Music Magazine Pitch

Jelani Hines-Rogers

Genre• My genre of choice for my music magazine is Hip-Hop

• I chose Hip-Hop because I can recall being a fan of the

genre ever since I remember listening to music.

• In my opinion, this is the perfect genre for me to do as I have

a wide knowledge of aspects of the genre such as the

culture, the artists, the audience and the history of the music

itself.

Price

The Source – $4.99 XXL - $4.99

• The chosen price for my

magazine is $3.99 (monthly).

• I decided this by looking at my

main competitors in the hip-hop

magazine industry The Source

and XXL and comparing their

prices.

• I based my price on theirs,

making mine $1 cheaper as I’ll

need to make sure my magazine

is more appealing than the ones

that are shelved next to it.

Audience Profile

Questions to Consider

Who are they?

What is their current lifestyle?

What are their media interests?

What are their buying habits?

Who Are They?

Gender: Both

Age: 15 - 21

Ethnicity: Majority African-American

Religion: Christian

Education: High School/College

Occupation: Student

Income: US Federal Youth Minimum Wage of $4.25

Nationality: American

What Does Their Current Lifestyle Consist

Of?

Likes, Interests, Hobbies

Active User of Social Media

Likes Fashion

Main Priorities Are Education, Sports &

Friends

Name of Magazine

Prezi Presentation: http://prezi.com/pvou1jiu-

omz/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Text

Font

My chosen font is called Freshman by William Boyd.

I chose this font because my magazine’s audience is aged 15-15 which means that they

are likely to be in some sort of education & the term ‘freshman’ is used in the US to refer to

a first-year high school student or a first-year college student.

Also, this font is commonly recognised as a ‘college’ font as it can be seen on college

apparel such as letterman jackets.

Colours

This is the chosen colour scheme for my magazine:

Title Subtitle

Quotes Subheadings

Colours

I chose these colours because they are 4 very

different colours and so there won’t be any cases of

a colour clash when creating my magazine.

Also, these colours seem to work well together as

several of the magazines I looked at for my research

incorporated some of these in combination.

Images

Front Cover – Mid-Shot• My front cover image will be

a medium shot, very much like the one on my draft cover.

• I chose this shot because it will show my cover artist in detail and the audience will be able to read the facial expressions and emotion showing without it being too intense.

• Another reason is because when we are introduced to someone in person, we view them from a mid-shot range and focus on their face and dialogue, therefore the bottom half of the body is not important.

• A mid-shot also allows room for any hand gestures and a pose as well.

Contents Page - Close Crouch

Pose• My contents page will feature my artist in a pose very similar

to the one on the right but looking directly at the camera.

• I chose this pose because this is a common pose done by

hip-hop artists for many photo opportunities whether it be on

stage, during a photo-shoot for a magazine or for an album

cover.

• This pose will enable the reader to feel closer to my artist as

they will be able to see their lower body which was hidden

on the front cover as well as being able to see more of what

they are wearing.

• The text on the context page will be at the left side of the

page and there will be enough space in the middle of the

page so that there is no text overlapping onto the image of

the artist who will be placed towards the right side of the

page.

Double Page Spread – Left

Side• The left side of my double page spread will be the transcript

of an exclusive interview between the magazine’s journalist

and the chosen hip-hop artist. Above this, there will be a

photo of my cover artist in the form of a medium shot.

• This page will not have an image, however, it will be

accompanied with two quotes from the interview. One

being at the top of the page, one being in the middle of the

interview as displayed on the right.

• I chose to do this because I want my magazine to be

productive and educational which means including

detailed information as well as fun and image filled.

• I also think that having an in-depth interview will work as a

good selling point to appeal to my audience.

Double Page Spread – Right

Side – Long Shot• The right side of my double page spread will contain an

image of my cover artist’s album cover

• I chose this because most other double page spreads have

photos of the artist only & because my magazine is

promoting an album, it made sense for me to be different

and do this.

• The reader will see the album cover & will then be able to

relate to the interview more as they can visualise what the

artist is actually talking about.

Double Page Spread Outline

The Interview

I will take an in-depth approach to my interview and it will be a detailed one rather than a

quick question & answer conversation.

I chose to do this because a selling point on the cover of my magazine is ‘Exclusive

Interview’ and having short, closed questions such as ‘Where did you get your stage name

from?’ will be like any other interview the artist has already done. Instead, my questions will

be more open, for example; ‘What inspired your on-stage character in terms of your

image, name, musical style & personality?’.

This adds a more personal tone to the interview and the reader will feel like they know the

artist more, which is the whole point of the exclusive interview.

Features

Inducements & Unique Selling Proposition

Inducements

Although the magazines I looked at didn’t have

any special offers, I chose to include:

A discount on the subscription for my magazine

A free competition in every edition to win a poster of

the front cover signed by the feature artist

I only chose two as I didn’t want my magazine to be

filled with free giveaways as although this will attract

readers, free giveaways are more commonly found in

teen pop magazines and I didn’t want to take away the

hip-hop feel of my magazine. However, I chose these

because a subscription service will encourage readers to

buy the magazine again and the signed poster of the

front cover is an offer that I didn’t find in any other hip-

hop magazines, making mine unique and therefore

enabling me to compete with bigger brands.

• To decide on offers for my magazine, I looked at other hip-hop magazines to see what they had to offer their readers.

• I found that the magazines I looked at didn’t have any special inducements or offers to the readers apart from a discount on the yearly subscription of the magazine itself.

• This is because they have a mixed audience profile and may have trouble finding something suitable for all readers, also, their titles are well known and respected so having offers may be seen as ‘gimmicky’ by readers.

Unique Selling Proposition – Concert

Calendar

As my magazine is targeted towards a audience in either high school or college, to

decide upon my USP, I regarded their social interests and lifestyle to decide that they’re

interested in attending concerts however, due to the minimum wage wage rate, several

would be unable to afford tickets.

Because of this, I came up with the idea of adding a concert calendar page which shows

the dates and location of any upcoming hip-hop concerts in major cities. This way, my

readers will be able to save up their money ahead of the ticket sale date and will be able

to go.

I did not find anything similar to this when looking at The Source and XXL which is what

makes it a unique selling proposition and will enable me to compete with other magazines

as this is another incentive to buy my one.

Unique Selling Proposition – Decoded

Lyrics

Another USP I have chosen to include is a feature section where the feature artist

interprets the lyrics of a song of theirs. This feature will be called ‘Behind The Bars’. Making

a reference to the number of bars in the structure of a song.

I decided this because it enables the reader to have a full understanding of what the artist

is talking about in their music & will then let them feel closer to the artist which links into the

same idea of the in-depth interview.

Another reason I decided this is because the closest thing I found to this was in The Source

where they had a section called ‘Hip-Hop Quotable’. However, this only displayed a

quote from the feature artist, without an explanation. This will also make my magazine

unique.