Media CourseWork: Reasearch

This is my research page. I needed to do my research in order to find out what people wanted in my music magazine and how should I got about creating it. First of all I needed to find out; the gender of my audience, the age group of my audience and what kind of genre of music magazines they like. I also had to research into different institutions. I had to analyse magazine covers, contents pages and a double page spread to determine what to include on my music magazine. And also before making a music magazine I needed to know what it is, so I also defined what a music magazine is in my research. I’ve done all of this so I know exactly what my audience are looking for.

What is a music magazine?

A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews. Most music magazine readers read them to escape from reality to read stories about their favourite bands or artists. It also allows for readers to have exclusive access to events going on and they could freebies such as a trial CD.

Bauer Media Group

Bauer Media Group is a multimedia company originated in Hamburg, Germany which is set in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. It was formerly called Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG, abbreviated to HBV and usually shortened to H. Bauer. The Bauer Publishing Group comprises 282 magazines worldwide in 15 countries, as well as TV and radio stations. Bauer started in the UK with the launch of 'Bella' magazine in 1987, becoming Britain's 3rd largest publisher. Their brands also include 'Women's Weekly' and TV Listing magazines. With music magazines, their brands starting out with 'Q', setting itself apart widely by using high standards of photography, text and the style consisting of Indie, Rock and Alternative.

IPC Media

IPC Media is a leading UK consumer magazine publisher. Their business is split into five distinct publishing divisions: IPC Connect, IPC Inspire, IPC Ignite, IPC Southbank and IPC TX.Almost two in every three UK women and over 45% of UK men read an IPC magazine. That's almost 27 million UK adults. IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone. Their 80 magazines include; What's on TV, Pick Me Up, Woman, Now, Marie Claire, In Style, Woman & Home, Ideal Home, Nuts, Wallpaper*, Country Life, The Field, Rugby World, Practical Boat Owner and Look, our latest high street fashion and celebrity weekly.

After finding out that most people prefer Hip-Hop over other music genres have decided to make my magazine a Hip-Hop one. Before I do go on and make one i will research in-to Hip-Hop and its backgrounds.

VALS

This is a VAL’s system meaning; Values, Attitudes and Lifestyles System. This system sorts all the people in the world in-to eight different groups based on their resources and self-orientation. Resources includes: education, income, intelligence, health, energy level and eagerness to purchase. Self-orientation is split into three main parts; Principle oriented which means having your own set of view, Status oriented meaning influenced by others thinking and Action oriented the people that seek activity, adventure and variety.

The eight basic Lifestyles are:
Innovators which are at the top of the “food chain” they are allocated above the pyramid to emphasise how high they are. They are independent characters that have the highest incomes and abundant resources that they can indulge in any or all self-orientation.

Thinkers are the second highest consumers, they are a group of people that are self-motivated by ideas, have knowledge of what goes on around them and are well educated with a high income.

Achievers are those consumers that are much goal-oriented and want to become successful in their fields work. They are satisfied by their career and family, also driven by their achievements.

Experiencers are basically the younger generation; they are highly energetic from their nature and also from their activities. They have high income and higher amounts of resources where they get motivated from. This group of people are usually around 25-35 years old; they have a lot of energy and seek fun and excitement from their high income, fashion, entertainment and socialization.

Believers are the people who have low resources. However they have a lot of superstitions, they believe in Gods and traditions as well as cultures to live their life. They have a modest income and also have a high belief in family, church and their community.

Makers are always at the bottom of the “food chain” and never feel superior in terms of: achievements, education profession qualification, and relationship they are the sort of people that like to do their work themselves.

Strives are those kind of people who are very loving, really nice and usually make the people around them laugh with a joke or some funny talk. Money defines success for strives, who don’t have enough of it to meet their wishes and targets. Many of the Strives think to themselves as they have a job not a career which stops them from going on ahead.

Survivor’s consumers are those people who have very low incomes and they are very much old in age. They are most eldest of all the segments but the good thing about them is they are brand royal and they look for change.

The VALS system will help me to decide on what kind of audience I’m going to be focusing on. This system will also introduce me to my audience behaviour and life style. One of the main reasons I will use this system is that it will make my magazine a lot more professional, because biggest media institutions in the world such as IPC media use it in order to research into the media world.

Hip-Hop research

Hip-Hop is a combination of two slang term-“hip” meaning current, and “hop” for the hopping movement. In 1970’s an underground urban movement known as hip-hop began to develop in African-American community in New York City. Started at the home of DJ Kool Herc at the high-rise apartments at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Hip-Hop culture is characterized by for main elements: rapping, DJing, breaking and graffiti. Hip hop is simultaneously a new and old phenomenon, the importance of sampling to the art form means that much of the culture has revolved around the idea of updating classic recordings, attitudes, and experiences for modern audiences is called "flipping" within the culture. It follows in the footsteps of earlier American musical genres blues, jazz, and rock and roll in having become one of the most practiced genres of music in existence worldwide and also takes additional inspiration regularly from soul music, funk, and rhythm and blues. At its worst, hip hop has mirrored the worst aspects of the mainstream (American) culture that it emerged from: materialism, sexism, an internalized racism, violence, and antipathy towards intellectualism. Kwaito is a political and party-driven genre, as performers use the music to express their political views, and also to express their desire to have a good time. Kwaito is a music that came from a once hated and oppressed people, but it is now sweeping the nation. The main consumers of Kwaito are adolescents and half of the South African population is under 21. Early hip hop has often been credited with helping to reduce inner-city gang violence by replacing physical violence with hip hop battles of dance and artwork. However, with the emergence of commercial and crime-related rap during the early 1990s, an emphasis on violence was incorporated, with many rappers boasting about drugs, weapons, misogyny, and violence. While hip hop music now appeals to a broader demographic, media critics argue that socially and politically conscious hip hop has long been disregarded by mainstream America in favor of its media-baiting sibling, gangsta rap.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop