Creating a proposal P1 (U3), P2 (U3), P2 (U21), M1 (U3)

LO 1(U3): Be able to create a proposal with sample materials for an original media product to a client brief.

Lo 2 (U21): Be able to create a proposal and pitch for an original media product based on a given brief

P1 (U3), P2 (U3), P2 (U21), M1 (U3)

  Music Magazine Proposal.

Objective for production:

The genre of our magazine will be RnB, we chose this as there is a gap in the market as there isn't many music magazine inspired and focused on the RnB artists in London. We have chosen to do an RnB (Rhythm and Blues) inspired magazine. We have chosen to do a music magazine that is inspired by RnB artists from North London, the magazine is going to be influenced by the art and culture of North London, but will also include combinations of ideas that will by influence by other magazines such as Q and Billboard as they are both well known and highly regarded with a similar style of fonts, images and layout. The main objective for Rhythm and Blues Magazine is to become a successful and well know magazine in North London and possible around the world if the client decides to expand globally.

Content:

The USP for the magazine is that magazine will be about up and coming artists new to the music scene as well as already well established RnB artists, meaning the readers will always be up to date about those new artists and they will feel that they are getting new music information and exclusives from the interviews conducted, this will be included in the double page spread. It will also give exclusive knowledge of up and coming concerts, albums, events and campaigns the artists may be taking part in. My magazine will also benefit the artists as it will promote them and expand their fan bases, meaning they will gain more popularity and recognition. Whereas Q and Billboard only focus on one or the other where as we will be supporting and staying loyal to both types of artists in order to help their careers. When we create the magazine we will incorporate the style of Q and include an eye-catching front cover and a double page spread that will include a feature article. It will have some similar qualities to Q as this magazine has a lot of content within its magazine making it more expensive than other magazines such as Billboard. However the actual content of the magazine will be a mixture of the two magazines, for example the layout for the front cover will include a image of an famous or up and coming artist from North London, it will also include typical magazine conventions such as cover lines on the sides, price, website, anchorage text in the middle, the masthead and a skyline with information about that specific issue. The double page spread will include a column structure in the article and also a main image of the feature. The content of the double page spread is of an article which will either be an interview from an artist or reviews of different artists for audiences to go and see perform. We will include and combine similar aspects of both magazines to make it more accessible and attract a broader target audience in order to make the magazine more successful.

Concept:

Rhythm and Blues is intended to be a magazine featuring articles about up and coming artists and their music, it would also feature interviews with famous artists that have a large fan base who are influenced by the artists, finally there will be guides and information on upcoming events such as, concerts by the publics favorite well known artists, it will also show coming concerts and live event that the up and coming artists will be performing at. Finally the last event they will include is festivals that will take place. All the events that are include will have the location, time and the original price for the tickets so when the issues comes out the readers will know what the actual price is instead of finding out the resale prices. The reason for this is because it can help the readers discover new music that they may not think they would have enjoyed, it will help with their personal identify. It will also provide entertainment to the readers and entertain the specific fans of the artists that are featured within each issue of the magazine. And because it will provide a section fuel of tour dates and events that happen within the near future it will help the readers find concerts and activities to go to, instead of staying at home all day, the magazine will come out once every three weeks meaning that their will be constant updates on tours and events. Finally the price of the magazine will be £3.50, as the magazine will be released every three weeks as it is including up to date tour dates and events. The genre of the magazine will be RnB (Rhythm and Blues) and will include subgenres of RnB for example soul RnB, old school RnB, contemporary RnB and alternative RnB.

Genre:

The genre of our magazine will be RnB, we chose this as there is a gap in the market as there isn't many music magazine inspired and focused on the RnB artists in London. Also the RnB genre is very popular in London as many artists are inspired by RnB artists from the 90s and early 2000s, meaning that the readers and the target audience is wide and large. We have chosen to do an RnB (Rhythm and Blues) inspired magazine. 

