Market research: music magazines

The purpose of this research is to find out about the target audience style and content of a new music magazine and I will also find out about the genres people like and how they listen to music. The method of this research is a primary research survey that I have constructed using survey monkey and I have gathered qualitative and quantitative research. I have asked the audience questions such as what attracts them to a music magazine and how they stream music.

In order to design a magazine it is important to consider the ages of the audience. 7 people (70%) are ages 15-20 years old which suggests that I would need to base my magazine mainly around this age range. As this is the majority, the magazine will contain aspects that would appeal to a younger audience. 1 person (10%) said that they were 21-25 years old. This suggests that this is the age that will be taken into account and a minority of the magazine

would perhaps appeal to this person. As 2 people (20%) said that they were over the age of 25, this suggests that the magazine would perhaps need to be more of a formal magazine and would not contain aspects which would appeal to a younger audience; such as colours and images.

Only 1 (10%) person who answered this survey is a male. This suggests that my magazine should try and appeal to a female demographic. This could be done with the colour palette and because 30% of the people were over the age of 20, it means that a less juvenile approach would be taken in order to please the audience. This means the 9 people (90%) are female which automatically means that

my magazine will be mostly focused on the female gender. This means that the contents of my magazine should contain information that would appeal to women such as fashion and beauty tips. The front covers may be used to show inspirational women or even famous people who are in the limelight.

This question was a multiple choice question. The people in my sample chose multiple options and they could choose however many options they wanted. Given than the majority

of people in my survey are under the age of 20 years old, it is surprising that nobody chose hip hop as a genre of music that they listen to as hip hop music is usually associated with teenagers. 5 people in the sample voted for Rock music as being a genre of music that they listen to. This

means that my magazine should include a rock type theme which may be influenced by a rock magazine such as Kerrang! 4 people in the sample said that pop music was a genre of music that people listen to. Pop themes such as colours and images of pop singers/bands should be included within my magazine as this will be considering the audience.

100% of the people I asked in my survey said that they listen to music regularly. This suggests that 10/10 people listen to music. It also suggests that music is a popular amongst people and 10/10 people listen to music regularly.

Half (50%) of people said that they listened to music for 3-4 hours throughout the day. 3 people said they listened to music for 1-2 hours and 2 people said that listened to music for 6 hours a day or

more. Nobody said they listened to music for less than 1 hour. These results suggest that music is popular amongst people and the most popular hours spent listening to music is 3-4 hours. This means that to create a music magazine, I should include features that will encourage the people who listen to music for 1-2 hours to listen to more music. I could do this buy including codes which will give the audience one free song and this could come with each magazine. This would

be a good idea because they would be using the code to download music which will therefore encourage them to read more music magazines and listen to more music.

4 people said that they do read music magazines and 5 people said no. 1 person skipped which does not give me an accurate overall percentage. However, with the results that I did receive it suggests

that music magazines are not popular. Surprisingly, the majority of people who said that they do read music magazines are aged 15-20 years old. This suggests that music magazines are popular amongst young people and the majority, if not all the people who said no are aged 25 years and older. To encourage the older audiences to read more

music magazines, there should be something which appeals to older audiences. Giveaways such as free concert tickets to watch any artist or band perform live or maybe gifts such as a pen drive which is something older people may use.

The same amount of people told me that they stream music through YouTube and their mobile phones. Likewise, very little but the same amount of people told me that they stream music through

Spotify and iTunes. This suggests to me that certain platforms where music is free to stream and easy to access is more popular amongst people than platforms such as Spotify and iTunes where you have to sign up and pay for the sons/songs. This suggests that I should take into consideration that people prefer to stream music if it is free and even though Spotify is free, you still have to sign up or use a Facebook account in order to play

music and even then, there are adverts that the audience cannot skip. To encourage people to use platforms such as I tunes, there could be a prize to win an iTunes card for different amounts of money and you can win them by entering a competition; this method involves the audience and not only encourages them to read music magazines but they can use other platforms such as iTunes.

60% of the people told me that they are first attracted to a magazine by what is on the front cover. 40% told me that they are attracted to a magazine based on their content. This should be taken into to consideration when creating my music magazine as I need to include an appealing front cover with interesting fonts and images as well as content that will keep the people who prefer magazines with good content happy; this will encourage them to read my magazine and make everyone happy.

This question reveals to me that the majority of the people who answered my survey enjoy reading magazines. 8 people (80%) out of the 10 I asked said they like to read magazines, this means that

20% do not. This suggests to me that when I am making my magazine I should include features which will bring new audiences who wouldn’t usually read magazines to read magazines. When looking at the individual responses I noticed that the two people who said they didn’t like reading magazines were aged 15-20 and 26 years old and over. This suggests that magazines are either too mature

for the 15-20 year old or too immature for the over 26 year old. This suggests that I should create a magazine which appeals to an older audience as well as catering for the younger audience,

This question reveals to me that the majority of the people who answered this question said that they would be willing to pay between £1.50-£2 for a music magazine. One person said that they would pay £4.99 for a music magazine and three people said that they would pay £0-£1. This suggests to me that I should make my magazine a cost that is suitable for all of the answers and as

the majority said that they wouldn’t pay more than £2 for a magazine, I will make a magazine prince between £1 and £2.

From looking at my results, I have gathered enough information to decide that my magazine should have the following in order to appeal to my audience:

Be aimed at primarily younger people aged around 16-17 but also to an older audience. Pop and rocks genres of music to appear in the magazine. Have icons linking to YouTube and even a mobile app relating to music. Create an interesting front cover as well as contents which will attract an audience. Create a fair price between the two most popular princes, around £1.50.