Media Studies

Thursday, 21 April 2011

My Initial idea

So far in my process of creating a media product, i have analysed existing magazines and audiences to determine the type of magazine i would want to create. I have come to the conlusion that i would want to create a music magazine with an indie/alternative genre of music, this would consist of many artists that fall under the genre of 'rock' however, the difference for my magazine which could offer a more unique selling point is that it will contain alot more mainstream artists who are also well known and influencial. In my opinion, doing this would mean that my magazine would appeal to a much larger audience, giving the magazine a higher rate of success. The age range i am targeting would be between 17-25, this isn't a specific category split, but i believe it is a reasonable aged audience of young adults, this means that the way i portray my magazine would still be alternative in a sense, however, slightly more sophisticated in the way everything would be layed out.

Uses and Gratifications theory

Uses and gratifications theory is a way of approaching mass communication to an audience. The theory places more focus on the consumer or audience, the theory tries to embed the idea that consumers have an active roll in interpreting media into their own lives. The theory also claims that audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs, for example if the audience like indie/alternative or Dance/Pop magazines, they would obviously choose a magazine that consisted colours, fonts, images and models that attract that type of people. This theory suggests that consumers use the media to gain specific gratifications.

Audience Demographics

In order to produce a successful media product, you must be able to understand the audience demographic and this is determined by assessing many socio-economic factors such as the level of income,the area in which they live in, age, gender, occupation etc. Doing this is a vital part in production, marketing, and distribution for a media product because it gives the institutions a better and more detailed insight into what their target audience expect, and therefore are able to create a product that fulfills their wants and needs, this is an essential for a product to become successful.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Need's

This is Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of needs's, it is a psychological theory relevant to many subjects, such as, psychology, sociology, economics, and business. In this case i am relating his theory to marketing in media. Maslow believed that the stages going from physiological towards self-actualization are the steps an individual must take to be happy within themself at their job. The bottom of the pyramid are the essentials where everyone would begin such as breathing and sleeping, and as you climb the pyramid higher the elements become more of a luxury, until you reach the top where you have everything that can make you happy in yourself and the people around you. In a marketing sense, the marketing department of a business would place their product in a section of this pyramid in order to establish, the rate at which it would sell, the consumers, the price, the quality of the product, and even the location at which it would be sold. My product is a magazine meaning it isn't an essential, and is a product that people can easily live without, therefore, it would be placed at the top of the hierarchy and be labelled as a luxury not a need.

Audience Profiling

This is Skye, she is 20 years old, and is an example of my target audience. At the moment Skye is taking a music course at university, she has been for 1 year now and currently has 2 years left of her course, when she isn't at uni her and her friends share an apartment in London, they enjoy going to live gigs, and festivals, as well as clubbing in central London, they take any opportunity to go out and relax. Her ideal genre of music is indie/rock, and she enjoys listening to bands, such as kings of Leon and bowling for soup, however, Skye and her friends are more versatile in the music they enjoy listening to because they listen to most mainstream artists as well, such as Rihanna, Katy Perry, Jessie J, and Lady Gaga, these artists are also inspirations in the quirky, alternative ways in which they dress. Skye loves keeping up with trends and being one of the more fashion forward young adults, the most common places for her to shop would be Topshop and Urban Outfitters, even though they can be quite expensive for a student, the pieces she buys are timeless and so would never be a waste of money, on the other hand, it isn't an unusual sight to see her rummaging through her local charity shops, for those original vintage one of a kind pieces.