Social Identity Theory

The theory was developed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner. Through social categorization it divides people into social classes, race, age, gender and this helps people formulate a social identity for themselves. There are two groups an 'in-group' and 'out-group', the 'in-group' goes against what the 'out-group' thinks, this enhances there self image.

Tajfel came up with the idea of stereotyping which shows a clear style of group; for example MOD, rock and skinheads. This is called social comparison meaning you compare one group to the other group such as skinheads all have the same short hair cut, doctor martins and are fighters and aggressive. Hippies are very chilled out and go with anything and believe in everything peaceful, these two group do not get along.
 

Does Social identity Theory still apply to music magazines?

In different types of music e.g. pop, this genre is all positive and never show pop celebrities getting in trouble because they are idols for there young target audience. Rock bands/singers don't care about there image and give the impression that they don't care and look down on people if they don't listen to the same music. I can see that rock music affects the people who listen to it by changing there attitudes and beliefs. 

 

Moodboard

I made a mood board on pinterest to help research magazine ideas and to show the pop magazine I want to make it look like and the celebrities that is included on magazine I'm researching.

 

http://www.pinterest.com/katytierney2/music-magazine/

Research Methods

Primary Research:
It is where the researcher has collected new information which has never been seen before. They can do this by taking surveys, questionnaires or interview.

Secondary Research:
It is where the researcher has collected existing information that has already been produced. You can research through newspapers, magazines, internet and company reports.


Qualitative Research:
It originated from social and behavioural sciences, it explores issues and answers and analyses all of them and is an unstructured research. This type of research happens in nearly every workplace nearly everyday. Usually survey a small number so they get the answers they want and makes it more precise.

Quantitate Research:
It is used to develop mathematics models and theories. It's about asking questions and is more structured so it produces exact facts at the end of the surveys, questionnaires and interviews. In this research method to get a more reliable result they survey people in large numbers. 

This helps me choose which type of research I'm going to use, when I make my front cover, I will make different versions and go and take a few surveys to see what my target audience says and ask about the layout,colour theme and overall look. I will  take inspiration from secondary research like other magazines in the same genre.

Graphology

Meaning of Graphology
Is the studying of handwriting and the analysis of the characteristics and patterns of handwriting.

Uses and Gratification Model

•   It is the approach to put all the power in the audience not the producers and this theory can emphasise what the audience likes and dislikes and how they use them.

The audience uses media texts to gratify:

• diversion
• escapism
• information
• pleasure
• sexual stimulation

Media helps...

• Identify- to some audiences celebrities can be their inspirations and role models.
• Educate- to be able to achieve information, knowledge and understanding.
• Entertain- the media e.g. TV show should be captivating therefore the audience can forget about there worries and to become relaxed..
• Social interaction- media should be shared by word of mouth and needs to be interesting there people circulate and chat about it.

What would your reader gain from reading your magazine?
I would the audience who read my magazine would feel relaxation whilst reading the magazine and help them forget all bad things approaching and happening at the moment. I'd like to think the my magazine would help the reader gain understanding on their interests to music and there personal identity. My magazine will educate people in a fun way by including pictures, quirky handwriting and bright colours.

Ideology

Ideology is a critical concept in media studies for the students and to understand the other aspects to media.

What is Ideology?
It is an overview of a range of beliefs and attitudes to a group or society which is very important and share it through the culture.

Dichotomy-between two genres of music

Pop:

• It's all about the melody of the song and good singing.
• Pop portrays the celebrities having a clean living.
• Most pop songs are about love not sex.
• Songs are never usually to do with political matters.
• Singers don't usually play instruments and write songs.
• Sometimes pop singers can come across contrived meaning they can come across fake.
• Pop songs are happy, colourful and cheerful and the singers are usually good-looking/attractive.

Rock:

• There songs are played at a really high volume and sometimes even scream and shout.
• The rock celebrities are more real than pop singers and show the alcohol and drugs in there lives.
• There songs can relate to sex, politics and anger.
• Rock singers and bands write songs and play with instruments and are called 'Authentic'.

