Create a proposal and pitch for a media product (P1,P2,M1,U3 & P2,U21)

PROPOSAL

Purpose

The purpose of my magazine is to highlight the popularity of music created by Dj's amongst the many of them. I want to include the idea of a new upcoming artist who is on the rise of getting established. The magazines purpose is to be a source of inspiration for younger readers who are interested in the production of beats or mixing music. It should popularise this style of music to the North London community. To do this, my double page spread will entail an important interview, focussing on inspirations, role models and what it takes to get noticed. It will show the reader the importance of DJs to rap, rnb and pop music amongst the DJ's you just see in nightclubs and gigs. 

Two purposes: 

• To express the importance DJ's have to other artists and why they should have more credit.
• To inform younger readers on the DJ lifestyle in North London. 

Form

My magazine will be an entertainment themed magazine to fulfil and satisfy the target audiences interests and fill a gap in the market for DJ based magazines. 

The size of the magazine will be no larger than 8" x 11". This is the most common and economical size of magazines also ensuring less paper is wasted. The type of paper used will be silk coated paper as this is also the most popular form of paper for a magazine and also the most effective. The magazine will be around 50 pages as this amount will be enough for me to include everything I need to in a singular issue and will also be satisfactory for the reader for the affordable price they're paying. The price of my magazine will be at around £1, as it will be an affordable weekly issue for frequent readers. As mentioned in the brief, it is the magazine's first edition so the price has the potential to change (lower or higher) depending on how successful the magazine becomes. As well as this the online format will be available online as part of 'news stand' application available on both apple and android. The purpose of this makes it easy and straightforward to access as once its paid for, making it easily available to view and can be downloaded to read offline. This fits the briefs criteria of making both an "online and print based" magazine. 

Genre

DJ material covers a variety of genres such as electro house, hiphop, pop, EDM and more. In specifics, I would like to focus my magazine on how DJ's in the modern era are more commonly working in the hiphop and rap industry. The reason why I have chosen to do this is because it is an important area to focus on as DJ's such as SNAKE and DJ Khaled have majorly influenced the modern day rap community. As well as this it's interesting to focus on how diverse DJs have become working in the likes of Techno and House music to nowadays Pop and Rap. This switch in genres presents how talented they have become and their ability to do this. 

I want my magazine to be inspiring for an impressionable audience and also be able to bring this style of music closer to North London. With rap music now involved, it is a new and upcoming music scene that should be more commonly admired in North London lifestyle and venues. It is something already so popular in the USA that I would like to be used as an influence and emanated in UK music. 

Content

My front cover will follow the most recognised themes of rap inspired DJs using a retro colour scheme and what is often associated with being a DJ to grab the audiences attention. It will follow a consistent theme throughout whether its colour scheme, icons, patterns or textures. To attract modern day audiences, it must include a section displaying how to get in touch online. This will show the magazines social media platforms and hashtags. The main focus of the magazine is the new rising talent, therefore their image should be a focus on the main front cover. 

My magazine will feature an interview following a new rising talent. The double page spread will include questions on what it takes to be successful, artists they have worked with, stereotypes of the music industry and more. It will focus on the hard and technical skill of DJ's and what makes a successful track. It will display the difficulty in this, despite common views that mixing tracks or making beats is easy. It will also include their favourite rap artist to work with and how they developed this partnership. 

In addition to this, my magazine will also include additional, smaller articles on the best DJ produced tracks at the moment, in a playlist that's scannable by QR code. This makes the magazine interactive to the reader, at the influence of modern day technology. This should tempt the readers to purchase this magazine more often as it makes the magazine more enticing. 

The magazine could also feature local North London venues showcasing new DJ talent. Including events for nightlife and opening acts for other artists. This could be better shown in images of previous North London events that have been similar to this. This appeals to the local audience as something worth reading as it is targeted to them individually to attend these events, as well as people who live further away that are also attracted to these. These could be further persuaded in the inclusion of exclusive offers to magazine readers only. Having these exclusive offers to venues and performances will bring these venues more revenue and exposure. 

My overall unique selling point (USP) is the new information the reader receives about this new rising DJ talent, also the interactive feature of my magazine including a QR code. As well as this, the exclusive offers my magazine provides into music events in North London and even more expansionary ones.

Target Audience

My primary target audience would be younger people around the ages of 14-17. This is due to the fact this would be the most influential audience who my magazine would like to inspire to be part of this industry. I have chosen teenage boys of any ethnicity but more commonly white. This is due to to the industry of DJs being prominently male. My audience is aimed at the social grade of B,C1 and C2 as the cheap price wouldn't normally affect the readers financial state, but if a reader was interested in the industry, they would have to consider purchasing expensive equipment to make their own music or experiment. In addition this audience may find an interest in going to music venues to see their favourite DJs. 

My secondary audience would be for a slightly older age group for females and black ethnicity. I would choose this audience as it is a popular demographic for hip-hop inspired DJs. The age of this category would be around 18-22. This group may also enjoy the North London venue nightlife and want to see new UK artists perform on DJ sets. Instead of being inspired and influenced, this audience is general enjoyers of the genre and style of music. As well as my primary target audience, I would expect the social grade to be around B, C1 and C2 as they need some form of disposable income to spend their money on gigs and the magazine. 

Resources and Personnel

Resources:

Personnel:

• Model
• Photographer
• Photo editor
• Magazine editor
• Content writer/Journalist

To cut costs, I will use myself to be the photographer and editor. I will use someone else to model.

