R&B MAGAZINE PROPOSAL

CLARA BARROSO

GenreThe type of magazine I have chosen to base my magazine on is R&B, pop R&B/ old school R&B, as this is a genre that had specific things and people that I could choose as a model for my magazine. As this genre has certain materials and outfits to recognise the genre of the model that I’m choosing and also the idea that the outfits talk about the models personality and her R&B music style, also by the way she would be modelling in front of the camera. I will have some music instruments on my images, perhaps a piano or even a guitar, depending on the location for the images are going to be taken. I would like my images to be taken in different parts of inside the house, perhaps the model behind a white wall, sat on a table near a mirror, in a studio or even in a room with a music instrument or even just in a room with a piano. Different locations that talk about her music and her music style by the locations she’s also being represented.

I have decided to choose Lisandra Silva for my model as she does like R&B music herself, has a good sense of fashion style. She also does have a nice tone of skin colour that would fit a stereotype R&B music magazine, as her face would fit my magazine and the music audience, as she’s representing a solo female artist within the age of 20. So this would fit with my target audience. Therefore the chosen model also does music, plays instruments and sings and learns music as a subject. This would make my magazine flow far.

I am getting inspiration from other magazines such as; Vibe, Billboard, DIY, NME and Rolling Stone, to create my own original R&B magazine front cover, so it would be easier to introduce to the audience what an original cover would look like coming from my magazine. I would make this happen by taking a few shots of the main model/ solo female artist indoors, with a simple white wall behind her. I will be taking all my pictures indoors, using natural light, preferably when its more sunny and good weather so I could use most of the natural light in the photo shoot. For this I would be also using my reflector to give more light into the shots and to make them look sharper. I will be using a silver and a gold reflector. By doing the photo shoot indoors for my magazine, it would make the model the main thing on the magazine and the location around her would be telling more about her personality and more about her personal life.

I would like to have a few shots of the model looking serious, smiling and also looking/ portraying her more ‘sexy’ side, looking directly at the camera as if she model would be making eye contact with the target audience, as this genre is all about the way your being presented and also the their style of music that they produce. Theses photos would be taken along as the model poses to the camera experimenting in different angles and shots.

On the contents page, preferably I would like this to take up a double page as then I can use the photo throughout both sides and then with writing on one side. This would also help that the main focus on this magazine is on the solo female artist, Lisandra Silva that is on each page of the magazine. This would help my contents page to look busy and exciting as a R&B genre magazine.

AudienceMy primary target audience for my magazine is 17-24 year old ABC1 females, aspires (according to my survey results 40% are aspires)who love R&B music and beyond that type of music especially hip-hop R&B (with the total of 42.86% from my survey) and old school R&B (with the total of 34.29% from my survey) and also care on the way they look and the way they’re viewed. They are usually interested in new music/artists in R&B and regularly buying new R&B music CDS and going to gigs, looking after themselves and buying music products just like headphones to just impress the audience and to just be welcomed on the target audience for the R&B magazine. My target audience is female because the genre articles in my magazine will attract predominant female audience because female audience will prefer more into solo female R&B artists and their personal’s life as an artist. However, this doesn’t stop the males from disliking it because they’re couple of males that appreciate solo female singers and also like to know about their life too, especially the way their being represented on the magazine. It will get the males attention faster if the model/singer is being portrayed in a ‘sexy’ way. Moreover the house styles an the fonts used in my magazine will have to be very eye-catchy for both genders as they’re both part of my target audience. This will get their attention by the use of the colour, such as; black, white, gold, rose gold, silver and maybe also some use of the colour red. Also it will have to be set out in a very structured way o represent personality. My audience is aspires but also explores (as according to my survey results 31.43% are explorers) because they are also seeking for new music in one specific genre which is R&B. This means that they might be collectors of R&B (especially old school R&B and hip-hop R&B) CDs and accessories and therefore they would ne interested in R&B music magazines that usually feature up coming artists just like mine. Moreover they could be interested in R&B gigs, for example Rihanna or Ariana Grande, and then they will want to purchase my magazine as it will have information about up-coming artists, especially solo artist and their singles, with the interest of knowing the artist better and their music. My target audience will buy my magazine as they want to know all the key information about the main R&B solo artists that is mainly focusing for that monthly issue and also what’s happening in the R&B industry, what new releases there are and who’s becoming the most known in the R&B industry. They will also be interested in the new media and gadgets as they are closely related to music.

