Magazine Pitch

TitleMagazine names usually have a meaning behind them. For example, the magazine Kerrang was named after the “sound of a power chord on an electric guitar.” This relates to the magazine as it focuses on rock music, and electric guitars are used in rock music. I want the name of my magazine to relate in a similar way.

As my magazine isn’t going to focus on one genre specifically, I don’t want the name to be specific to one genre either. I need the name to be more general of every genre. Therefore, the title of my magazine is going to be Demo. When an artist first records a song, they record a “demo” version, before creating the finished song. I’ve chosen this name as it suggests to the audience that the magazine contains the newest music and is current and up to date, which will encourage them to buy it. This is a general name that’s inclusive of every genre, so the audience will know that the magazine is inclusive for everyone’s interests.

Reader profileGender

Female: 59.57%Male: 36.17% Other: 4.26%

Average Age15 – 21

(82.98%)

Favourite genres1) Indie/alternative: 65.96%

2) Rock: 61.70%3) Pop: 53.19%

The readers of this magazine are lovers of music as a whole. While they may have a favourite genre, they are open to anything, and respect music as the art form that it is. To

them, music is about much more than having something to dance to or to use as background music. Music is a passion.

It’s how they get through the bad days. It’s how they celebrate the good days. Music inspires them, and makes

them feel like they can do anything that they want to do with their life. As young people, it’s easy to be feel discouraged, and to not know who you are or what you’re doing, but our

readers find themselves through music. They can express themselves and what they believe in. They feel less alone

when they listen to music. Music is valuable in the world, and our readers know that.

Genre of magazineMy magazine isn’t going to have on particular music genre. Instead, it’s going

to be a combination of various genres, similar to Q magazine. My main focus will be on rock and indie/alternative, as I got the most responses for these genres in my survey. Pop will also have a large focus, as it was very close behind in responses. This is just a basis for the magazine, as both genres have various subgenres. In order to attract as wide of an audience as possible, I need to include as many of these subgenres as possible, as not everyone is interested in every aspect of rock and pop music. Some people only like specific subgenres, and I don’t want to alienate them as readers by not including articles for them. Including a combination of different genres and artists could also be beneficial to readers who are only interested in specific subgenres as they may discover a new artist or genre and find that they like it. My survey showed that people really enjoyed being able to discover new and upcoming artists, so this will be useful for them.

Sales informationFrequencyThe magazine will be published once a month. This will allow for a better quality publication, as there will be more time to take professional photos, as well as being able to use high quality paper. There will also be more to discuss than if the magazine was published weekly, as more will have happened, so there’s more to write about. This makes the magazine more appealing to the audience, as they won’t want to pay money for a magazine which is quickly thrown together with little information. The publication date will be the first Friday of each month, creating a schedule so that the readers don’t forget to buy the magazine.

PriceI want the magazine to be affordable, as my audience is mostly young people, and therefore won’t have money to spare on a magazine. In my survey, “£2.01-£3” received the most responses when people were asked how much they’d be willing to pay for a magazine. However, as the magazine will be published monthly, I will need be able to charge slightly more in exchange for a higher quality. Therefore, I’ve decided to charge £3.50 per publication. While this is still affordable, the readers will be willing to pay slightly more, as it’s only once a month, rather than weekly, and the magazine will include a lot of information.

LocationThe magazine will be sold in large stores, like Tesco, alongside other music magazines, in order to reach a wider audience. It will also be available to purchase online for people who can’t reach their local store.

ContentsThe contents of the magazine will be based on the audience responses. A variety of different articles will be included in order to keep the readers interested, and to provide for everyone. The most responses were for interviews, so I will definitely include interviews in the magazine. The interviews will be with larger, more well known artists, as well as smaller artists, as I had responses showing audience interest in both. I also had a high response for reviews, so there will be a section in every edition of the magazine dedicated purely to reviews of the singles, albums and music videos released in the previous month. All three will be featured as I want to appeal to every reader. For example, some readers don’t buy full albums, and will be more interested in the singles reviews. By including reviews focusing on each one, I will be able to interest everyone. My survey showed a high response for event information. Therefore, a few pages of the magazine each month will focus on the latest events and tours announced, as well as information on how to get tickets. News about both well known and unknown artists received almost balanced responses, so I want to have a few pages that focus on this area. There will also be a few pages of posters, as, while they didn’t receive a high response, there was still some audience interest, so I don’t want to exclude these readers by not featuring their interests. These sections will always be on the same pages of the magazine each month, in order to create consistency, and make it easier for the readers to find what they are most interested in and want to read. Competitions and free gifts received the least responses, so these won’t have full pages dedicated to them. Instead, they’ll be included as a part of other articles.

StyleIn one of my survey questions, I asked about the design of the cover. Some of the responses were a “clean layout” (similar to Q magazine) or a “busy layout” (similar to Kerrang!). The option for a clean layout received just over double the responses than a busy layout, so that is the style that I want to focus on for the magazine. I want the pages to contain lots of information, but to look tidy. To do this, I’ll make sure that the information is spread out on the page, rather than having too much in one small area. I also want to have consistent fonts for some aspects, like for the body text of articles, so that the magazine appears professional and complete, instead of looking like completely separate articles that have been thrown together. The colour scheme will also need to be consistent. While I had a higher response from female readers, I still had a strong response from male readers. I don’t want to focus too much on appealing to one gender and alienating the other, so my colour scheme is going to be gender neutral. I won’t include colours with connotations of specific gender (like blue or pink) as, despite finding that some readers wouldn’t be put of by this, I don’t want to put forward the idea that the magazine is intended for one gender over the other. This may also push away readers who don’t identify as either male or female, although I had a very small response from them. Therefore, I’ve chosen to have the main colour scheme be red, white, and black. These colours have no gender connotations, and will therefore appeal to every reader.

Mission statementMusic has been important for as long as our world has existed. Over time, it has developed

and changed, but it has never lost its value within our lives. Demo is dedicated to releasing all of the latest news about the newest music. With a wide respect for all genres and artists of every kind, everyone can find an article that they enjoy within the pages of this magazine. Readers can look forward to discovering new artists, while gaining new information about

artists that they already know and love. Demo prioritises the music, and connects fans from all over the country. They share a love for music, and we want to be able to share the love

with them.

“Demo contains everything that I love about music. It’s the best magazine for all the latest music!”- Laura, 19