Focus Group AnalysisThe people I interviewed in my focus group were listeners of the hip hop music genre. They were all

in the seventeen to twenty-two year old category; which proved by my questionnaire, was the age group that consisted in having the most fans and hip-hop listeners. My target audience admitted to be huge fans of the hip hop genre. When asked about their favourite artists, their answers were quite split between the mainstream artists and underground artists. This could this information could be beneficial for me when it comes to producing my magazine as my target audience confirmed that they would prefer it if the magazine had a broad range of artists. They were an optimistic young bunch of people that enjoy listening to music and finding new people to listen to. The more artists that they are aware of, the more music they will know and enjoy. Most enjoy going to festivals, concerts and gigs and many would like the opportunity in seeing their favourite artist live. They all enjoyed the idea of the magazine having a freebee and were all happy with the idea of having a competition that may give them the chance to meet and see their favourite artist live. They prefer to buy magazines that produced these as they believed the magazine appealed to the audience more by providing people with opportunities to win tickets.

My target audience revealed that they are all massively interested in fashion and do their best to follow trends. They admitted that what they wear and like is sometimes influenced by their favourite artists and the hip hop genre. The target audience would like to see pictures of their favourite artists on a night out, and would like the magazine to show the readership what they are wearing, how much their outfits costs and where the artist had got his clothes from, they believe that this helps the audience stay on top of fashion trends and allows them to feel better about themselves, knowing that their favourite artists owns the same shirt, trousers, skirt etc. As they do.

The focus group was mainly boys; this was to show the big majority of males being interested in the music genre. The number of women was way smaller than the number of boys. I asked my target audience what they would expect to see on a front cover of a hip hop magazine. They told me that they would expect to see sexy women posing provocatively and being male eye candy; momentarily popular artists and hip hop legends. When being asked on what they would prefer to see, some revealed that they would prefer to see eye candy on the front cover. They said that the eye candy would catch their attention and would make them look inside. Some others said they would prefer to see hip hop legends and a quote from them. They said that this would draw in their attention as they would love to view an interview with a hip hop legend.

My target audience also revealed that they would rather read a magazine that heavily focused on the music rather than the artists within the industry. Although they said they preferred this, they still would like to read some interviews and articles about up and coming musicians. One person said that they would definitely purchase the magazine if the company let an artist take over the magazine as an issue special. It would include a double page spread about the artist and how they became successful, an interview with them and a page that would discuss their albums and what they’re planning to do in the future and who they’re

planning to collaborate with. The magazine would appeal to the audience as they will be given key information and motivation speeches, chances to win a competition to meet the artist, freebees and posters. My target audience admitted that a magazine that focused on only the music would be more entertaining than a magazine that focused mainly on gossip and what’s happening in the world of hip hop. The target audience want to use the magazine as a guide in whom to listen to, and want it to help them broad their taste in the hip hop genre.

Questionnaire AnalysisI had sent out twenty questionnaires to people that are fans of the hip hop genre, and the majority of the listeners were around seventeen to twenty-two years old. Some were just under in the eleven to sixteen categories but I had found out that many fans are of the late teen and early adult stages. There is a ridiculously small amount of women listeners as only two girls were one hundred per cent interested in hip hop magazines; they believe that the genre is too manly and disagree with the way women are presented. They are familiar with the male eye candy that is shown in some music magazine but prefer the iconography shown in the R&B and Soul genres; which is similar to the Hip Hop genre, but is softer and less aggressive.

The majority of the target audience seem to be fans of Kanye West as they believe that he has changed hip hop from the hard core rebel music genre into an alternative aesthetic twenty first century version. Kanye West, 36, is one of the best-selling and among the most awarded artists in popular music. His background and style, upon his debut, deviated from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop his neat, elegant and flamboyant fashion sense has also attracted media attention and set Kanye apart from other rappers whereas the small amount of women that did say they showed interest in the music genre were very fond of rapper Drake. This was due to Drakes softer approach towards the audience when writing his music. My target audience are huge fans of concerts, as all of them answered yes when questioned about their desire on seeing their favourite bands/artists live in concerts, gigs or festivals. This could be a good use of information as competitions and freebees in a magazine would attract more attention from the target audience than just a plain magazine. My target audience would like a chance to win free tickets to see their favourite artists live.

Music features heavily in the lives of my target audience with many people answering the question with tens. Not one result would be under the eight scales so this could imply that my target audience are all about the music. The magazine will have to focus strongly upon the music and slightly less on the artist’s lives and their whereabouts outside the studio. Many don’t buy magazines due to the massive technology up rise. People can know download magazine apps for free on smartphones or easily access information online through the magazine’s website, to buy a magazine would be a little too ‘old fashioned’. All the other options are free, so to buy a magazine wouldn’t be a preferable option. One person believes that online magazines are presented better than the print one, and feature more stuff than what you would normally find in a shop; therefore they do not look to buy music magazines. To change this, a new magazine will have to be eye catching and include more features than the interactive magazine. My target audience have also admitted that they would pay no more than four to five pounds for a music magazine.

To lure people into buying your music magazine, you’ll need to have some fancy sell lines. I asked my target audience to pick three different sell lines that they would be interested in reading. The most circled turned out to be the “Super Remix? Kanye West talks about his plans to get Childish Gambino, Chance the Rapper, Big Sean, Drake, Jay Z, Pharell Williams, French Montana, 2 Chainz and Pusha T all on a super remix of Blood on the Leaves”. This once again would give me the impression that my target audience are only interested in the music being published rather than the gossip of other celebrities. This would make me want to focus on the music rather than the artist.