Music Magazine PitchWorking title

Genre Price and frequency

Style Attitude

Typical contents Mission statement

Working TitleThe working title of my magazine will be: Ear. Since my magazine is not focused on one music genre, I had to come out with a name that would not indicate a particular genre, but would be more general. My first suggestion was “Musix”, but I came to a conclusion that it is not very original and creative. So I came up with a new title, and my magazine will officially be called “Ear”. Because ears are organs through which people listen to music, I though it would be perfect as it is general, not signifying a particular genre but at the same time it is a very original title that is based around music but does not include the word music or a particular genre in it. Because my working title is only one word it is simple, easy to remember and will portray nicely on the cover page. Also, I decided that my working title will be all written in caps - “EAR.”, so that it portrays more nicely on the cover page. Plus I will add a full stop behind it, to give the magazine a more dramatic effect.

GenreMy magazine will not be based around a particular genre, as my survey shown that my audience likes almost all genres and is flexible. To appeal to every person in my audience I decided that in every issue of my magazine I will feature every music genre chosen in the survey, these are Pop, Rap, House, R&B, Rock and Indie. This way I will appeal to my entire audience and I will not lose readers. Every issue of my magazine will include each genre’s highlights of the month. Also, I feel like majority of magazines on the UK market are based around a particular genre and creating a magazine that is not based around only one genre is not very common, so this way I will bring something new to the market and as people like trying new things, they might be persuaded to buy my magazine.

Price and FrequencyThe magazine will be published every month, as releasing the magazine monthly means I will have more time to work on every issue and the quality of my magazine will be better and my magazine will look more professional. Also, most of the popular magazines, like Q, Mojo or Mixmag, are being released each month, so I decided to follow similar aspects of this meaning monthly magazines seem more popular. I will also have more to talk about, so my magazine will be more informative rather than a weekly magazine. Choosing a monthly magazine over one that would not be released as often, will make the audience remember to buy it each month. It will be published on the 1st of each month, which is a date easy to remember. The publication will cost £2.99 and the price of it will not change even when the magazine will include a free gift, as that is the price chosen the most by my audience in the survey. Even though some stated they would spend more, it would decrease the audience because some people might find it too expensive, as a couple of responders would like the magazine to be cheaper or free. Using a price ending with 99p will make the audience think, the magazine is quite cheaper than £3. Each issue of my magazine will have 70 pages.

StyleStyle is one of the most important features of a magazine, as it is one of the first aspects a reader will notice, this way I will have to make sure they are thoroughly engaged throughout the magazine. The style of articles in the magazine will have content about musicians, bands, upcoming music events, music recommendations, photoshoots, previews, fashion and also gossip, as two thirds of my readers are female and this gender is generally known for being interested in these two topics. However, because this is a music magazine, the topics fashion and gossip will not be general but will only be about musicians. This way people not very interested in music, but interested in personal lives of musicians, might purchase this magazine. My magazine will have topics that will appear in every issue, but sometimes I will include special topics that will not be published every month. For example, when a big event occurs in the music industry I will write on that topic in the following issue of my magazine. Except for including a free gift every third month (CD, music themed merchandise…), my magazine will also have a regular feature of competitions. Prizes of these competitions will be tickets to music events, music instruments or music themed clothing. This adds an element of surprise to the audience and makes them want to buy the magazine.

AttitudeThe magazines attitude will be very simple and will have a bit of a vintage vibe to it, as being retro, ironic and hipster is what is “in” nowadays. When it comes to design, I will focus on the cover page the most as it is the first page of magazine a reader will notice and my goal is to make it completely different from other, already existing magazines. The logo of my magazine will be a small ear, that will be placed on pages with the best articles of each issue. The magazine will not have its typical colours, but it will be using pastel desaturated colours to give a vintage vibe to it, as I think most of the magazines on the market have similar layouts and the style of their magazines is not really different from each other. In order to attract people and bring something new to the market, I will create a magazine which style and attitude will be one of a kind. Each image I will place in my magazine will go through a whole process of editing (contrast, saturation, sharpen), but I will make sure it still looks professional. I will include a lot of images, in order to attract readers, as many people prefer not reading a lot of text. There will be lots of pull quotes, text in bold, italics and a characteristic feature of my magazine will be text shadow. I might also include slanted text sometimes, however I will make sure the pages look nice and organised. There will also be images of different scenes like in concert or outside and not just studio based image. This means the audience will be thoroughly engaged as some magazines only include studio shots and it shows that the magazine is around all aspects of music and not just one.

My music magazine will contain a variation of contents in order to make the magazine more interesting to read. As my magazine is a monthly publication, having lots of different things will mean it is worth the wait and price monthly. Every issue of magazines will have a favourites section that will be talking about music favourites and “musts” of the month (songs, artists, albums, events, musicians winning awards, etc.). The magazine will also have a number of different music reviews, of new albums, singles or concerts, telling the audience if it is worth the money. Including these every month would show the audience different aspects. The magazine will include interviews, in order to give the readers an insight into their favourite artists lives, tours and upcoming albums. There will also be competitions readers can win (music merchandise and concert tickets). This as it will give the audience an interaction and interest them as these competitions will be in each magazine and always different. As a plug the magazine will include items like a free poster or a free CD in every other issue, in order to make the audience want to buy the magazine more. The magazine will also include some gossip, by doing this even people not very interested in music, but interested in an artist’s personal life might buy the magazine.

Typical Magazine Contents

Mission StatementEAR’s only goal is to make sure you hEAR it first!

“Q, NME and Mojo all in one, that’s EAR.” - Katherine 18, BRIGHTON

“Ear is the realest.” - Marcus 17, MANCHESTER

“All 72 pages packed with the hottest music.” - Lilly 16, YORK

“This magazine has it all.” - Andrew 18, LEEDS