The back of the magazine will feature the concerts that are planned for those specific three weeks that it comes out with constant updates that are given even three weeks of concerts and events. It will contain the prices, locations and times for the concerts and events, and because it should come out three weeks in advance to said concert or event it will give the readers time to purchase the tickets.

Fonts:

The title its self “Rhythm and Blues” speaks for its self and clearly states that the magazine will be about. It specializes in music for tourists, music fans for RnB. The simple but attractive logo has the title of the magazine in bold font and in order to show that the magazine is organized and professional. The simple but effective font is in bold which makes it eye catching to the public who is in passing. Also because it is plain and simple it makes it easy to read and clear to see from afar, making it clear to passing customers what the genre of the magazine is about, it will make it especially easy for tourists that don’t speak English well and struggle to understand it, but because RnB is a globally known word it helps them understand what the magazine is and if they are interested they will understand that it can help them find concerts and events they may be interested in. The font will be simple but attractive to the eye so for example we might use Dream orphans bold for the Masthead and logo and any other titles and then use Times for the actual text that will be used in the articles.

We also looked at fonts for the front cover such as Unispace bold, as it is modern, eye catching, simple and easy to read, especially for a masthead.  

We also looked at fonts such as Agoestoesan as it is again simple and eye catching due to it being bold.

The font we are choosing for the masthead is the Dream orphans bold font as it is ascetically pleasing and because it is a simple but somewhat eye catching it will attract readers.

We also looked at fonts for the actually text for the articles and the cover lines. We looked at:

·      Times

·      Calibri

·      Arial

·      Cambria

We chose the Times font as it is a more traditional font meaning that it will attract an older audience as well as a younger audience, however it is a very easy to read and understand as it is not a busy and messy font.

In appearance “ Rhythm and Blues” will be a perfect size, small enough to carry around in a handbag or normal bag but it will also be large enough to contain entertainment such as interviews with well know artists and images of those said well know artists, it will be approximately 8x11 (a4 paper), it will be printed on using heavier stock and using recycled paper at the beginning then moving onto glossy paper once production and a high profit from the magazine comes so that makes the magazine seem more appealing and attractive to the public eye. Because it is going to be sold every three weeks the magazine its self will be at least 40 double sided pages containing advertisements, double spread interviews, content pages, images and single page interviews and reviews.

Resources:

Equipment that will be used when taking the images for the magazine front cover and double page spread( hardware):

·      DSLR Camera – To take the pictures of the artists perhaps performing or have actual photo-shoots of the artists. With the DSLR Camera I can use different features such as the shooting modes, an example would be the Aperture priority and shutter priority.  

·      Camera Stand (Tri-pod) – Use to hold the camera steady when taking pictures so that the image doesn’t come out blurry and unfocused.

Software that will be used when editing the magazine (software):

·      Photoshop – Photoshop will be used to edit, alter and improve images if needed as well as create mood boards and any sort of plan or layout.

Microsoft word document - This will be used when writing up the articles and interviews so that they can be edited properly and placed then photoshopped onto the magazine. 

·         We will record or write down answers when I am interviewing the artists so I can then put their answers into a article.

Personnel:

·      Photographer – The Photographer will be taking picture of the artist whether they are performing at a concert or a photo-shoot where the artist is singled out and the main focus and is not as busy as a image where they are performing.

·      Model – The model will be the artist that will be the main feature, this is because they are the ones being interviewed and they will be the main focus of that specific issue.

       Art Designer - Creates designs and layouts for the magazine

    

       Editor - The editor will edit the articles, interviews and any sort of text that will be written on the magazine so that there isn't any grammer or spelling mistakes.

We will also have art designers, editors, research teams etc, that will work to make the magazine as good as possible. For the first issue we will be completing all these rolls as we will need to split up our equipment into hardware and software, meaning that the personnel will be split into people working as the photographers, camera crew, researcher and the other personnel will be split into software, and they will work with photoshop, editing (editors) writing articles and publishing.

