my music magazine are going to be teenagers aged from 16 ranging up to 19 and early 20's. This is a unisex magazine so everyone is included because that is the main message of music, it unites us all and it is a language we can all understand. I have chosen this age range because it is an age in which we all try and find our self's and our unique points. It is also an age where people are easily influenced by the things there friends listen to, so i intend on causing viral marketing and astroturfing via young people as they all want to be accepted.
Although my magazine has online links with websites such as pappz who specialise in afrobeats and urban music but have no prints in any shop therefore I have seen a whole in the market which should be filled.
Even though the young generation use internet on a daily basis I believe that my magazine would encourage them to read as if they see something they are instrested in which they can see, feel, touch they are most likley to pick it up and take intrest in it.  As you can see from this picture below this website doesn't offer as much information and entertaiment as mine will. The colour scheme does not represent the music it is trying to sell.

 

‎

Most 16 to 19 year old boys have hobbies such as football, basketball, computer gaming, and also finding relationships.

In girls case, there hobbies tend to be socializing, sports such as football, basketball, figure skating, cheer leading play a huge role as to how they are influenced, whether these girls are trend setters or followers. Girls tend to be mature then boys so they may enjoy reading books more then boys. However in both genders cases they are easily influenced because they want to  be apart of something bigger as though they play a role- the feeling of acceptance.

Its the age where everyone wants to be excepted and wants to fit in. My music magazine will influence them as they come from a lower middle class, in an urban area where word spreads fast via social networking sites e.g whats app, BBM, twitter, Facebook etc. Maslow would consider them as aspires because they consume information no questions asked because of the trend that goes on around them.

Music will effect there every day life as most of them commute to places such as school, football training etc and because most of my audience are from the city they will always tend to keep up with the latest trends in r&b, rap etc because that's where that type of genre originated from.

In addition within this age range they are most likely to go to parties where they here more urban music. Its also a way to socialise via dancing in order to meet more people, especially the opposite gender.

Most are students in school who come from council estates and/or are persuiting further education e.g. college, university. Council estates have quite a grim reputation, although rap originated from places such as the ghettos of Harlem and New York, It all depends on the up bringing and area of the person. I personally believe that it is not where you come from but what you make of yourself. Most families may receive welfare help such as benefits because one parent may not work for whatever reason or circumstance but however there is a minority of teens with parents both in occupation.

Questionnaire on Whatsapp both boys and girls aged between 15-18

If you were to read a music magazine what genre would mostly appeal to you and who is your favourite artist/s?

 

Currently the music magazine industry isn't booming very well in the UK at the moment. Magazine's such as Q who were once widely read by the majority of young people has slowly faded away due to the decline in readers and the take over of technology. The readers of NME, a heavy rock, metal mag have dropped drastically during the prior year with a staggering 16.6% loss and a further 3.7% in the past 6 months. UNCUT lost 14.4% year on year circulation followed by Q and NME as worst hit music titles in 2011.

In all opinion I personally think magazine's such as NME have lost readers because the target audience have found a cheaper and more sufficient way of getting there information. Although they are aiming to a younger target audience they were targeting them at a time where heavy metal was at its highest popularity. The music industry now for teenagers ranging from 13-19 is now dominated with music such as Rap, R&B, Afro beats, bashement, Soul etc.

Ethnicity plays a huge role in how music is consumed and who is most likely to consume it. For example my target audience is most likely to listen to the music listed above because they belong of working class/lower middle class and will most likely come from council estates where there are dominant ethnicity's such as people of Asian decent, European decent and African decent. NME on the other hand targets audiences that are not only young but come from a more higher class social group. Not to be stereotypical but most of the people that listen to rock music, grunge etc are more of a white ethnicity even if they are teens they have a different way of coming to age compared to a say a teenager of Afro Caribbean decent living in east London.

The music of Afro beats and the Caribbean music has flourished and has become quite popular through out the fact 6 years. I think this would be a suitable music genre to include in my magazine because through out all the music magazine there isn't one that discusses music of this content. This sort of music is highly used in parties and my target audience are lively bubbly individuals who want to fit in and find themselves. With my magazine I will be offering not only your typical rap and r&b but something extra so my target audience feel included in the music world even if there music preference isn't recognized widely because of negative stereotypes. Music magazines such as the source and Vibes do offer teenagers all the latest gossip within the r&b and rap genres but they don't go the extra mile. This is probably because at the momentum of there highest period the rap and r&b genre was booming. It still is now I just want to introduce music that is highly recognised within plenty of generation but just isn't openly talked about.

With my magazine I intend on giving Afro beats and bashement a better image to both parents and teenagers as well as including RAP and R&B.

You may be wandering what is bashment and afrobeats? Well over the past couple of years these 2 types of music have become very popular amongst young teenagers who mostly comes from ethnicity's such as Asia, Caribbean, European, Africa.

Afro beats:

Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk, and chanted vocals,[1] fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name,[1] who used it to revolutionize musical structure as well as the political context in his native Nigeria. It was Kuti who coined the term "afrobeat" upon his return from a U.S. tour with his group Nigeria '70 (formerly Koola Lobitos). Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.[1]

The new sound hailed from a club that he established called the Afro-Shrine. Upon arriving in Nigeria, Kuti also changed the name of his group to Africa '70. The band maintained a five-year residency in the Afro-Shrine from 1970 to 1975 while afrobeat thrived among Nigerian youth. Afrobeat is now one of the most recognizable music genres in the world and has influenced as many Western musicians as it has African ones with its exuberant style and polyrhythms.

