OCR – Level 3 Cambridge Introductory Diploma in Media

Unit 01: Analysing Media Products and Audiences

Evidence

Name: Harrison ColeCandidate Number: 2030Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic SchoolCenter Number: 64135

Set Brief - Print

Project/Brief –

Music Magazine & Promotion

Publisher Logo HERE

Magazine Product Logo HERE

Content• Focus published and product • Ownership structure - LO1- 4 – 25 • operating model - • Bran ideology - • Technological convergence - • Associated products - • Market position - • Competitors • Publisher Competitors - • Meanings - • Genre - • Purpose - LO2- 27-47 • Genre - • Purpose - • From and style - • Content of magazine - • Production process - LO3 - 49-55 • Audience theory - • Demographics - • Secondary research - • Primary research - • Legal and ethical - LO4- 56-73 • Press complaints commission - • Copy right and Trade marks - • IPSO -

Focus Publisher and ProductPublisher

• Rock sound magazine had their first published magazine in March 1999. They have been known to have always include a free CD with every magazine that they produce.

• Rock Sound speak exclusively to Gerard Way about the past, the present and the future in the newly published magazine.

• Rock Sound have gone up in sale by 24% year-on-year with 10,218 copies sold.

• The magazine has always have had completion of selling the magazine over Kerrang who sell a similar type of magazine in terms with the type of the rock music which that they aim to publish.

• Source- https://plus.google.com/+rocksound/posts

• Rock Sound Ltd is a Private Limited Company registered on 27 October 1998.

• The institution specialise in publishing of consumer and business journals

• Patrick Napier is the Head Director of the company.

• Rock sound LTD are part of a business group called the open company. The open company bring the business that are a part of it to people. So for example they post information on the website about the companies that are part of their group, so rock sound become better known.

Product

Source:https://www.opencompany.co.uk/company/03657331/rock-sound-ltd

Associated products

Sonic Publishing publish other Music magazines of similar genres of music. As you can see from the screen shot of the website, it shows the other magazines they publish. One magazine being called “Rock louder” which is very similar to “ Rock Dance”. This is also a magazine that gets published once a month. This will therefore have a similar target audience within the publications.

Source: http://www.sonicpublishing.co.uk/titles/

Ownership structure This company is part of a group called ‘Open Company’. Open company is a group that helps to promote companies. They do this by advertising them on their website and by putting them on the social media websites. This way people will know about the publish company. The company first started the publishing 15 years ago. The publishing company is a private limited company so therefore has an ownership structure from the secretary to the directors. The company has different nationalities working for the company. Some of the employees are British and some are French. The company is local and not global and according to the website they also do not have a sister company. The rock sound magazine’s website has been made by a company called sonic group. They are a company that provide companies with high quality websites. Rock sound paid the sonic group to produce their website.

Operating model

Technological convergence • Does the magazine have a website?• Social media sonic• The magazine has a company called rock sound who makes the publishing company's website

look really professional. The sonic company that make the website also advertise the company on there own sonic website which makes a link. The link is based on the sonic group that advertise the companies who they make websites for, through the social media. The website for the magazine has a page for the videos that link the web page to the you tube channel. They also have many other links such as twitter, where they keep all the followers up to date with what they are going to promote and bring out the monthly magazine.

This screen shot was taken from the website rock sound.http://www.rocksound.tv/videos

Associated Products • Economic factors, how much money does the company earn

The magazine promotes the fashion company Fashionably Great, these products sell from the magazine from £100 for a jacket. The magazine is using the fashion of rock to draw the target audience in. Favourite band names who appear in the magazine are sold on T shirts in the magazine.

Here we have the price of the products that cost the customer for a monthly subscription. They charge £37.99 for a month. They sell around 14,000 subscriptions a year.

Source: http://www.rocksound.tv/

Market position

As I was unable to locate the magazine in the market position, I will relate it to the Kerrang! magazine. The Kerrang! magazine is very similar to the magazine that I am researching called rock sound. They share the same genre which relates to the magazines genre being quite popular in the market position. I have sent an email to the publishing company to give me the market position for the magazine but I have had no answer. As you can see on the table that the Bauer publishing company have their two magazines in the top 3.