My secondary audience is 18-26 year old ABC1 males, mainstreamers who love R&B music (especially old school and soul R&B music) are interested in new media and regularly go to gigs and always know what’s happening with music genre they listen to, which is R&B. Everything for my secondary audience is the same, apart the genres of type of R&B music and the genders which change slightly. As they are male they are more likely to want to see old school R&B music (with a total of 34.29%) or even a bit of soul R&B music (with a total of 14.29%) in my magazine, as it would only happen on rare occasions, as its also set to an older male age range. Therefore this is why they’re my secondary audience as they won’t always buy the magazine, for example; a subscription and just buy the occasional copy if it has an articles about the band/singer that they are interested in. However my secondary audience will probably still be interested in he gadgets and new media that my magazine will contain, but they won’t waste their money on the whole magazine when they are only going to care about half or small amount that the whole magazine would contain.

PromotingThere are many different ways to promote my magazine. However, social media is extremely important use of my magazine interacting with my target audience, both, primary and secondary audience. This would be a way to give out more information to the audience throughout the month, about the previous issue or even the next issue that would be coming out on the month after. My magazine would be released each month, so it would be a monthly R&B magazine. So the social media can give out more information about the artist that is featured on the cover for the months magazine.

Using social media would get the target audience to engage with the magazine, by giving them more and even more information about the magazine. Information that the magazine wouldn’t include itself, th8is includes the use of soundtracks and videos and exclusive pictures that would be shared through via Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and maybe even including Tumblr. Another way of promoting my own magazine would of be by having my own magazine by having the latest's news in R&B music industry, exclusive videos via YouTube, exclusive images and further information about the magazine, the current monthly one and even the next months one. I would also include a subscription link for my magazine as then the audience would be able to get a hardcopy of the magazine worldwide depending the country that specific audience lives. Also including links for websites to read my magazine digitally and through the magazine app too. The idea of allowing my magazine to be read through digital devices is very high as both of my target audience, primary and secondary audience are an old audience. The idea of having the method reading my magazine through digital devices such as; iPhones, iPads, tablets, androids, smartphones and computer devices because of the use of technology and social media my target audience uses on daily basis. This is a daily method to find out information more easily.

Not only just through the social media to be able to promote my magazine but also by other methods. This method is the most traditional method as my magazine would reach from the age of 17-24 (primary audience) and also from the age of 18-26 (secondary audience). The traditional method would include methods as billboards and posters for my magazine and to make it apparent that its available to the market. However I will use more modern approaches of promoting my magazine such as having digital adverts on TV's and shopping centre so then I can directly market my product to my target audience. I will also advertise through YouTube and VEVO, for example having a link/picture of my magazine next to the songs so people can click on the link and it will take them to the website page straight away.

I would create an app for Apple and androids products so they can access to the magazine and up coming R&B singers information and further more information about the feature artist that is included on this upcoming magazine issue. The artist and all the further information about the artist on my magazine would interact with the audience and get the audience to engage with me magazine by wanting to go and find out more about the magazine. That’s when both methods, social media and traditional methods come in when the audience get more interested with my R&B magazine.

InstitutionThe media institution that I will be picking is Bauer Media Group. I have chosen this publisher to publish my magazine as it already publishes other big magazine brands such as; Empire, Q and Closer. Theses three magazine brands are totally different and are totally different magazine brands which is even better for my magazine to get published. Selecting Bauer Media Group is a popular choice and this institution has been a successful in the past and till today it is still very successful and known, growing each day even more as a published, which it would be a good choice for my magazine to be as successful as the very know magazine brands that are very successful till this day.

