What kind of Institution might distribute your media product and why?

Essay form:

There are four main companies that form the oligopoly. These are Bauer Media, ICP Media, InterMedia and Conde Nast.

The first distributor that I considered on publishing my magazine is Bauer Media; this is a large German publishing company in Hamburg and publishes over 282 magazines. This company publishes many magazines such as: Q magazine, Empire and Kerrang. Due to them not publishing a magazine that has connections with the genre of my magazine I believe there is a possibility that this company would distribute my magazine. Not only because they don’t distribute a genre like mine, however they can also break into a new market of magazines for them.

Another publishing company I have thought would be a possible distributor is IPC, which is one of the largest publishing companies which publish a variety of magazines such as: men’s interest, music, TV guides and many more. IPC also publish one of the biggest music magazines, if not the biggest music magazine; NME. I believe that my magazine again can become successful with this company, as like Bauer Media they do not distribute a magazine like mine, however they have the experience with distributing big music magazines such as NME.

InterMedia is another publisher that distributes many magazines, however the biggest magazine in my interest that they publish is Vibe magazine. This is company would not want to distribute my magazine as I was influenced and inspired by Vibe magazine a lot when producing my magazine. So InterMedia would not be interested in distributing a magazine that is very much like a magazine they already distribute (Vibe) and they would not gain anything from distributing my magazine.

The last company that makes up the oligopoly is the publishing company Conde Nast. They are a very well known company that publishes one of the biggest, most read magazine; Vogue. As they publish one of the biggest magazines in the world, I believe that they could be a good option as they have experience with getting magazine heard by the world. However even though they produce big name magazines such as Vogue, I believe they do not have that much experience with distributing music magazines, which could result in me not choosing this company.

Overall I believe that the best company to publish my magazine is IPC. This is because not only my magazine will benefit from them distributing my magazine however the company would benefit. This is because they do not publish a magazine like mine, which means they can enter a new music genre market. It will also mean I won’t have any inner competition as there is not other magazine like mine that IPC are publishing.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

At the beginning of the course I produced a school magazine front page and contents page, which was my preliminary task. As you can probably see the magazine looks very un-professional, as I did not know how to take effective pictures, use Photoshop CS3 effectively or create a magazine in general. However after spending a lot of time researching, planning and drafting I understood as I went on how to create a professional looking magazine that will attract the audience.

Firstly I believe my general knowledge and understanding on magazines has improved tremendously as before I started doing my research I had no understanding on how a music magazine is usually set out and what the editors do to capture the audience. After I had completed the first couple of tasks which were analyzing I was getting to grips with what I had to do; for instance in my preliminary task the sell line for my main article was the same size as the other sell lines, after analyzing front covers I realized that the main feature sell line tends to always be larger than other sell lines. I also learnt that magazines don’t usually have that much empty space as they try to put the highest possible amount of information in them. As you can see I had plenty of empty spaces in my contents page for my preliminary task, however after analyzing some contents pages I realized that for your magazine to look professional it should have hardly any empty spaces, unless you want the ‘simple’ look. Another thing I learnt from analyzing magazines was that there is always a colour theme to the magazine, for instance Q magazine has a red, black and white colour theme.

Secondly, I learnt how I should go about when taking pictures; at first when taking pictures for the preliminary task I didn’t really know what I was doing and what type of angle or distance I had to be in relation to the model. However after looking at magazines, especially vibe, it gave me an idea of the type of picture I wanted in my magazine. So my ability to take photos has improved dramatically in comparison to the quality of the pictures in my preliminary task magazine. As you can see in my final magazine the pictures are to a high quality when considering the angle of the picture and the sharpness.

The other aspect that I have improved on is the technology side, such as editing pictures in Photoshop and creating a magazine in InDesign. Firstly to create pictures that look very clear and professional you need to edit it, whether it is just to take out the background or to change the colour. I believe I have improved my ability to change an average picture to a very good picture through Photoshop and this has helped me when it came to improving the photos in my magazine. I have also learnt how to use a completely new software to me, this is called ‘InDesign’ it is a program that specializes in creating magazines. I learnt how to create a magazine on the program and all the tips and tricks you can do, such as wrap the text around an image or create a boarder that goes on every page using ‘masterpage’.

Overall I believe that I have succeeded in learning new things from how a magazine works to how to use computer programs. It has also taught me how to research and plan for something which in this case was my magazine as before I had never planned to create something such as a magazine. 

How did you attract/address the audience?

