Music Magazine Questionnaire - Task 3

Music Magazine Research Task

To be able to understand and to capture the specific targets audiences thoughts and feelings on magazines, I created a music magazine questionnaire. It is aimed at people who buy music magazines, and people who do not. From this, i am able to get both results from the audience and help me create a magazine in which the target audience can be happy with, and it will be able to help me notice what is wrong within music magazines and it can help me rectify the problems. This is a great way to help me understand the research and planning needed to be put into my magazine. From this, its primary source as I am finding out my own information, with the use of my own research and planning to help develop results. (Link to 'types research & planning' blog entry: 'Here'.

Also, if you would like to take part in the questionnaire I created, please be sure to follow the link below as titled 'My Questionnaire'. Thank you:

My Questionnaire

Research Methods - Task 2

Types of Research Methods

There are many different types of research used to carry out to get certain results. From the results, we can get an idea of where we can direct our product into the kind of audience we want, and also to identify the do's and don't. There are two kinds of research methods used:

• Quantitative Research,
• Qualitative Research.  

Quantitative Research

Quantitive research is the type of research which is used to carry out to get results from a primary source. We can use quantitative research to get the views and thoughts of people so we can guide our product to the right direction. But in order to do this, we must get a vast majority of people to take part in surveys, questionnaires, etc. to get a range of results which vary but also go toward our specific goal. 

Qualitative Research 

Qualitative research is the type of research in which more open questions are asked to get a much bigger understanding and better result. This type of research is good to understand the thoughts and feelings of the audience. It is also good to work with a hypothesis you have used to set out so it can help you generate ideas and work processes to help aid the product to sell to the audience. Examples of qualitative research is usually done through one-to-one interviews or group interviews, other wise known as focus groups. 

There are also two different ways in which we can get data and evidence also. This being the following as: 

• Primary Source / Data,
• Secondary Source / Data.

Primary Source / Data

Primary source or data is data in which have been collected from first hand encounters or being your own information to help contribute to your own work, as it is your own research and self work. Data like this can't be out dated as it is your own information and it can always be used, as opposed to secondary source, you will be finding it from another person or party in which it can be dated, and in some cases, not entirely accurate. Popular ways in which you can obtain primary source is to use are surveys, interviews, etc. 


Secondary Source / Data

Secondary source or data is data which has been collected from the past or from other sources, in which to help to contribute to your own work. Data like this can be out dated as it is not your own research or work so it makes it a risk for it to be used as it maybe in use of some one else's research, or maybe copyrighted by someone or another party and this could cause major problems on your own behalf. But on the other side of secondary data, it is much easier to collect as it is distributed any where, and can be searched throughout, such as the internet making it less time consuming, etc. You can also compare secondary to primary source to see whether it is accurate to your own findings and results or to see where you have went wrong and make changes. 

Music Magazine - Task 1

Music Magazine - Task 1

A music magazine is a magazine which is dedicated to releasing music to the music culture, and help promote different kinds of artists throughout the genre they are associated with. Music magazines usually provide interviews, photo shoots, reviews, event dates, and some times have cover mounts with recorded music from a selected band or artist. 

The history of music magazines originate back to 1894 of a magazine named 'Billboard' magazine, although BIllboard didn't gain major popularity in 1936. But the first UK music magazine which was released was a magazine which was named BMG, which looks at learning the audience to learn how to play guitar or any kind of fretted instrument. The magazine BMG is still currently in product

ion, and is the UK's longest serving music magazine publication to date. But ever since the rise of this magazine publication of BMG, it has made room for the likes of NME, Q, etc. to be created which then have made their own success and then creating a cycle of other magazines to emerge, especially in todays modern music culture. 

Music magazines vary for their target audiences so they span out and attract people to get a magazine associated with their favourite genre of music. The likes of NME usually attract the audiences of the rock genre specifically, but from the 1980's they decided to include the likes of RnB into their magazine to gather a whole new range of an audience from a different genres. But also, Q magazine seems to interest all different kinds of audiences by including a various amount of genres in the magazine to attract many people to buy their magazine so therefore more people will end up buying the magazine. And for the likes of Mixmag, it mainly appeals to people who are majorly interested in EDM music ranging from house, trance, etc. From this, there are many different kinds of magazines which appeals to everyone, even to the niche audiences, as there are many profitable areas in music as many people like different kinds, so there will always be something new. 