There are different sub-genres under Pop and Rock.

• Pop has white pop, R n B, Soul and chart music. Rock has Hip-Hop, Blues and Indie. 

Bauer Media Group

 

Bauer Media has the largest publishing group and it offers over 300 magazines in 15 countries and then offers it online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media Group is a UK based company including many other brands. They receive all their information from magazines and radio. Bauer Media owns numerous brands including Mojo, Kerrang and Q magazine. 

Mojo's audience is mainly men over woman because in a survey from the NRS says 150 men and 50 woman read or bought the magazine, this could suggest it more about music men like. There are more ABC1 (upper class) than C2De (working class).

Kerrang's audience is more equal compared to Mojo magazine because there were 150 men and 103 woman showing it attracts both genders and especially 15 to 34 years old. More C2DE read Kerrang than ABC1 but only by 13 more readers. 192 of the readers are aged 15-34 but this is a big range in ages and isn't very exact.

Q has a very unequal audience because 243 men read it an only 77 and more ABC1 read more than C2DE. There is quite an equal amount of 15 to 34 years old and 35 year olds and older.

 

Pro's of NRS

• It helps small media companies gain a wider audience and gain a profit.
• NRS helps create, develop and launch your successful business.
• It can guide companies in every country on a radio station, TV, press and other media sources.
• They have generated enormous amounts of money in the past 22 years in 350 media markets.

Con's of NRS

• From reviews of the company they say there is no clear strategy as to where your company is going.
• You have to travel very far and can be very tiring and overwhelming.
• Many reviews say that the leaders are quite intimidating and need to be more inspirational to encourage the new company.
• A review says that they have an old way of thinking and are inflexible and don't take peoples opinions very well.

History of a Music Magazine

There are a variety of music magazines for example:

• Billboard

Billboard is a American magazine and was first issued in 1894.  It is one of the oldest trade magazine in the world. It's owned by Prometheus Global Media and was for bill posting and outdoor amusements but then in the 1960's they were all about music. The typical reader of this magazine is teenagers especially woman and celebrities are represented in a good inspirational way.

• Melody Maker

It began in 1926 in the UK and was all about pop and rock music. It was originally about jazz music then slowly went more into rock and roll.The magazine was published by Lawrence Wright and the first editor was Edgar Jackson. the typical reader of the magazine are teenagers.

• Kerrang

It is based in the UK and is just about rock and published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on the 6th of June, 1981. In the early 2000's it was awarded the  best-selling British music magazine. The target audience is an equal amount of men and woman and goes from young teenagers to adults. The editor of the magazine is James McMahon.

 

School Magazine Contents Page

I also made the contents page on an Apple mac in the same colour theme even though I don't  think it comes across very well and not very eye catching.

I have kept the same font to make the front page and contents page look similar. On the left hand side I have added 5 bubbles with explanation's of what is on each page, by doing this it makes people want to read on to the rest of the magazine. By using black font in the green bubbles it makes it stand out. On the right hand side are three pictures of the students at the school which relates to the page descriptions.

There are two smaller green bubbles that are next to the picture which relates to bubble this makes the reader want to go read the certain page. The fifth bubble says "And much more, keep reading!" by saying this it makes the readers read on.

School Magazine Front Cover

I made the front cover on an Apple Mac, I added the date and number of the issue at the top of the front cover to help the readers pick the right magazine.





I don't think the colour green is affective on a magazine because it isn't very clear and eye-catching. I would use a brighter red to make it more clear for the reader. I didn't put in the 'Next trip' because I thought it was too overcrowded on the front cover. The first picture is of a Year 7 student working in the library by herself this shows you are taught at a young age to be independent. 

The second picture is of the A-level student shows him doing independent study you can see this by all the folders out on the desk,this represents the Southfield sixth form are responsible.