How Did You Attract/adress the audience by angelosandreou

Essay form:

There are various ways I tried to attract the audience and encourage them to pick up my magazine rather than any other magazine on the shelf or in stores. Firstly I believed that one of the most important thing that I had to get right was what the magazine contained; it took a long time to decide my magazine content and sell lines because if the content isn’t interesting for the reader they wont buy the magazine. My magazine attracts the audience by having very famous and big names included on the front cover of the magazine. For instance I have included Drake, Nicki Minaj and Rhianna all on my front cover, and more in the contents page; this is because the public are very interested in the big star in the music world and want to know all the gossip and information about them e.g. when their next concerts are. Not only does the content of the magazine attract the audience however I believe the pictures the magazine contains also attracts the audience; not only do I have good pictures of Bradley Moore however there are pictures of Jessie J and also Trey songz on the contents page. These pictures will also attract the audience as they get to see pictures of top artist in the music at their own concerts.

There were many ways I have made my magazine attractive for the viewers and stand out from the other magazines. Firstly I have made the theme colour of my magazine unique and original as no other magazine has a purple and white theme colour. Also I have gone with a simple layout to my magazine, which makes it pleasant to the eye, and an easy read for the audience, this again will entice the audience to buy my magazine.

I also have some ‘freebies’ in the magazine, at first I was going to give away CD’s and posters however as time has changed and less people use CDs I have decided to give away free downloads instead, for instance in this edition I will give away Bradley Moore’s new song. I have also decided not to give away posters as I believe my target audience are not the type to collect posters as the younger age tend to collect posters. As technology has improved I therefore decided to go with the free downloads instead, this will attract the audience as they are getting a free download as well as a magazine.

The model I am using is also a very attractive, broad man who will attract the buyer to pick up the magazine and lead them to actually buy the magazine.

The uses and gratification theory has also made the audience more enticed in the magazine. There are four reasons why people use media:

Firstly personal relationships, people use the media, in this case my magazine, to form a relationship with others; it will give people something to talk about and become part of a social group.

The second reason why people use media is because it creates personal identity, in other words if someone reads my magazine on a frequent basis it will reflect on them and it will form their personality.

People also use media because it is a form of entertainment, in this case my magazine will have very interesting articles and pictures in it, this will attract the audience and make them want to by my magazine due to the consumers wanting to be informed and entertained.

Finally, the last reason why people use media is to be informed on information about the latest news and gossip, in this case people will buy my magazine to be updated on music artists latest gossip, concerts coming up, album reviews etc.

The final way I will attract the readers is through the use of new media. In recent years there has been an increase in technology, which has caused new sorts of media. Firstly I will have an app that will allow people to have access to Slick website however in a format that will suit smart phones. There will also be another app that you can buy which will contain the same information as the magazine edition bought, this will basically mean consumers will have the magazine on their phone. As 50% of the population have smart phones I thought it would be a great idea for their to be an app and an a magazine app.

I shall also use social networking sites as many of my target audience are on these websites such as: Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace etc. This will attract the target audience to buy my magazine as they can find out some information about my magazine before purchasing it.

Overall I believe I have the right mixture of functions that will attract my target audience. I have given every little aspect a lot of thought on how I will display my magazine and what my magazine will contain. I have also kept up with the new technology and new media which will again attract and entice my audience to purchase my magazine. 

Who would be the Audience for your Media Product?

Essay form:

The audience for my media product is not as precise as the audiences for other music magazines as the genre of my magazine (R&B) is supported my many people across the world. However like every magazine there is a certain audience that would be interested in my media product than other types of people. Firstly the age of the buyer would be the younger population, from around 16-30 will be the usual reader as my even though the genre has been around for many decades my magazine will focus on cotemporary R&B which will only appeal to the younger age. I have come to the conclusion of the age of the audience due to the genre (R&B) being a popular feature in the charts, and the younger population often follows the charts.

The audience for my magazine will be preferably read by 55% of males and 44% females. The reason behind me thinking that there will be slightly more males reading my magazine than females is because R&B is listened to more by males than females. Females tend to listen to more than one genre e.g. pop, R&B, disco etc. However the average male tends to listen to one set genre. Although, putting that aside the magazine is designed for both male and female readers still as it leaves a larger amount of possible buyers in the market for my magazine. I have also researched the gender split that read vibe magazine, as it is very much like mine; 55% male and 45% female read vibe which is the same as my calculations.

