Who would be the Audience for your music magazine?

My key demographic would be a young generation who perhaps go to university although there may be many people who were interested in the magazine despite the target audience being specific to 16 - 34 year olds. I have chosen this particular age group as it encompasses people right from the beginning where young people will start to earn their own money and get a job; therefore they will be able to afford my magazine. Also, they’re at the age where teenagers will begin to have a passion for music and have a strong idea about their specific interests and dislikes. Anybody younger than my target audience will not yet have a clear idea or a strong passion for a particular music genre because they’ll still be learning about the different types of music there is. Also, they may not have the money to afford magazines.

My magazine appeals to both males and females as it is not based on a particular gender however, stereotypically it is males that are into Hardcore Metal Music. They would generally be ‘metal-heads’ who constantly listen to music while travelling to work or gigs on public transport or in their cheap cars which serve no purpose other than transport.
The target audience will particularly enjoy Heavy Metal that is not over the top with screaming but with good quality Metal and singing as well as impressive guitar and drum solos.

My music magazine will be mainly aimed at the ‘ABC1’ social category as these will be the people most likely to spend money on my magazine.
They would have either a full-time or part-time job but all their disposable income would be spent on going to see their favourite bands live and would be the kind of ‘die hard’ fans who push their way to the front to be closer to their idols and in the centre of the action. Although they are successful and have enough money to afford my magazine, my target audience might also be joiners, this is displayed in the way they would buy my music magazine, to read about people of a higher status and class than them, with the hope that they might also be able to achieve this. They would already be subscribed to various other music magazines as any free time they have, if there’s no gig on, would be spent either reading the magazines or relaxing at home or at a mates with Metal playing in the background. When my target audience read the articles about these music artists, they will realise they have something in common with them and that they can personally relate to them. This will make the article more enjoyable as they will understand the content and artists being promoted. My target audience may also read my magazine in order to discuss music news with friends and family. My ideal target audience have a strong passion for music; therefore music artists, gigs, events; festivals and so on will be a huge topic of conversation in their lives. Consequentially, by reading my music magazine they will have the information and gossip to share with everybody with similar interests.

Their perfect night out would be meeting up with their mates, having a few drinks, heading to a Bullet For My Valentine gig, getting right to the front and singing along with the songs, word for word. They would also be willing to spend some extra cash to get backstage if they could to meet the band afterwards and generally have a good time.

Thanks to the results of my poll (posted on my blog) I have found that my target audience would prefer a simplistic and appealing layout, suggesting that they themselves would be simplistic people who aren’t fussy. This is further supported by the next question where the majority answered saying they’d rather have a minimalist and simple front cover.
They would prefer Interviews and General Music News, accompanied by many pictures to keep the magazine interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

More people have said that they would prefer a monthly magazine and that they would prefer that on paper form.
Of the 17 people that answered whether they were subscribed to a music magazine, 5 said yes and 12 said no but only 1 out of those 12 said they wouldn’t subscribe to one in the future, therefore I will be aiming to sell my magazine in a shop as generally people don’t subscribe but buy on impulse, again displaying the type of personality my readers have.

They also said that Black and Red are the most relatable colours to the heavy metal culture and that the body positioning and/or poses that the Band members make are the most important when taking photos whereas the second most important is their appearance, mostly clothing.