Bashment

Any kind of jamaican music, any jam sessions, Bashment is another name for dancehall, a type of Jamaican popular music which developed around 1979.

Bashment originated in the Caribbean Island; Jamaican. Originally it was simple reggae but now with technology it has evoluted using more synthisized elements within the music to make it more club aswell as reggeae. Singers and rappers such as Nicky Minaj, Vybz Kartel, Gyptian are well known for there reggae and bashment music. This type of music has become very popular amongst the young in Britain, praticularly London becuase the carribean culture has influenced the we listen to music and the way we speak. Within the younger generation there is slang now most of that slang actually has origins from the carribean for example 'wag1' is a term used amongst teens from a working/ middle class meaning whats going on. As trends change so does the way we consume things, this is just a small example. I would rather prefer to use Bauer because it is a well respected, high quality publishing industry who although have had rough times will  be able to benefit from my magazine because through out its history it has published the most famous magazine and has built a reputation for itself as well as the magazines. This would be an oppurtunity to as my genres, especially afrobeats and bashment, are new in the market so if they start the trend off they will be the trend setters.

In this video I have asked Sheila, 16 and Suban, just 14 what they think of the genre/s; afrobeats and bashment. Although my target audience are 16-19 year olds and 20-25 year olds I have acknoledged that no matter what age you are, in your teens you will always be exposed to the trending music of your generation.t
In my case, it isn't a bad thing that girls such as Suban know this sort of genre but just goes to show how trends within the teen generation can spread like wild fire. 

When I asked Suban why she liked bashment and afrobeats she replied with "I like it, it's music, you can dance to it" 
This shows that within the young generation they manage to enjoy them selves in things such as gatherings and parties with this sort of music as they can dance to it and it creates a good social atmosphere. 
I then asked her if she can name any songs specifically along with artists. She said she could name artists but not songs. At that moment it came to light that if I wore to persuit my magazine genre it would grab alot of attention from not only my target audience but both younger and older citizens as it will introduce a new way in order to access the songs names aswell as the artists. This also shows that the internet is not as useful as I would have hoped for my choosen genres as it doesn't offer a constant range of music within my genre. The only way I personally would find out what the latest afrobeats music is is through the radio which some may stereotype and say young people don't listen to the radio when infact that is the only way the young generation can get there weekly updated on the latest afrobeats tunes.
Choice fm is the only radio station out of all the urban radio stations to manage to update citizens about afrobeats with DJ abrantee broadcasting on saturday and sunday nights. 
If my music magazine were to become available on every shelf of a newsagent and supermarket my audience would be satisfied.










I have asked 41 people on there opinion on the names using social networking sites Facebook and whats app. I attempted on using twitter but unfortunately I never received feed back. I managed to get peoples opinion as to why they have picked a specific name.

11 people said Vybzing, Respect only got 1, Profile received 5, Musicality received 9 and Rhythmix won with a wooping 15 votes. I however am conflicted between vybzing and rhythmix.

When I asked people why they thought vybzing was a perfect name for the genre of my magazine most replied with "its very me", "it works with your target audience and your genres and you can feel the energy" & "it reflects not only a specific genre of music but it sounds up beat just like the music you have choosen."

When I asked why regarding rhythmix one person said that "rhythmix is good as well because it covers all your genres". This person was also conflicted with Vybzing as they said "afrobeats basement are all like vybz kartel (the jamaican artist) type so vybzing".
In the end I concluded that Vybzing is the best choice to name my magazine because it focuses more on my genres whereas with Rhythmix isn't so narrow and focused on one specific genre, it's all over the place which may confuse my target audience and therefore make them less intrested. Also Rhythmix is the name of a charity in which they have claimed all copy right to. It was only brought to light when one of the people I was questioning actually told me that I can't use this as the 2011 xfactor winners little mix were originally called Rhythmix but had to change it to little mix. Vybzing creates an atmosphere which I would like to deliver to my audience so not only do they gain information about there favourite genre but they are also able to feel the music.

 

Font Designs

1

2

                      

34

    

In the end I concluded that I will be using Vybzing as my magazine title because most of my target audience think it relates to my genre and sub genre of music. It creates a party atmosphere which is what afro beats and bashment is about. 

I am conflicted between the fonts 2 and 3 because both my target audience as well as my self think that it suits the title and genre of the magazine.  The majority of the people that i have asked have responded with option number 2 however keep the name 'Vybzing' so therefore I will adapt the title and use font number 2 known as 'Capture'. My target audiences gave reasons for there preference such as "the fade looks like a haircut" which is actually quite humorous but ironically it works because music is apart of a trend amongst other things such as gaming and style which is a big deal with my male audience.  I like this effect because it looks quite fuzzy which when the music plays creates a sort of fuzzy, distorted affect amongst the atmosphere which would make any teenager want to jump along to the music. 

The question was :

(Media research) sorry to annoy you guys even more but I really need your opinions on this I'm stuck between 2 names and a couple of fonts for my music magazine which focuses on the genres afrobeats and bashement. what name and font do you prefer more please send the number that you see next to your choice
Really would appreciate input guys !