The magazine brands, Empire, Q and Closer are very well known and they are nothing compared to my R&B magazine as firstly the genre of the magazine doesn’t link at all to ant of those magazine brands and that secondly the potential colour combination for my magazine doesn’t link or connect with any of the three magazine brands that are published by Bauer Media Group. There shouldn’t be any problems with Bauer Media Group being able to publish my magazine as there wouldn’t be any competition against any other magazine brand because my genre and target audience is totally different with some of magazine brands like Empire but very similar just like with the Q magazine brand, as they are both music magazine but completely different brands.

I want my magazine to have a modern but still classy layout so it can still portray the idea of R&B magazine ad how it would also link to the colour combination for the whole magazine. This would relate to the whole idea of the magazine being all focusing in one genre of music which would be R&B and the fact that the magazine issue would also be focusing on an female artist can also represent the idea that my magazine can turn out to be an R&B magazine that fits in with the articles of upcoming music artists. This can link to my audience as they’re always looking or new artist as they are mainly aspires and love R&B music which is the genre they are mostly interested and mainly listen to.

Bauer Media Group is the publisher that I would like to use to publish my magazine as they seem to never publish and R&B magazine before, so it would be a different experience for them but interesting with not being scared of the publishing as their previous publishing was very successful. My magazine layout, colour combinations and fonts would be totally different from the other magazines that Bauer media has published before, which turns out to be a good experience for the publishing company. I got inspired by magazines like Rolling Stone, DIY, Vibe and Billboard. However the publishing company doesn’t publish any of those companies so it would be easier to publish magazine as it would a totally different magazine compared to the rest and it would be easier as there are no similarities to the other magazines. Hopefully my magazine will be as successful as the other magazines that are published by Bauer Media Group. This would be easy to also grow my target audience for primary and secondary audience.

RepresentationThe person that I have chosen to represent my R&B magazine is Lisandra Silva, which she perfectly suits my magazine. She is a very talented teenage girl, with a very good sense of style and the type of music she mainly likes to listen to is pop R&B music. She also sings with the lovely voice she has, along she also plays the piano and she also plays the guitar, as she claims it to be her favourite music instruments. This is good as she would be calm while playing the guitar or the piano in front of the camera or even posing with the instrument next to her. This wouldn’t look awkward, on the other hand it should make the model/artist feel more comfortable in the shoot as she’s just doing her thing while the pictures are being captured.

I would like to take a few shots in the media studio using a black background and using the media resources with the lights around her as she’s holding microphone, so the shots would represent the idea of her singing on stage in the dark representing the ‘’spotlight’’ as the attention on the shots would be on the model and on her movement and on her smart/casual outfit, s it meets the codes and conventions of R&B magazines. I would like to use theses shots on a double spread sheet as an introduction to the artist and the article that is coming ahead. The shots of the female artist in the room with the mirror are going to be used for my contents page. She would be looking at the camera in a calm way as the shot would also be taken as landscape so there would be enough space next to the model so all the writing could go next to it. This image would take the whole space on the double spread sheet for the contents sheet, so its still focusing on the same singer throughout the magazine. I am also thinking of doing two more spread sheets for the article with perhaps two different locations and two casual/ smart outfits that reflects back on the singers style of R&B music. She would have a piano and a guitar on these potential different photo shoots for the two double spreads for the article, where her music career is discussed to the audience including a q&a. Theses locations will potentially give out a bit more of information about the singer and the kind of pop/ old school R&B artists she actually is and the way it would interact with the primary and secondary audience by the way she’s also posing in front of the camera.

The clothes that my model will be wearing will portray the idea of smart and casual wearing a it would link to a code and convention on any potential R&B magazine as most of the time the artist in it are dressed up in the way they want to represent their music style. However I do not want my model choice of clothes to not be too much revealing allowing to be a bit revealing so the model can show her ‘sexy’ side of her personality as it would also interact with the secondary audience. I would allow this to be presented on my magazine as it also fits in with the genre and the idea of how R&B artist are usually presented that way. I would also have some normal shots so it would still link back to the primary target audience, which is a but younger compared to secondary audience and its mainly aimed at female. This would be a way that both target audience could potentially link to the magazine and to the singer and still see her as a role model in the R&B music industry by just the way she’s being presented as a whole, with the clothing and the posing.