Target Audience:

The primary target audience is 16-20 year old music lovers. Specifically our audience members are young and influential type that can quickly fall in love with different types music and can quickly learn to expand their range. The magazine will be focused to both male and female as both genders listen to RnB, the spending power will depend on if the reader has a job, meaning that they will have the money to buy the magazine. If they don’t have a job it will be more difficult of them to buy the magazine, as they may not want to spend the money on it, whereas if they do have a job they are more likely to spend it on entertainment such as a magazine. I will not be target any sort if ethnicity or race as it will limit my audience and possible effects the actual income made because of it. Also we don’t want to discriminate as it wouldn’t be fair to the audience that would want to read the magazine and it can cause me legal issues. The NRS Social Grade is C1, B and possibly A as they may be more interested in buying the magazine where as C2, D and E may focus of buy things they need.

The secondary audience is 30-45 year old retirees that take on interest in music. We want to appeal to an older target audience as they have more spare time and may have the money to spend on buying this magazine. The magazine will be focused to both male and female as both genders listen to RnB, within this age group most people work and earn money so they will have money to spend on the magazine. We will not be target any sort if ethnicity or race as it will limit my audience and possible effects the actual income made because of it. Also we don’t want to discriminate as it wouldn’t be fair to the audience that would want to read the magazine and it can cause me legal issues. The NRS Social Grade is C1, B and possibly A as they may be more interested in buying the magazine where as C2, D and E may focus of buy things they need.

Thirdly, we want to appeal to everyone in the North London area including the tourists as the magazine will be based in London and it will included music related activities and events that will take place in London, which is why tourists are also one of main target audiences. 

Marketing and distribution:

The magazine will be funded by advertisements from businesses and companies that relate to music, for example Gibson guitars, music platforms such as apple or Spotify and another businesses selling music equipment.

It will also be funded by the advertisements that an artist my have, for example if the artist that has been interviews for the magazine has a tour coming up, has merchandise or has some sort of product they would like to sell they may advertise on the magazine. It will have a subscription option so that the magazine is purchased every three weeks and is delivered to their home.

The magazine will be advertised and will be sold in the North London area. Because our magazine is North London based our are of distribution will be North London, we will sell in newsagents, as it is an easy method of making it assessable to the public, university campuses, as the majority of the target audience will be in university so if we sell them on university campuses the students are more likely to buy it, and finally supermarkets as it will be available to anyone at anytime. There will also be a online website which will have a monthly subscription that the readers can sign up to. If the reader isn't subscribed to the website the website will allows them to see the upcoming issues in order to inform them about upcoming issues, making the more intrigued to buy the new issues and will only show the front covers to show the readers what the content of that specific issue will have, in order to intrigue them into buying the issue.  

Also because of the different interviews with the artists and musicians they can also advertise the magazine because they will promote the magazine as well as the issue they are in. Also using social media as a platform to market the magazine as it is frequency used by our target audience, for example we will use twitter, Instagram and snapchat to constantly advertise the magazine and keep contact with the readers so we can gather their suggestions for up coming issues, this will make them feel included and will attract them to the magazine as we are trying to achieve customer satisfaction. We will have a marketing plan that will allow us to plan our marketing strategies, which will be using social media to inform our readers about upcoming issues, we will also use the artists features to promote the issues that they are in, meaning that they also promote the  magazine 

Price:

The price of the magazine will be £3.50, as the magazine will be released every three weeks as it is including up to date tour dates and events. From my research, this is a competitive and fair price.

Legal and ethical issues:

-Copyright against registered logos and literacy and images, meaning that to avoid copyright legal issues we have to generate our own images by using copyright free images, publicity shots or have our own photoshoot set up for the artist.

-Trademarks against logos, means that we can't use logos that other magazine or businesses have as that will be trademarking. We can avoid this by creating a logo that represents our magazine and doesn't look like or copy any other brand or businesses logo.