The most popular music magazine in production in the UK is The Fly. The Fly is a free magazine published monthly in the UK and its circulation is 104.5k. The Fly has been in around since 1999 and has remained popular since. Writers from NME, Q Magazine, Kerrang!, etc also contribute to write the magazine. The Fly is a small magazine, being A5 sized, and is usually distributed around shops, cafe's, bats, record shops, etc. The most popular music magazine globally is Q magazine. Although distributed in many other place in the world, such as America, it is still a very popular magazine has it covers a broad spectrum of genre's in which many people like and admire. Without the variation in genre's Q offers, it would most likely not be as popular. 

I think there is hardly a future for music magazines or no future at all. The reason behind this is because we live in such a modern culture, in which everything is ran by technology and it makes it easier for people to get information for free, as opposed paying for a magazine which gets released monthly. The internet is updated every day and there will always be something new. The likes of social media also become apart of this as you may follow pages or people who give you regular updates with their own status, posts, etc. which makes it very hard for magazine publishers to keep up. It will only ever get better to receive information from the likes of the internet, and there will be a time when magazine publishers will have to stop releasing magazines and turn toward becoming digital. Magazine publishers have indeed made an attempt to regain more profit by releasing articles on their own websites, but show no signs of improving. So in conclusion, magazine publishers would most likely have to turn digital at some point full time to keep their audience in tact and informed, other wise it would be the beginning of their own downfall. 

Mixmag featuring Pendulum, well known Drum N' Bass group.

I don't necessarily have a favourite magazine as I do not read them, well not music magazines, but a magazine which I would be interested in buying would be MixMag, or even Kerrang!. I would choose MixMag as I am a very big fan of the EDM genre, especially more towards Drum N' Bass. I have read MixMag once before and it has featured some of my favourite Drum N' Bass producers and Dj's in it. I was fairly happy to see some of the artists in there, especially reading some articles and finding out new releases and album / EP reviews from certain artists, etc. The covers are very attractive to buy as a fan of the genre as it is upbeat, colourful and vibrant. It would immediately make me drawn toward the magazine, because of the features and what it includes in the magazine as a whole. 

Kerrang! magazine featuring one my favourite bands: Parkway Drive.

I would also choose Kerrang! like being a fan of the EDM genre, I am a big fan of many kinds of rock music, more specifically heavy metal, metalcore, etc. I have never read Kerrang! before but it does really make me want to buy the magazine as it does, like Mixmag, make me want to buy the magazine as it features news on my favourite bands, which I love to be updated about. Kerrang! is also a good source to find very small bands to listen to and become a fan of. The magazine style is very relatable to the rock genre and you would immediately tell that Kerrang! would appeal to the 'metalhead' as the use of colours, layout, fonts relate to the genre. 

Introduction Blog - Starter Task

Introduction Blog - Starter Task

As a part of my AS Media Study A-Level i will have to keep a blog with information and work which will be submitted and used as coursework. In the blog you will find the following:

• My planning throughout the duration of the course.

• My Evaluation.

• My research, planning and evaluation throughout the year. 

• To support the research I will provide videos and images in my blog.

To support the research, I will provide images and videos in my blog. I will also purchase specific music magazines that will determine in what I need to include in the music genre of magazine I have chosen to focus on. This is also a better way to understand why magazines use the layouts, fonts, features they do to attract the specific target audience they want to appeal and sell to.

ABOUT ME!

At A level, the subjects I have taken are as the following: Art, Media Studies and English Literature. I chose media as a subject as I feel it will come in handy to what I want to become when I am older, which is a graphic designer and illustrator. It will make me understanding in how to use things appropriately when designing something for a client of any kind, and it has also given me a whole range of things to look at when working on something.
My music taste varies in sorts, but I mainly listen to a lot of Drum n' Bass, heavy metal, metalcore and any music a long those lines. If it sounds good to me, I don't mind. In my spare time, I like to improve my designing and art skills for future purposes.

 I referee on Sundays, as it is good to keep fit and still be apart of football, as I do not play for a team any more. I am new practitioner to the movement of parkour and free-running. I am hoping to keep improving at it and also to make me much more disciplined and determined to do things, not just doing the sport in general, but to other things in life as well. It is also a way to keep me fit and healthy.