Audience research

1, How often do you read music magazines?

I asked this question in order to get an idea of how often my music magazine would go out, I’ve decided weekly, and that will correspond with a lowish cost, making it more likely it will be bought every week.

Five out of ten people who filled in my questionnaire read music magazines monthly, compared to four people who read them weekly; it’s only a difference of one, so I believe I’m safe to have a weekly published magazine. If I asked more people to fill in the questionnaire, then I think there’d be a bigger gap between the two, with more who don’t read music magazines.

Continuing on the people who don’t read music magazines, the people I asked to fill in my questionnaires are people I know to read them, with one I knew didn’t. I chose this range so I could get a mixture or responses. Though I wanted more who didn’t read them to fill it in. The intended audience is young to older teens/young adults.

2, How much do you usually pay for an issue?

I chose this question to ask, as it would give me an idea of cost to regularity ratio. From this chart, it looks like the people who get the magazine monthly are either paying less than the weekly people, or the monthly people are paying more with one paying less.

I think the latter is more plausible, as paying £5 a month for a magazine is more attractive then paying £5 a week.

Again, the one person who doesn’t read music magazines doesn’t pay anything, obvious as they don’t read them, but that one could be explained as someone who doesn’t buy the magazines themselves, simply reads a siblings or waiting room or whatever copy of the magazine, rather then buy it themselves. This makes this question data not very reliable, and so would require tweaking if I did the audience research again.

3, How much would you personally prefer to pay?

Not surprisingly, a big 60% wanted to pay a low amount for a music magazine. Where that is obvious why (nice and cheap), the quality of such a low priced magazine would be in question. Such a price would be more characteristic of a weekly mini mag anyway, whereas the more expensive would be the chunky monthly issues.

No one wanted to pay over £3 for a music magazine, which is interesting as £3+ is the average price of most music magazines I’ve seen. These results boil down to two simple answers. A weekly, cheap, low standard music magazine. Or an average priced, monthly or weekly, high quality magazine.

4, What bits of magazines do you usually like the best?

The majority of the vote went to Q&As/interviews, then posters/free gifts. Not many were interested in a new act feature (just 20%), with big images getting 30% and one person suggesting celeb facts

Q&A’s are what makes a magazine a magazine. Without them, there would just be a few features, images, and that would be about it. They are popular with the music audience as they wish to read about the star as they’re fond of them and wish to know more about their lives and personality, or even band dynamics and tips for beginners.

Everyone loves a free gift, and posters are expensive from shops, meaning it’s great to have them for practically free.

Old favourites are more popular then new upcoming acts. However, It’s important these starting out artists get exposure, or else no-one would have a clue who they are and where to find them., and nice big images of them can often introduce them more easily then any Q&A.

5, If the magazine came with a keyring, what would you like it to be of?

The majority went for a keyring of a musical instrument, which is an obvious choice for a music magazine. Two went for an animal, and two again went for a person.

It would be interesting to combine the two, having an animal/person holding an instrument. The keyring being for a charity for young children, animals would be a nice choice. I’ll expand this idea, and do a design page and put it on the blog.

6, Other than keyrings and posters, what else would you like to see included in a music magazine?

A big 80% went for relevant ads, being shown where to get a certain brand of fashion or being informed about the latest festivals are key to the reader’s experience of the magazine. Seven went for informal language, with six going for Q&As. Informal language can make the magazine feel more relaxed and laid back, inviting and open for the reader to dive right in.

Five went for posters and high quality images, three for competitions and two for new acts. This suggests they want to be actively engaged in the magazine, as competitions require interaction from the reader, and posters need to be taken out from the fiddly staples. High quality images are expected of a magazine, along with information about new acts.