Representing the Rap GenreResearch into this music genre lead me to the discovery that most rappers are stereotypically black. The number of well known white rappers, such as Eminem, is quite small. Further investigation showed me that rappers are usually styled in smart clothing that makes them look like they have a lot of money. They are often very confident in themselves, as this music genre often means that their songs will be about their own experiences as opinions. As well as styling my model in a similar way, I wanted to represent the rap genre as being a genre that is growing in popularity. This is why I included ‘Bobby T’, my rapper, in the ‘Stars of 2012’ article.

Tinie Tempah and B.o.B, popular rap artists

‘Bobby T’, my stereotypical rap artist

Representing rap as a new genre to mainstream music- one that is becoming increasingly popular

“What kind of media institution would distribute your product and why?”

Media Institutions When I looked into magazine publishing companies, I discovered two main companies: Bauer Media Group and IPC media.

IPC Media publishes NME Magazine, whereas Bauer Media Group publishes Kerrang! And Q. As you can see, these two companies seem to dominate the genre of music magazines.

I would say that if any company published my magazine, it would be one of the two companies I mentioned. As these institutions already publish plenty of music magazines, the genre would be a familiar one to them, so that the magazine would be invested in by the right people, and distributed accordingly.

Alternatively, I could work with Seymour Magazine Distributors. This company is the largest distributor of UK magazines internationally, exporting magazines to over 70 countries. The website advertises “Excellence At Retail” and states:“Our Retail National Accounts Team has an intimate relationship with all of the UK’s leading news retailers and has a well established track record of success.”

“What would be the audience for your media product?”

AudienceThe main target audience for my product is music fans within their late teens or twenties. As well as focusing on popular genres of music, such as rock and folk, it also focuses on new genres, such as rap. I think that young people would have a much greater interest in new genres as opposed to someone in their thirties or forties, for example.

Plus, all of the models in my magazine are within the age bracket of 17-20. Using models this age means that the magazine holds greater appeal to those in that age bracket.

“How did you attract/ address your audience?”

AudienceWhen I first started working on my magazine, I knew that the most important thing that would help me attract an audience is the appearance of the product.

AppearanceWhen considering the appearance of my magazine front cover, I had these points in mind:• Make magazine packed with features, but not too busy looking• Left hand side of the magazine on display in shops• Use a colour scheme• Wording is important

Packed with features:In total, my cover advertises 8 articles, which I think is quite a large number for the cover alone. I specifically arranged my features around the main image, so that they would be easily readable.

Left hand side:

I purposely arranged the most eye catching features (eg. “The most famous family feud EVER”) on the left hand side of the cover, as this is the section that would be on display in a shop. It would look something like this:

Colour scheme:

I used a colour scheme of red, black and white, as these colours show up well and look good together.

Wording:

On my cover, I was careful to use words that would draw the audience in. On the top right corner, I put the most dramatic words, such as “save live music” and “controversy” in black, to make them stand out.

Audience Feedback - TwitterIn order to gauge an audience reaction, I asked for feedback from a variety of sources. Twitter was a huge help to me, as it meant that I was able to reach a large range of people very quickly and easily.

Picture 1 Picture 2

The feedback

Most people responded that the second picture was their favourite.

Audience Feedback - FacebookAs well as Twitter, Facebook was also an extremely useful website to use for feedback. It meant that my magazine could reach a large audience at the click of a button, and since most of my Facebook friends are within the target age, my ideal audience could view it and tell me their opinions.

Go to the next slide to view the feedback

As you can see, most of the feedback was extremely positive. I took in Jim’s comment and enlarged the ‘D’ on “The world according to Penexo” to make it easier to read

Audience Feedback – Facebook Messenger App

I also used the Facebook messenger app on my phone to gather feedback