Source:http://www.ppa.co.uk/marketing/research/abc-figures-january-to-june-2013/

Competitor analysis

54%

24%

22%

Publisher Comparison Bauer Media IPC Media LtdMusic and Media Solutions Group Limited

21%

45%

34%

Magazine Comparison Kerrang! Mojo Q

The pie chart connotes that Bauer dominate the music magazine genre. They also produce the most popular magazines.

Source:http://www.ppa.co.uk/marketing/research/abc-figures-january-to-june-2013/

Competitors- Magazines There are many other magazines that are competitors to Rock Sound such as Kerrang! and Mojo. They are in the top 3 for the market position. They do share the same style and font because they have the same target audience. The front covers both have the dark colours which shows how the magazine share the same connotations. Both of the magazines - Mojo and Kerrang! - both publish their magazines monthly and have up to date music on them. The images that you can see bellow display the rock features on the magazine. I have even taken a screen shot from Mojos website which denotes the classic related rock that they present.

Market position for magazines

Mojos website

Competitors

Kerrang! website Rock sound

magazine

Below I have presented the comparison between Kerrang! magazine and Rock Sound magazine. They share the same style of rock which then becomes a problem as they therefore aim for the same target audience. So even though the magazines are similar they have the objective in the market. The publisher therefore has to make sure that the magazines are well known by promoting them through social media sites.

Publisher competitors • BAUER • This publisher company are located in Germany in Hamburg. They manage and publish more than 600

magazines. They have over 400 digital products along with 50 radio and TV stations. They started in the year 2008 in January. Bauer have the following values “Our values create a sense of shared identity, defining what we stand for and how we do things. We have four key values – Respect, Collaborate, Create and Challenge”.

Rock sound Ltd • Rock Sound Ltd is a Private Limited Company registered on 27 October 1998.• The institution specialise in publishing of consumer and business journals• Patrick Napier is the Head Director of the company. • Rock sound LTD are part of a business group called the open company. The open company bring the

business that are a part of it to people. So for example they post information o the website about the companies that are part of their group, so rock sound become better known.

MastheadThe heading is large and bold with a white back ground. This connotes the importance of the main image and it’s ‘Star Appeal’ (Richard Dyer) as its behind the image and not in front.

‘Star Appeal’ (Richard Dyer) this connotes the size of how important they are within the genre and will appeal to a pass along audience.

Main Headline this relates to the main band which connotes its a full out mad band. “Confessing their sins” ‘signifies’ (De Saussure) their rebellious attitude and how they will be ‘informed’ (Katz) of something exclusive inn relation ton their ‘sins’.

Cover lines that give nick names to other stories but use a different text to make you me at six more visible and important.

Meanings

‘Social climbers’ (Maslow) would appeal to the exclusive new CD because it is an opportunity for purchasers of the magazine to own a CD that may not be available through other outlets.

The gender for this magazine would be aimed more at men due to the front page displaying a boy band. There is a higher amount of boys who are into the band you me at six than there is for the girls.

Due to the style of the band members, the age group would be aimed around young adults.

Meanings

Here the main image has been presented by being placed in front of the mast head to make the band stand out.

Here the main head line for the band’s name has been made bright green. This makes the text stand out a lot better. This colour has also been used as part of the band’s style. Green can be connote a quite messy, carefree attitude and stands out..

The text has been based on the mood of the character that the magazine has interviewed

The red and black features of the page ‘signify’ the band want to base there image on negativity which also links to what the band said in the interview.

The magazine wants to make the pull quote bold by using a black back ground and white text. Then the red text at the end of the quote is the name of the singer that made the quote. This makes the singers name look important as the text is in a different colour which also stands out.

The band name goes with the style of the spread page. The bands name has Electricity in it which can relate to being quite scary and dark. This is then linked with the storms that can be dark and rough. This is why they have made the second page black with the band members appearing in the shadows.

Meanings

These boxes have been provided for the interview on questions and answers. The questions have been put in red and the answers have been answered in a smaller and darker text. This then makes it a lot easier for the reader to understand what is going on in the interview.

Contents page

Categoriesare split up using the colours and shapes to separate the sections.

Main image bands. The biggest picture is the one featured, making it look the most important

Dark and light colour’s used to spilt the page in half.

Music description of the genre made bold with the white text on a dark background

Messy text style to connote the genre of rock

Features telling you what articles are in each section

Pictures of all the bands that are featured within the magazine.

