How has the internet changed the music press?

How internet has changed music press

With the fast development of technology, there has also been a big development in music press. Before the internet, people were dependent on record stores to go buy hard copies of vinyl's, which then started to move on wards to much smaller CD's. The smaller size of a CD seemed much easier and practical, but then with the fast moving of internet downloads were seen as even more practical. 

First of people were able to download music onto their PC's, however it usually took a long time and was no where near as good quality as the music we can download so quickly is now. As the internet progressed even more, apps like Spotify are now popular and readily available, but a big change with this is that the money from downloads no longer goes directly to the artist like it used to. 

As well as a change in the purchase of music, the internet has also changed a vast amount of advertisement of artists or albums, from print to digital. Before smart phones and laptops, all new music news was spread by just talking to one another or flicking through music magazines. How ever with the quick click of a button it was suddenly so much easier to access, and was also free. As you would expect, this rapidly lead to a decline in purchases of music magazines, but also new advertising strategies of the artists.

 With the popularity of the internet, artists are now more likely to want to appear as a pop up next to a YouTube video as advertisement instead of going for a promotion or interview in a music magazine in the way they may have used to do. 

However, it isn't all bad for the magazines, people who truly love the magazine can pay to subscribe on line, which is seen as more convenient and is keeping up with the trends of online purchases as subscriptions. This is another platform for the magazines to make themselves noticed on now, as in all reality lots of the young target readership of today will be spending a lot more time on line instead of at the local shop looking through magazines. The swift move of technology has also invented internet tracking, this means in google tracks repetitive searches of a certain artist or genre of music, on line pop ups of more relevant artists or magazines are available. This is another example of the internet changing music press to being at the click of a mouse.

The convergence of music press is merging the typical printed music magazines in with online outlets from websites to apps through different digital media platforms, creating a wider viewing for all. The synergy of the combination of online and physical music press is, in my view, creating a much better outcome for music magazines, making them much wider spread over larger generations of music lovers and also closing the gap between a more old fashioned approach to viewing music press and the more modern and fast moving way of discovery of music.

Overall I think the change internet has given music press is positive. Although some disagree about the way artists now receive their money, their music will only be available on these apps if they give permission and old fashioned records are still readily available, and can even be ordered to your house with the progress of internet now! Music press has changed for the better as artists can advertise and post themselves with much more ease and self control, up and coming artists have a much better platform to work from and more likely hood of being discovered and as for the fans, everything is now at their fingertips, whenever they want it.

Plenty of music magazines that were first printed can now also be found online, for example Q magazine, NME, clash and MOJO.
 

Music press history

 Music press history time line

1950's-  In the 50's era, the press were always positive about the artists. The press were very simple and only focused on upcoming events and the charts.  The magazine NME was released in 1952 and was the first magazine to feature a music chart.

1960's- In the 60's era, bands like 'The Beatles' and 'The Rolling Stones' arrived and brought with them a new music drug culture which would start to change the way music was written. 

Early 1970's-  The press still seem to be uncritical on artists until the 'Progressive Rock' genre came about as bands were criticized due to the amount of money they would spend on lasers and lighting. 

Mid 1970's-  during this era the music press starting splitting in two directions. one direction was magazine such as 'Melody Maker' which focused still on the simple proper music and techniques used. Whereas the 'NME' magazine took a different approach, where they'd focus on the meanings and the political side to bands and their lyrics. This change in NME's style was mainly due to the genre 'punk' with their anti-establishment lyrics. 

Late 1970's- NME rapidly decreased in popularity due to its new style of politics and how it no longer writes about the 'normal bands. 

1980's- Magazines started to mix it up with their styles by changing its layouts, content and fonts. this made the magazines more exciting and eye-catching for the reader. For  
example 'BLITZ' magazine became popular because of its new content.

1990's- In this era video technology came about and began to change to music press. Now this meant artists could become popular due to their new music video rather than the quality of their song. 'MTV', A new music video TV channel became very popular and helped broadcast songs and their new videos nationally. Nearly all new singles released came with a music video. 

Early 2000's- During this era the internet became very popular and with this so did blogs. this now meant the magazines decreased in popularity due to attention getting drawn to music bloggers who gave a more democratic view on new music. 

Present-  Nowadays 'music press' has lost its overall music magazines. As most magazines that still run have very specific music genres. Also due to the quick rise of the internet many magazines and even artists have their own websites so music fans can easily watch and listen to their favorite artists at any time.  These websites feature anything from music videos, to interviews which allows the users to explore and find out mostly anything about the music industry. Some examples of online music magazines now is NME online, MOJO and Q.

Target readership profile

Target Readership

   

This magazine is targeted mainly at women due
to its elegant font and the soft pink, white and grey colour
scheme. This is stereotypically a more feminine style that is
more likely to attract the attention of women.

Due to the demographic group due to class and age
 is more likely due to be targeted
at more middle class readers because of it's mid range
price and slightly more sophisticated strap lines
such as the Oscars and Fashion week. The age
range would be to young adults from about 18-25
as the main image is someone young people
will still be interested in but some of the
strap lines are targeted at a slightly more mature
audience.

