George Butter

Media Evaluation



One convention of music magazines that I have used in my own media production is the use of a studio photo starring one main artist. This convention isn’t used by all music magazines, however the genre I have chosen which is; Dance, Techno and Drum & Bass this is convention that is commonly used and is a convention which was used in every example that I found and researched. Having a studio photo as apposed to a live photo makes the magazine look much more professional and therefore the consumer is likely to pay more for the product. Magazines such as ‘Kerrang!’ use multiple pictures to attract their audience; this makes it look as though there are lots of things going on inside the magazine. The magazines I looked at only ever had one main photo and just used text to describe the articles inside. This keeps the front cover looking modern and fresh. The graphics I have created for my magazine are simple and angular shapes, not only is this a convention used by the genre of magazine I have studied but appeals to my target audience; males. Products targeted at females tend to use curvier and elaborate shapes. All of the fonts that I used were simple and easy to read, this means that the fonts suit the style of the rest of the magazine and also appeal to my audience.



In my media production I have represented young people. Some people may see that I have represented young people in a negative way, but I think the way they have been represented will address my target audience. One of my photo shoots features graffiti in the background and perhaps represents young people as criminals. The clothes that my artists have worn for the photo shoots are casual and urban, this clearly signifies that they are working class people but I feel I have represented working class people as fashionable people. This is appealing to the target audience who are also working class people but are the sort of people that would be interested in current trends. In the magazines I looked into there wasn’t any features where the artists were playing instruments, despite this I have included pictures like this in my magazine as I think other musicians will find this interesting and it also represents my artists as talented. Unfortunately I don’t know many people of different ethnicities so I wasn’t able to include this in my magazine, I think this would have enhanced my media production and appeal to a wider market.



Other magazines of a similar genre have been distributed by companies such as IPC, Phoenix publishing, or EMAP which is now Bauer media. I think a similar publishing company would be suitable for my magazine. Bauer Media covers such a wide range, not just magazine. They own TV channels, Radio stations, websites and over 58 magazines. Having such a large range of experience and scope over the industry would be very beneficial for a magazine producer. However Bauer media don’t focus on any particular genre and therefore might not be as able as smaller companies such as Phoenix publishing to distribute the magazine to the right audience. Big distributors such as Tesco, ASDA and WHSmith would be able to distribute my magazine adequately but my magazine would also need to be promoted and distributed via the internet and events because my market is more niche than that of more mainstream magazines.



The target audience for my magazine is males but I think despite this it will also be appealing to men. Similarly FHM is target solely at men but it also has a female fan base. The age I have targeted is around the age of 20. However drum and bass has been around for a long time but has always been quite underground therefore I think my magazine would appeal to people aging from as young as 16 to as old as 30. I have priced my magazine at £4.00 because other monthly magazines such as Q, which is £3.90, Metal Hammer is £3.99, mixmag is £4.20, Djmag is £3.95,