Page numbers located on the side in a small size

Genre• The genre of the magazine is pop, punk, pop-punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore,

heavy metal and extreme metal rock which is suggested by the dark colours the magazine uses. The magazine is of a type that should not be shown to kids as the images are only targeted at the teenagers that are into heavy metal rock. The magazine highlights the type of music that it aims to promote which is the rock. They do this by simply highlighting the tittle of the product which is called rock sound. I have gone through the magazine and found images that are aimed at the type of music that I have mentioned. Bellow I have taken a photo of what the image links to the genre of the magazine. As the images are what the reader is going to see first so making the images linked to what type of magazine actually is , is very important.

This is a screen shot of what I have emailed to the magazine company. They have not responded so I have simply proved that I have tried to get information of the magazine.

Purpose • To ‘inform’ (Katz’ Uses & Gratifications theory) the target audience of what is happening

in the World of rock and update the reader on concerts, album releases, album reviews, and gossip.

• With a monthly circulation of 13,220 it can be considered one of the smaller publications although it showed a healthy profit in 2012 of £187,000. (source: credit safe.com )

• To promote the products that are sold in the magazine that have the link with the type of rock in the magazine.

• The Magazine employs around 80 people including journalists, word smiths, photographers and advertising sales people.

• The denotation of the strap line of the magazine is: "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist“

The verbal code “non-conformist” connotes how they intend to attract peer groups who believe they are rebelling against society, which is what the magazine aspires to do as well.

Source: The magazine itself, creditsafe.com.

Form and style • The brand identity of the magazine is a common theme of the Rock Sound ident in black across the top of

the front cover with a photo of the pop group or individual featured in that particular issue. This distinguishes the brand in the consumers mind from other similar magazines. The layout and design of the magazine is always similar, and follows the same order each month, namely:

– News and regular features– Exposure of new groups– Features / interviews– New Albums– Gig reviews

The form of my magazine is rock style as the front cover presents rock music features such as the dark colours with the crazy text which relates to the music style. This ‘informs’ (Katz) the reader that the magazine only cover the crazy style of rock, as the front cover connotes the colours that only symbolise the artistic rock font style. Black is used as the head mast to represent the mood of the music being quite dark and moody unlike the bright pink you would get on the cover of a pop magazine in binary opposition (Levi Strauss). The form of the mag is presented with the band on the front cover with there own rock style. The front cover then has to adapt to using the right colours. Measurements for the magazine are 8 3⁄8” x 10 7⁄8.

Form & StyleThe colour scheme for ROCK SOUND is in binary opposition (Levi Strauss) to MOJO, who use dark grey colours to connote the meaning of the genre of the magazine. The magazines genre is classic rock as I have reached. This is why the front covers colour scheme is black and grey. To represent the past pf rock you can then tell that the genre is rock as the classic rock legends are placed as the main image on the front cover. The masthead is then kept with the white colour to make the text stand out over then main image so people know that this is the MOJO magazine. The font style has been kept as big as possible to stand out. The style of the text is based on making the text the most important feature on the page.The image is engulfed around the black background to make the image look bold with the dark colours.

Content of the magazine • Rock Sound magazine mainly covers the individual lives of the singers and make sure that the readers know

all they need to know about the stars. The magazine also covers a lot competitions to get the readers more interested. The competitions are related to the rock music by giving away free tickets to the lucky winner to go and see this band. Like every magazine they bring one out every month which means that they need a new star or band on the front cover. They have made on the front cover who they are going to show their main focus on in the main story. They cover in the story exclusive info about the secretes that the fans may not all ready know. The magazine also uncovers all the facts and figures about the star to give the reader a good idea of where they are in todays charts and popularity rank. As the magazine is based on the rock the mag gives out free rock posters which cover the different features of rock. This way the rock fans get to read about what they love that’s related to rock. So for example they cover the guitars and what kind of band would use them. They then link them to the gigs the ads go to. The reviews also are very important because then the reader would know if the band is worth to go and see perform live at a gig.

How is Rock sound magazine published ?

• I have tried to contact the magazine both by telephone and emails (david.mclaughlin@rocksound.tv). I did personally speak with David who promised a response but none has been received to date. My assumptions on the process are:

• PRE-PRODUCTION• Create a publication timetable to include:

• Editorial content• Photographic content• Advertising sales schedule

• PRODUCTION• Ensure all content, advertising space and photographs are received at least 2 weeks before

publication to allow for editing, formatting, magazine design and sign off before going to print and distribution.

