Audience Research.

The target audience for my final piece magazine will be aimed at consumers who are interested in both Indie and Folk Music. I have established that these people are aged from around 16 to 30. This tends to be because at the age of 16 people are given more freedom to express themselves, whilst at the age of 30 people are likely to settle down and have other more urging priorities than reading a magazine. I have therefore realised that everything from my photos to the fonts I choose in the magazine must suit this audience. Therefore they will need to be current and associated with current trends.

Although this magazine is a music magazine, this age group will also have many other interests, which could prompt them to but other magazines instead. They will be interested in film/TV, Showbiz (especially females), fashion and sports (more the males). So to keep audience interest items such as these will have to be interwoven into the magazine, enhancing the magazines appeal. Such as fashions of artists in the magazine, films that involve music artists, for example Plan B being in 'The Sweeney'. Or having a chat with Kasabian about Leicester City. Anything that has the possibility to further grow the target market, as well as keeping the existing body is essential to making the magazine a success. 

Meanwhile I will have to keep the magazine current and link items to the latest styles, trends and events. Such as focusing on festivals during the Festival Season.  This will also keep the readers who will go elsewhere if the magazine isn't topical and relevant, due to the short attention spans and fickle nature of young people. 

The magazine will also need to be affordable, especially as it will be aimed at a lot of students, who are on tight budgets, so there is no point targeting a magazine at young people if they are unable to afford it. 

I would like to aim my magazine at people who read the Indie Music Magazine 'Clash' and the popular music Magazine 'NME. Clash is priced at £3.99, whilst I would like my magazine to be  one to two pounds cheaper. Meanwhile the NME is priced at £2.20 and comes out every-week, more of the price I would aim for.  Whereas CLASH is a monthly publication therefore it's price is acceptable. But young people can be impatient and will often prefer a magazine every-week, as opposed to once a month. 

Furthermore the Issues of the CLASH and NME pictured below are in styles that I both admire and would take inspiration from. I especially like the use of Yellow on CLASH and the John Lennon NME. Whilst the use of a calm blue with the greys on the Laura Marling NME I think looks really good.  All the magazines use just a few colours to create a calm effect, which doesn't over complicate or ruin the magazines appearance. 

They also all have bold clear mastheads and throughout use clear fonts, similar to  the style I would like to adopt for my magazine. As well the structures they use with the Loose text on the cover is something I will use. 

I feel these magazines appeal to young people for all of these reasons and is the reason why I like them so much. They are simple but effective, yet still achieve a stylish outcome. But also choose colours and styles that seem like they wouldn't work, but when put together hit it off. This is much similar to the styles of my Target Market., therefore it is clear why these are popular and also reassures me I have chosen the right genre and inspirations for my Target Market. 

The following print screens are from a website called. UK Tribes . The website collates and groups people by their lifestyle choices, such as shopping and TV habbits and was essential during my audience research. The print screens below are of the groups I best feel suit my Indie Genre and helped me most to produce accurate and detailed audience research.