My Music Magazine Proposal

The first three things that I had to do before making the music magazine were: Think of a genre; choose a target market; How would both the aforementioned be integrated into my work. I believed that if I thought of the the genre first, then the target market would come instantaneously. I chose the genre that would be the most in-demand type of music out of all the others. And after studying various music charts (at the time of my search “We found love” ft. Calvin Harris by Rihanna was UK's number 1single), analysing articles in magazine and reading statistics in Wikipedia, I decided that the genre my magazine would be based on is R&B, Hip-Hop and Pop. The reason for this being is that it is this field in music which seems to be have the most gossip (which engrosses most of a magazine) and attracts millions of fans. Stars like Rihanna, Lady Gaga and, namely, Micheal Jackson, are experts in this field and sell more when compared to artists in fields such as Metal, Indie, Western etc.

Now that I had decided the genre for my music magazine I made a basic questionnaire that I sent to a group of people of different ages which predominantly asked them which music genre they preferred. After I got my results back I realised that my school colleagues mostly preferred R&B to any other genre, in comparison to the much older age groups, who would have rather listened to more classical tunes, or songs that were less contemporary.

I then went around asking my target audience individually about what they would like to see and what should be in a R&B, Hip-Hop and Pop magazine. Things they said included:

• “Clear indication of the genre of the magazine, through the cover lines.”

• “A selling point on the front cover, such as free stuff or exclusive aspects.”

• “A constant theme throughout the magazine.”

Before making the magazine I knew that I had to get the answers from the questionnaire into my magazine. I needed more ideas to put onto my magazine and that is why I did a in depth research on VIBE magazine.

VIBE magazine is a magazine that predominantly is about R&B and hip-hop music. This magazine targets the younger generation and people who are interested in R&B and Hip-Hop. The music magazine launched in 1993 and had announced it's retirement in 2009. But after the magazine was bought by InterMedia Partners in that same year, the magazine was resurrected. The magazine is a big success because of it's willingness to enlarge its range of topics compared to it's competitors, for example XXL only includes Hip-Hop artists, whereas this magazine talks about R&B, Hip-Hop, actors and other types of entertainment. By doing this they are having a wide variety of demographics. Inside the magazine they have contents such as the 20 question which can be located on the back page. They also have a reggae section in their magazine.

XXL is a magazine that solely is based around Hip-Hop and was created in 1997. It was created by employees from the magazine The Source. XXL also publishes an annual Top 10 Freshmen list. In this issue, XXL picks out 10 up and coming rappers that aren't too well known. They then inform the readers in this piece of content to watch out for them, as they have great potential.

Here is another magazine that is entirely devoted to Hip-Hop culture. This magazine is the longest running, monthly published, Hip-Hop magazine. Hip-Hop connection is internationally recognized and has been dubbed by some recognized artists as “the best magazine in the world”.