Media Studies Music Magazine

Survey Results

Music Magazine Survey

Before planning my own music magazine, I created a survey on www.surveymonkey.com and asked my mainly my target audience questions which would help me learn more about what people want in their magazine.

The results were proven to be both useful and surprising, which is helpful so that I can create a magazine that fulfils the average 16-21 year olds expectations and demands.

Question 1.What is your gender?

Gender

FemaleMale

This means that most of the answers apply to what the female side of the audience want, I may have to alter and balance out the features in the magazine if I was it to appeal to both male and female.

This graph shows us that 10 of the people who took the survey were female, six were male and one person did not state their gender.

I think this question was necessary so that it was clear to tell the difference and variety between male and female preferences, because my magazine will be unisex.

Question 2.How old are you?

Age14161718

This question was also necessary because I wanted my magazine to appeal to a certain age and I made sure I only asked those who were within this age group.This graph shows us that only one of the people who filled in the survey was 14, ten were 16, four were 17 and two were 18.

So when making my conclusions about what young people want in their magazine and what is popular with youth today I need to consider the age of the people who filled in the survey. Now looking at the graph it seems it was mostly 16 year olds who answered the survey so that will probably be my main age I'm focussing on when producing my magazine.

Question 3.What is your favourite genre of music?

Favourite genre of music

Indie/Alterna-tiveRockMetalGrimeAnything

The next question I asked on my survey was what is your favourite genre of music, the results I received back weren’t that varied which made me question, maybe I should have asked a wider range of people to answer the survey for me.The graph shows that most people weren’t really bothered what they listened to, but mainly what was in the charts and recent. The next most common favourite genre was metal, then Indie/Alternative and Rock had the same amount of votes. Only one person wrote Grime as their favourite.I think this question was useful so that I can consider the type of music my age range prefers.

Question 4.What music magazines do you read?

Music Magazines

NME

Kerrang

Rolling Stones

Rock-Sound

Artrocker

None

The next question I asked was what music magazines do you read? These were the results I got back:

Three people read NME, five people read Kerrang, and one person each read Rolling Stones, RockSound and Artrocker. The largest result I got though was that nine people didn’t read music magazines at all.Taking this into consideration, maybe there is something that needs to be done to attract other audiences to but these music magazines, it seems all the magazines mentioned were for a similar genre so maybe there isn’t many magazines out there for other genre’s of music

Question 5.What features would encourage you to buy a music magazine?

FeaturesPhoto on coverInterviewsCD reviewsGig reviewsFree PostersFree CD GiveawaysCompeti-tions

The next question I asked on the survey was What features would encourage you to buy a music magazine? This would help me decide what to feature in my own magazine to make it as popular as possible.The graph shows that 11 people said they are encouraged to buy the magazine because of the photo on the front cover, 10 people said interviews, 5 said CD reviews, 6 said gig reviews, 7 said free posters, 12 people said free CD giveaways and 2 said competitions. This means that most people read the magazines for either the people featured inside and CD giveaways, something I need to consider for my own magazine.

Question 6.Who would you like to see feature in a magazine?

People featuredKnown

Bands/Artists

Unsigned, new bands

Other

The next question I asked was, Who would you like to see feature in a magazine? I didn’t give options for this question and just let people answer who they wanted, which is why there was such a selection.

The known bands and artists people suggested were; Ndubz, Nickleback, Hollywood Undead, Jonny Craig from Dance Gavin Dance, Escape the Fate, Madina Lake,Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Tom Morello, Deaf Havana, Metallica and Hot Hot Heat.

The graph shows that 10 people would like known bands and artists to feature in a magazine, 3 people wanted new and unsigned bands to be in the magazine and 3 other people didn’t understand the question.

This was helpful to know, because although i wouldn't be able to feature a big mainstream artist, its good to know that a quarter of the people who took the survey would like to be introduced to new unsigned bands through magazines.

Question 7.What do you do in your spare time?

Spare Time

Go out with friends

Listen to music

Go out/ Parties Gym/FootballWatch TV FacebookDance SingingEating Gigs

Question seven was, What do you do in your spare time? There was more variety in the answers on this question than i expected but it’s useful so that I can include some of these in my magazine.

Seven people said going out with friends, 7 said listen to music, 4 said going out and to parties, 2 said sport (gym and football), 1 person said watch TV, two people said they go on facebook and one person each said the dance, sing, eat or go to gigs.This question helps me decide what to include in my magazine and what this particular age group likes doing.

Question 8.What do you spend most of your money on?

Spend your money on

ClothesMusic (CD's)GigsGoing OutFood

This question tells us about what the people in my target audience are spending their money on.This is helpful because I can then feature these things in with the magazine so that it attracts a certain group of people. I get a good idea of what their money is actually going towards and can use offers and special articles to draw in readers and those who don't always buy the magazine into wanting it.Twelve people spent their money on clothes, Five spent it on CD’s and another 5 spent it on gigs, nine people spent their money on going out and another five spent their money on food.

Question 9.Where do you buy most of your clothes from?

Clothes Shops

H&M River IslandTopshop/Topman

Zara

House Of Fraser

Primark

New Look Urban Outfit-ters

Rock-it

The ninth question was where do you buy most of your clothes from? I made this a multiple choice question but some people added to it as well.Nine people said that they buy most of their clothes from H&M, two people said river island, Eight people said Topshop/Topman, one person said Zara, two said House Of Fraser, Five said Primark, one said new look, one said Urban Outfitters and one person said Rock-it.This question was also helpful because I can put offers and discounts for the most popular stores inside the magazine to attract readers to buying this magazine.

Question 10.Where do you access new music?

New MusiciTunes

YouTube

Music Channels

Magazines

Spotify

Last FM

Through friends

Utorrent

Internet

Limewire

The last question on the survey was where do you access new music? The most popular answer was YouTube which I will probably include in my magazines, seeing as 11 out of the people asked said they use it. Eight people said iTunes, seven said music channels, and one person each said either magazines, Spotify, Last FM, through friends, Utorrent, the internet and Limewire. This question was helpful, especially for the music magazine because it gives me an idea where people find out about new music and where they access it, so that it can be used and mentioned in the magazine.

Conclusion

In conclusion, i think the whole process of making a survey and getting people to answer it is a successful and useful way of knowing what people want in their magazine.

It’s hard, being in the target audience age group, to look at different peoples perspectives and see what they would want because I imagine that the “perfect magazine” is the same for everyone my age, this survey has proven its not.

The results from the survey have given me a good idea of what to include, what people want to read about and what features they want in their magazine, what these teenagers spend their money on and where they shop. I think the whole survey will improve the outcome of the magazine.