-Design rights against the designs of the magazine, this means that we cannot copy any other magazine that is already established and published.

-Race Relations act against discrimination of a person of race (ethical), this means that we cannot discriminate against any race, we will avoid this by making the magazine available to everyone and by showing representation of each race equally and respectfully.

-Harm and Offense against explicit words and images, this means that we cannot include any explicit words or offensive and harmful images and words that can effect the readers, we will do this by not include images or words that are harmful or offensive.

     

  

Competition: (place in the market)

We know that in the music magazine market there are a lot of magazine brands that showcase music, especially RnB, as it is a prominent genre. Magazines such as Q, The Rolling Stone, Billboard, mojo and Time out as they all include some RnB in them, meaning that as our competition we would have to create different methods of showcasing the articles that are done, the images, how the features are mentioned and how the front cover will be laid out in order to attract as many people as possible.  We have chosen to do a music magazine that is inspired by RnB artists from North London, the magazine is going to be influenced by the art and culture of North London, but will also include combinations of ideas that will by influence by other magazines such as Q and Billboard as they are both well known and highly regarded with a similar style of fonts, images and layout. The target audience is very similar for each magazine, because both Q and Billboard include RnB artists in their issues and that causes competition for Rhythm and Blues Magazine. 

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths: 

• There is a gap in the music magazine market as there isn't much magazines based on RnB Music and RnB Artists.
• Another advantage is because of the location of distribution it allows us to expand to a range of different RnB artists from all around North London as allows us to discover new artists that can promote the magazine and because we will also interview well known and established artists they an also promote the magazine making us well known and successful. 

Weaknesses:

• One weaknesses is that the magazine is limited to only one Genre meaning that we won't get a range of readers.
• Another weaknesses is that because we are limited to only one area in London it will be hard to gain a large following and enough publicity to possibly expand. 

Opportunities:

• One opportunity is that if we become successful enough in North London we expand to the whole of the United Kingdom and them possibly launch the magazine Globally.
• Another opportunity could be that we expand our range and include different types of features in the magazine and possible start doing collaborations with music brands and create advertisements with them that allow us to expand our readers and increase or readers.

Threats:

• The threats are the music magazines that are already out in North London. (Competition in the market)
• Another threat is that people may not be interested in RnB and the magazine will not make any profit because of this threat

Initial sketch: (Rough sketches)

In the initial sketch for the front cover, as you can see we have we have the mast head/ title on the left hand side and we have filled up the space on the right hand side of the skyline so that we filled as much dead space as we could so that the front cover doesn't look boring. we then added content on the left side of the magazine so that the reader are informed of what is inside the magazine before they buy it. We also included a barcode at the bottom so that they can scan it when they are purchasing the magazine. Finally we included a close up at a straight angle of the artist, so that the readers can possibly connect with the artist through the image.


In the initial sketch for the double page spread, we decided to put an image on the left side of the double page spread so that the artist can be seen straight away. And we decided to put the columns and text on the right side so that the image is covered out and so that the text is more visible and clear to see as well as eye catching and intriguing.

Moodboard:

In this mood board it represents the mood of RnB. The colors show the moods of RnB for example when you hear RnB the colors you think about are red, blue, purple and golden sunset yellow. It also shows what artists are part of this genre. They also represent the old and new RnB artists.




The colour scheme for Rhythm and Blues will be inspired by the colors blue, purple, red and golden sunset yellow because these colors as the colors that are used at concerts and album covers, they are also a large representation of the feel and vibe of RnB. We have chosen these colors, because we want to give the magazine  that authentic RnB feel and vibe. But I will also try to match the text on the front cover to the colouring in the image so that their is a link between the photo and the text.

The artists that are on the mood board represent the old and the new and the difference between the late 80s and the current 2000s artists such as Lauryn hill, Whitney Huston, Aaliyah, Marvin Gaye and now in the 2000s Rihanna, Khelani, Drake and Beyonce. These are just the minority of the RnB artists in the world.