Survey AnalysisBy Oliver Midgley

Gender The majority of respondents were male (around three times more than females). This means I will aim my magazine at them seen as they were the most willing to complete the survey and therefore more likely to try a new magazine. Furthermore, the rest of the answers in this survey will be coming from them too, so it would make sense to target males if the other answers I will be taking guidance from are answered by them. Having responses from a predominant gender also allows me to use gender stereotypes and conventions to influence the kind of stories included in my magazine. Focusing on males also means I will have a better understanding myself of the target audience being a male.

Age The majority of the respondents were aged between 16 and 18. This is a crucial piece of information for me as I can now concentrate my content on that specific age bracket so it appeals to them. 16-18 is a young audience so I will try to avoid more mature, complex writing techniques and styles but still retain a certain of degree of sophistication as it is a transitional period to becoming an adult so they will want to read mature, challenging articles rather than be patronised as they still have a good level of education. There will however, be a big difference in interests between teenagers and children or adults. Therefore I will have to be vigilant with what products and brands I allow to advertise in my magazine. The second most common range was 22-25, slightly in front of 12-15. This makes me think I should lean to a slightly more mature attitude to appease this second most popular option.

Social Class Modes of listening to Music

Asking this question helped me to first of all find out if young people actually do listen to music- it was clear that all who took the survey did. The real purpose of the question was to understand how young people listened and possibly tailor my approach to the results. The most popular mode was listening via music streaming apps. With Spotify being one of the most popular in its field (especially amongst the younger generations) I have decided I want to use this as a selling point for my magazine and create some kind of deal with them- we advertise one another and offer discounts/ freebies. For example a month of free Spotify membership when you buy the magazine. I will also include an article of Spotify’s top Indie picks for the month from their regularly updated playlists. Downloads was the second most popular way to listen so that is something I don’t want to neglect.

I asked which social class they belonged to because it gives me an insight into the finances available. 16-18 year olds may already have a part time job alongside their further education so they will be earning a wage for themselves. Furthermore because at that age they often have minimal responsibilities (grocery shopping, home insurance, bills, etc.), a fair proportion of their wage will be disposable income to spend on a commodity like a magazine. These duties may rise as the social class falls and vice versa with children from better off backgrounds under less of an obligation to help provide meaning a bigger percent of their income is kept disposable. Social class will likely effect the willingness and ability of parents to contribute to their child’s interests- a higher social class family can usually more easily pay for such things. Although, because the product in question is a magazine, a lower class family may be more keen to provide what could be considered an educational item. The most prevalent class was Technical Middle Class. It means my average client will have a good disposable income to spend which may influence my final decision on my pricing. However, this could again be affected by the runner up being Traditional Working Class who might not be able to afford the publication if I raised the price.

Favourite Music Genre Current SubscriptionsThe most favoured genre was Indie/ Alternative. Furthermore, if you analyse the results individually, people who haven’t voted Indie as their favourite have still ranked it fairly high showing not only is it the most favoured but of interest to an even wider audience thanks to its sub-genres like Indie-Pop and Indie-Rock. This is where music genres like pop and rock suffered, having many keen followers but often if it wasn’t your favourite it was one of your worst meaning it would have a smaller audience to sell to. The Indie culture is growing in popularity so there is certainly a gap in the market.

This helped me to identify whether young people still actually purchase music magazines because if they didn’t and instead just turned to the internet for information on their favourite artists, then there would be no logic or justification for making a product when there is no demand for it. Thankfully around half of the people who completed the survey did read music magazines. It is also positive that some don’t as well because it means there is an untapped market that I can exploit.

Frequency PriceThis helped to determine the maximum price customers would consider purchasing a magazine for. Price is a crucial factor in marketing- too expensive and you deter customers from buying the product. Too cheap and you won’t be making any profit. The majority were willing to pay £3-3.99 at the most. I feel this would be a fair price as the massively successful, Q magazine charge around the same. It is also more justifiable to charge a higher price for a monthly magazine compared to a weekly one.

Obviously, a large proportion were unable to answer this question as it was dependent on the last. From those who could answer, monthly was the most common response. Having a magazine published every month rather than week or fortnight means it will have a lot more content in it but also I would expect that content to be of a higher standard (or at least more interesting and exclusive features). Producing more content per issue of course effects the retail price- with more resources going into supplying the information, more needs to be charged to recoup the expenses.

Features of Magazines Style

When inquiring about the preferred style, there was a large array of answers- this is to be expected on a qualitative question which should have, on reflection, instead been a part of my interviews.However it is clear from browsing through my answers that people would prefer an organised and simple design which gives implications of sophistication.

This question identified which features of a music magazine were valued most. It is clear to see that competitions and freebies were not important to the audience and they instead cared more about raw, informative content. Interviews were vital so I will be sure to include many to satisfy my readers. They will also have to be of a high quality if they are so instrumental- this could be achieved through columnists knowledgeable about the topic, exclusive reveals and a generally interesting tone. Music/ Product recommendations and photo-shoots are similarly important so I will include an equal amount of them.