Because of the psychographic segmentation, this
magazine is more targeted at aspirers and mainstreamers. This is because the magazine is including straplines and a photo of well know events or a person, this appeals to mainstreamers as they are more attracted to well known features. The mention of 'trends' and 'best dressed' applies to the target audience of aspirers as they well be interested in the materialistic side of the magazine including latest trends and appearance. The carefully thought out design which is quite simple but very attractive also appeals to aspirers as they are not necessarily looking directly at content but are easily swayed into buying the magazine by the first appearance of a classy and fashionable image.

Due to the demographic groups I think that this magazine is mainly targeted at young (16-25) males who are most likely to be working class to lower middle class. This is because the magazine has the main colour scheme of blue red and white which is typically a more masculine colour scheme, this is accompanied by bold and big fonts and a masculine and serious photo. Overall a tough and manly feeling is created, appealing mostly to men. I also think it will appeal to younger males as the music mentioned is prominently listened to by younger males who are stereotypically in a lower social grade to more middle class people who, as a majority, appear to be more attracted by more sophisticated and mature music and style.
I also think this magazine is more likely to appeal to black males as the rappers mentioned and cover photo are something this demographic group are largely drawn to as they may easily relate with them or things they make music about.
Because of the psychographic segmentation, the target readership of this magazine seems to appeal more to succeeder's and aspirers. I think this will directly appeal to succeeder's as VIBE is a brand are well known for exploring and researching many different social groups and ethnicities, these are the types of well known, caring and prestige brands they are attracted to. These rappers mentioned are also recognised for their confidence as well, another thing this psychographic would like to relate to.
This also appeals to the target readership of aspirers due to the big persona and charisma created by the strap lines and image on the cover, a feature this group are usually drawn to. 

85% of readers are between 17-24, 75% were African American males, 62% of readers were employed.

          Due to the floral patterns and predominately pink colour scheme, the main demographic group this is targeted at, is females because it is more likely to appeal to them furthermore this magazine also more likely to have the target readership of young females, around 16- early 20s. This is because the main image and straplines is about idols who are mostly popular around this age range. This younger age group goes hand in hand with the social grade this magazine is targeted at, who are most likely going to fall between middle class and lower middle class because they are likely to still be at school or living at home as they are buying a magazine that is targeted at a less mature and sophisticated group than a more upper scale branded magazine would be.

Looking at different psychographic groups, I think that the target readership is explorers, aspirers and possibly succeeder's. This would appeal to succeeder's as although the magazine is mostly mentioning pop music and various artists, there are straplines based on making money and how artists have built their success over time, this is the goal orientated and work ethic this psychographic group are interested in, so it may appeal to the younger section of this group as these stories are still mixed with popular celebrities. This also appeals towards explorers and aspirers as the magazine is a light hearted indulgence for young people who are likely to idolise and want to be like the people this magazine features.

71% of readers are between 17-25 and 82% are new college graduates or students.

Preliminary Project

6^th Form magazine plan

Readership profile

·         Age range – the target audience of this magazine would be for 16-18 year olds. There is not a very big range/age gap in the people who will be reading this magazine.

·         Gender – both girls and boys will be reading this magazine – front cover should appeal to both genders so both male and female are interested in reading it.

·         Personalities – in a school there would be a wide range of personalities, this means the magazine would be best if it had a varied content and also showed a wide range on the front cover.

·         Interests – the target audience will also have a lot of different interests, the magazine cover should show a lot of different elements so that it attracts/interest the most attention and people from the target audience as possible, e.g. Sport, art, drama. 

·         Things in common – all the target audience will be going to school and the same age. There will be lots of different interests but all readers will be taking their exams – exam/revision tips may be something in common that will appeal and be relatable to all of the target audience

 Magazine name

6^th form!– Clear name about what magazine is about, target audience will know it relates directly to them

Slogan – A guide to success – something all the target audience should be looking towards so this is a good way to grab their attention.

House style  
Masthead – Bold and big and an eye catching colour and font: 6^th form handbook

Colour scheme – because I have chosen an orange for the mast head the colour scheme will use mainly blues as they are complimentary colours

Photography

For a magazine cover I would like to take a photo of 3 students (mixture of boy and girls so both genders know the magazine relates to them) standing outside a classroom with school books and smiling to show they are enjoying learning. Preferably I could take this photo on a day with blue sky so that the background will link in with the colour scheme.

Features in magazine

In the magazine I will use articles that do not appeal to any gender so that both groups of the target audience. For example tips on starting 6^th form, this is something that both girls and boys will be interested in. I will also do the mast head in a colour that is not specific to boys or girls, just a bold colour that is eye catching to all.

I struggled with cutting out jake and jess, this was very time consuming and in future I hope that I can be quicker with this tool.

I like the contrast of colour on white background and how a blue border frames it well.

I've used a bold and complimentary colour to the border so that it stands out well and is clear to see.

For my next magazine cover I would like to try including that back ground of the photo instead of cutting the people out.

Magazine analysis from preliminary project