My Magazine's Sub-Genre

For my magazine I have decided to use the Sub-Genre of 'Indie', however I have chosen to add a 'punk' feel to give my music magazine a bit of a rock edge.

Conventions of my Sub-Genre (Indie/Punk)

• Bands - The bands and artists featured in the magazine would be mainly rock singers with an edgy attitude, because their fans are the people most likely to buy the magazine and keep buying it.
• Layout/Colours - I think the colour scheme of an 'Indie/Punk' magazine would be quite dark and contrasting (for examples colours like red, black, blue and white). Also the layout would be quite blocky with many boxes with contrasting fonts and colours in it.
• Features - The features in the magazine are mainly about artists, bands, festivals and concerts; howevert here should still be features about other things than music - e.g. Fashion, Technology and Food would all be things to suit this genre.

Audience Profile

For my magazine the audience is very important in deciding the photos to use, the stories to put on the front page and contents, and the type of language to use when writing the article.

My audience profile-

• Gender - Male
• Age -16-30
• Income - ABC1
• Area - nation wide
• Music - Indie/Punk

I have chosen these because i think it would be a challenge for me as i would never usually read a magazine like this.

Market Share

Market shares are different for different music magazines -

Classic Rock - By December 2003, it was selling 43,545 copies a month, it is now selling 71, 242.
NME - By 1973 it was selling almost 300,000 copies a week - Quote from May 2006 "The NME is the biggest selling and most respected magazine in the world"
Q Magazine - Nowadays sells around 94,811 units
Kerrang - Sells about 41,125 units
Classic FM - Sells about 32, 534 units
Metal Hammer- sells 41, 777 units

A music magazine doesn't sell magazines in as many places as other magazine genres (for example fashion or lifestyle), However because many music genres have a large following of devoted fans; a music magazine's readership can become quite large and even expending their brand onto television and radio.

Conventions of music magazines

Front Page:
The front page needs to have a picture of a music artist, they are also usually the focus of the main feature of the magazine. The other cover lines usually focus on different music related stories, however there should be some other stories mainly focused on the audience.
Contents:
This should include a picture of a music artist or music related photo (for example a photo of a concert or festival) - the page usually has features, regulars and maybe a review section - This is to direct readers around the magazine.
Magazine Content:
As the magazine has a music genre, the main features in the magazine are about music, the main articles and interviews are usually with popular artists and bands, there is also a section where they review different albums and videos (and maybe concerts). There are usually competitions within the magazine to draw readers in - these can range from VIP tickets to meet and greets to music downloads.

Music Magazine research - Genre

Genre:
I believe that the most devoted music fans are the ones more likely to buy magazines on their favourite music genre. At the moment the lagest genre for music are:

1. Indie
2. Pop
3. R'n'B
4. Rock

I believe i should choose one of these genres as they are the ones that are most listened to.