Amy Brackenridge

Music Magazine Market Research - ReportThe main aim of this market research was to gather information about the type of people that will read my magazine and what magazines they enjoy reading in order to help develop my own ideas and planning, to determine what features will be included. In order to collect results I used a primary research technique and created a questionnaire containing 12 simple tick box questions, which gathered quantitative data. All of the people that participated in the questionnaire were under 18, therefore the results collected are largely based on a younger persons views on music magazines, which is who my music magazine is targeted for.

As you can see from the chart above out of the results I collected there were an equal number of males to female participants. Therefore there should be an equal balance in tastes and interest, making the results more valid and not biased towards a certain gender.

The bar chart below shows the various music genres the participants listen to regularly. This will help determine what content will be included in my magazine, specifically the genres of music that will be featured, mainly on the cover as this is what will attract potential readers and it is important to know what genres of music young people are listening to. As you can see the most popular genre is R&B, as 70% of the participants said they listened to it. Equally popular genres were Alternative and House music (60%). From this questionnaire, it is clear that the three main genres of music that younger people listen to is R&B, House and Alternative, therefore these will be the main focus of my magazine, in order to appeal to a younger demographic.

Gender

MaleFemales

Pop Classical R&B Alternative Rock House0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

4

1

76

3

6

Music Genres

Music Genres

Amy Brackenridge

1

46

How do you access your music?Music Blogs Radio Itunes/Spotify

NME Kerrang VIBE Rolling Stones

Q0123456789

8

4 31 2

Other music magazines

Live R

eview

s

Artist

review

s

News S

tories

Competitions

Latest

music

info

Photographs

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

4 4

1 1

56

Magazine Content

Participants were asked what other music magazines they enjoy reading. This was so that I could get an idea of what type of music magazines younger people enjoy reading, so that I could get an idea of what style my magazine would be. The bar chart below shows that the most popular music magazine that young people read is NME (80%), which mainly features the rock and alternative genre. This gives me an indication of the type of content that will be included in my magazine and what music will be featured in order to appeal to a younger demographic.

Another question which I asked participants was what type of content they enjoy reading in music magazines. I listed a range of typical features and allowed more than one option to be chosen. As you can see from the following results, 60% of people said they enjoyed photographs when reading magazines and 50% said latest music information, therefore from this research I concluded that a high frequency of music related photographs must be included on both the contents and double page spread, along with some latest music information.

I also asked participants how they accessed their music, other than via music magazines. The options available were through music blogs, the radio and software such as ITunes and Spotify, demonstrated by the pie chart below. The most popular method was via ITunes and Spotify (60%) which I expected as the participants were from a younger demographic. However, 40% of the participants still use to radio to discover new music. I can use this data in order to find out the type of artists and bands that people are currently listening to, which can then be included in my magazine.

Amy Brackenridge

Participants were also given a range of current examples of masthead from popular music magazines and told to choose which one they find most appealing. 50% choose NME as their favourite; this masthead is extremely bold and bright, with a black and white border to give it extra definition. This will help me in the process of designing my own masthead, as I can use a similar style to this one.

Would you buy a magazine based purely on who was on the front

cover?

YesNo

Q NME Rolling Stones Kerrang0

1

2

3

4

5

6Which masthead do find most appealing?

Another important question within the questionnaire was ‘Would you buy a magazine based purely on who was on the front cover’, this was important because the front cover is an extremely large element of a magazine. The results show that 70% of the participants do base their decision on who is on the cover; this is a fairly large proportion which suggests generally people do care about the cover. Therefore, it is important that my magazine front cover instantly attracts people’s attentions to engage them.

What price would you be willing to pay?

Less than £1

£1-£2.50

£3-5

The final question I asked was how much they were willing to pay for music magazines. A clear majority of 80% said they were willing to pay less than a £1, which I expected as the people asked were of a younger demographic; therefore it is likely they do not have a lot of money to spend on magazines.

Amy Brackenridge

To conclude, from this primary market research I have collected a wide range of useful information which will help in the development of my music magazine. I have discovered the genres of music 16-25 year olds currently listen to (R&B, alternative and house), this will help me when choosing the magazine content, as it is important the magazine appeals to the younger demographic. I also found that the features people are most interested in are live reviews, latest music information and photographs, this will help me determine what to include in the double page spread. Another important thing I found was that the majority of participants buy music magazines based on what is on the cover. This means that I will need to make the cover stand out to a younger demographic, so that they will be interested in buying it. Overall this research has helped m determine the style of my magazine and the content that will be included, in order to appeal to a younger demographic.