Distribution and Marketing Methods

The brief suggests to make an "online and print based magazine". My magazine will be available for both online and print subscriptions. My magazine would mainly be distributed in North London facilities and venues as this is mainly what the brief suggests me to do however, to be more expansionary I could distribute some magazines to central and other parts of London. Meaning, areas of London could also easily travel distances to North London venues. The magazine will release a new issue weekly, therefore it will be at a very cheap price of £1. A year subscription would be just £40 for frequent readers. The idea of an online based magazine appeals more to the younger audience my magazine appeals to attract. That means the younger generation are more exposed to this magazine. 

For my magazine to be appropriately promoted, I will hand out and distribute my magazine to different North London locations, especially where the genre is more prominent. Although this process may be costly, it is a marketing strategy which fundamentally adds to the attraction of my magazine. Featuring my magazine in shops such as cinemas, concert venues and music studios will help bring interest to people involved in the genre itself. I can also attempt to bring others outside of the music industry into reading my magazine through advertising in leisure centres and supermarkets. This will meet my purpose in informing others about the art of DJ-ing and especially the genre of hiphop intertwining with DJs. Additionally it meets the brief as it causes more of the population to know about the focus of my magazine who "need to know about it". In addition to this, for my magazine to have more exposure to a younger audience I will go through the process of advertise my magazine across social media platforms as another marketing strategy. An example of this would be through the sponsored adverts that come on twitter, instagram and facebook feeds as they are a very apparent way of getting audiences to interact and follow the magazines doings. This also allows, as mentioned in the brief, to get more people to know about it and this method perfectly fits with my target audience in terms of appealing to them. 

SAMPLE MATERIALS

Title of magazine with font

PLUGGED IN - masthead

The reason I have chosen my masthead and title as 'Plugged In' is because it best portrays the aspects of my chosen artist-styled magazine and their genre, hip-hop influenced DJs. It highlights the techno aspect of their job and also creates a theme surrounding the modern day technological advances in music and the way in which it is created. The font further highlights the techno style of the magazine and the music. Obviously with DJs, a lot of their equipment has to be 'plugged in' electronically so the masthead works as a pun and also something attractive to the younger generation. With the name of my magazine, it should immediately attempt to aim the target audience in North London, and nationally. 

Sketched layouts

double page spread:

front cover:

Font styles

For cover-lines, I have chosen this font because its bold and expressive yet still simplistic and easy to read. The thicker version can be used for titles and cover-lines and the thinner font for body text and information. I think it's important to use similar fonts for both purposes as it makes the magazine cover more aesthetically pleasing and effective. My magazine front cover will display additional information about pages and articles that feature inside, based on what the brief requires, therefore I want to make my cover-lines eye-catching and inspiring to my impressionable readers. Both my secondary and primary target audience will be informed on the hip-hop influenced DJ scene. Therefore, readers will be able to view this magazine as part of the "vibrant music scene" as mentioned in the brief as with the images and text, my magazine will be both inspiring and creative.

Article ideas

One initial article idea I had was to include a double page spread interview on a new and upcoming musician. The interview would include the DJs biggest inspirations, how their rising fame began, what they wish to achieve, and thoughts on bringing over this type of music than originally reached popularity in the states. This article idea fits the brief as the article fits into the discussion of 'the developing music scene'. Its inspiring for my young and influential primary target audience to be informed on this local North London musician and also fits the purpose of my magazine, which is to express the importance of such experts and to inform readers on it. 

Another article idea could be targeted at my secondary audience, which primarily focusses on the listeners of the music and not the actual creation of it. This article could feature other popular pre-existing artists at the moment, songs created by DJs that are increasingly popular and recent songs to look out for. To make my magazine interactive and appealing to a younger audience, it would include QR codes that scan to specific playlists featuring these songs. This meets the brief as it specifically 'showcases talent' of the genre I wish to look at and meets the purpose of my magazine to inform others about hip-hop influenced DJs. 

My final idea for an article would be to feature popular venues that showcase talent of DJs and upcoming gigs and events they would appear at. To have a unique selling point, this information would be exclusive to magazine readers only, also giving discounts to the general sale of tickets. The double page spread would include images of both the artists performing at the venues and the venues themselves. As my magazine primarily focusses on North London music, these venues would be based in these areas and potentially expanded to other parts of London.

Moodboard and Colour Scheme

• Showing type of artists, all already established that are a growing popularity with DJ-ing or sampling music.
• The colour scheme shows the types of varied colours I could use, however not including every single one in each magazine issue. It demonstrates an example of the bright and vibrant colours ,like mentioned in the brief, but not the colours I would typically use day-in day-out. 

Existing examples of magazines in competition

Theres no direct comparison to the magazine I am trying to make, which focusses on the North London music scene of DJ-ing, however there are a few similar DJ themed magazines. I hope to fill this gap in the market, especially with incorporating the hip-hop influence which is part of my unique selling point.  Therefore, I can use these magazines for inspiration when creating mine. All three examples use bright pops of colour for text and cover-lines which incorporates the "vibrant" aspect of the brief. This will eye-catching to my youthful audience. The layouts are similar in the fact they have one main focus on the image of the artist, and body text surrounding the images. I will consider emanating the layout and form in my own front cover. In terms of competition, there is little threat in the fact my magazine is targeted to "North London" and these are based in the USA. Also, my magazine is niche in its specific purpose which these magazines are not.