My audience’s social class is one of the factors that is diverse and can be from completely different social classes. The genre R&B has wide support from all types of people and backgrounds; classes A and B are the middle class citizens, this social class often like R&B however so do classes D and E which are semi skilled/non skilled workers. It is very hard to allocate the genre, R&B to a certain social class; however my personal opinion will be that social classes A,B and C1 will be the social class that will most probably purchase my magazine as the working classes (D and E) also listen to other types of music such as grime.

The audience’s personalities and social habits who will be reading my magazine will tend to the type of person that enjoys going out and socializing with people; they tend to go out to clubs and bars as R&B music usually get played in these type of places. They also like to go to concerts that are starring big artists e.g. Chris brown, this is one of the reasons why they will like to buy Slick as it will contain information about the up coming concerts/events. R&B fans also prefer to purchase things that everybody will be able to see rather than something for their house; for instance they would rather buy a new necklace than a new chair. 

How does your media product represent particular social group?

Essay Form:




As I have completed research I have seen how certain music magazines have portrayed their genres clearly from the theme colours to the artists featuring in the magazine. The magazine that stood out for me, that I wanted to be similar to was ‘vibe’ magazine as its genre Hip Hop/R&B is very alike to the genre my magazine is. My target audience is very diverse as R&B is a very popular, well known genre; however if you had to stereotype an R&B fan they would be someone who likes to go to concerts and out to a bar/club do socialise. Like the fans the artists in R&B are also people who like to go out and stay with the fashion, so I portrayed my artist to be a typical R&B musician, this will then make it clear what genre the magazine is by the audience simply viewing the front cover.

Bradley Moore was my model; he is an attractive young man who is also broad shouldered and confidant. He is wearing fashionable clothes that the stereotypical R&B singer would wear, this will attract the audience as the target audience are also very fashion orientated. I believed that this would entice the viewer, as Bradley would attract the males due to the fashionable clothes, however he will attract the females as he is a young, confidant young man. The article I wrote on Brad was about how he came back from a fatal incident, I thought that this article suited the genre of my magazine as it was a typical story that a Hip Hop/R&B artists generally have as they always go through breakdowns then come back after a year or so. As vibe magazine usually has a very simple but effective front cover I thought I would try to re-enact this by having Brad stand there confidently looking deep into the camera lens with his body at an angle. I also wanted him to keep a straight face as he comes across as a strong individual in the article, whilst I was doing my image research of other R&B artists I realized that they were all looking into the camera without a ‘cheesy’ grin on their face, however with a more solid/emotionless face.

After I got how I wanted Bradley’s body posture to be I focused on what he was wearing; I wanted him to be in clothes that the target audience also like and clothes that make him look a little bit ‘cocky’ whilst being a little bit flashy. This is why I wanted Brad to wear just a plain white T-shirt, however with a big, original scarf, he is also wearing a hat that the 'typical' R&B singer would wear. For Bradley to look like the flashy person I wanted him to convey I made him wear a chunky watch with a Crystal bracelet on.

After my model was portrayed the way I wanted him to be I focused on other features in the magazine such as the way my article is written, the colour theme and fonts. Firstly the way I had written my article, there is a mixture of the types of writing I have used in the magazine, in the article about Bradley I made it more laid back and ‘easy’ to read, as I wanted the readers to have a relaxing article that is easy and not heavy going; I have written it in this type of way as I have read vibe articles and they are also very easy reading magazines. I believe this also links well with the genre of the magazine, as R&B is a very chilled and relaxing type of music it connects well with the way the article is written. For instance the article does not contain any overly complicated words which doesn't cause the audience to focus with a great amount of attention.

The main house colours of my magazine are also important to how the genre (R&B) has been portrayed. I chose purple and white as the main colours not only because they complement each other very well, however I believe purple has a very strong link with R&B music as it is a strong, vibrant colour. I also wanted to have a unique magazine that will appeal to the audience purely because it is original and something different, purple did not come up once whilst I was researching so I thought that would add to the originality of Slick. 

Finally the font I chose to write Bradley’s quote in also gives the ‘street’ vibe that it is hand written and Bradley himself wrote it. I have seen vibe do something similar to this and I thought I would put my own twist on it by highlighting the letters ‘B’ purple. These types of fonts are always seen in R&B magazines, which inspired me to do the same type of design, this again makes it clear to the reader what genre the magazine is.

Production Post 29

The task I have completed recently was screen grabs; this shows you the stages that I had to take to create each page in my magazine. You will be able to see that there were many steps I had to take to create each individual page in my magazine and how long the process was to create a unique and professional look.

Processes (Screen Grabs)

Front Page


Contents Page