• POST PRODUCTION• Gain feedback on the publication through readers comments, distribution figures, costs and

income.

Process

Distribution Date of publication

Editorial and budgetary decision The company will decide what will go into the magazine . This a good chance to think about who will feature in the magazine. They can decide who to interview, what the necessary budgets are etc. They will plan several issues ahead.

Managing the scheduleThe company sits down and discusses the schedule for when the dates of certain parts of the magazine has to be completed by. This way the company can have a good idea of when they need to have information and interview done for the magazine. This also gives the company a good structure to the work they need to produce for the rock sound magazine.

Content AcquisitionThis step is considered to be important as this will make an impact of the buyer. They will look at the graphics before they start reading so they need to make sure that the magazine looks presentable. The illustration will be put at its best as they will make the magazine look very professional and therefore make a lot of money

Sub-editing In this step they will brush up the finishing touches to the rest of the steps. Meaning they will make sure that everything is spelt correctly. They will also make sure that the grammar and the punctuation is correct.

Page Layout This is where they make sure that they know where they are going to put everything that they have worked on in the magazine. For example they will work on where they are going to place the advertisement and the pictures.

Proof readingThis will test all the other stages for how the magazine will look as the first copy will be printed out so that they can see if the magazine is able to be read correctly. If there is a problem they can then open the documents and then change what they need to so the magazine can be read easily without any errors.

File emailed to printer Once they have checked what they need to check they will print of a few more copies and then send them of to the editor , they will then be checked again and sent back to say they are okay before they print thousands of copies.

This is the final step of publishing the magazines , the magazines will be packaged then sent of to the warehouse where the copies will then be delivered to the shops where people will then buy the magazines.

Audience Theories • The target audience for the Rock Sound magazine is teenage rock fans between the age of 15 to 22. Using Katz’

Uses and gratification theory, the target audience can relate to the musicians and bands within the magazine and feel a close bond with the subjects. This enables the audience to escape from reality for a while, giving the publishers an opportunity to educate and market to the target group.

• There is an argument that the target audience for “Rock Sound” are ‘explorers’ and ‘social climbers’ (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs), driven by improving their status in society and using the magazine to exist virtually in a fantasy world. The magazine clearly encourages an element of rebellion as well.

• Dissecting the target audience using Hartley’s 7 subjectivities, the target audience could be considered as:1. Aged 15 to 222. Predominantly male (the articles and photographs are predominantly male biased)3. Predominantly middle class (the advertisements and “gig” calendars identify price points suitable for middle

income individuals)4. Gothic in style (the photographs and fashion comments suggest this)5. Predominately from native America (the origins of rock)

• As rock is a very loud and grown up kind of music the magazine is not for young children due to some of the images of the rock stars in their make up. This may scare children, along with some of the themes such as “Suicide” (See above right) being covered in the magazine. Some rock stars in the magazine wear make up and have body piercing (See above right). Some like to give the image as a very dark and casual look with facial hair. As the tone of the rock period is moving on, different types of fashion are coming in to place. The magazine is therefore targeting young adults that like to keep up to date with the rock fashion. As make up and piercings are going out of style, the magazine wants to introduce more and more different types of rock fashion.

Demographics The demographics graph denotes the range of people in the various demographics. This can be from people in higher management positions to unemployed people or casual workers. Rock-sound magazine is (stereotypically) aimed at the C1 demographic for people who are skilled to work and earn a average wage, enough to be able to afford to buy the magazine in the first place.

The magazine also presents the artists wearing clothing that may cost a lot of money. From the screen shot on the right, the featured band are wearing designer glasses and hats. This will influence the target audience to purchase the designer clothing.

PsychographicsAccording to the psychographics table the audience would fit into the categories ‘Aspirers’. ‘Explorers’, ‘Strugglers’ and ‘Reformers’. This is because all of the categories stereotypical younger people who want to seek escape and care about their persona and fashion.

Due to the current minimum wage for teenagers and younger people and the magazine costing £3.99. The class c1 are ideal due to the amount of income they bring in. The featured bands in the magazine are wearing designer glasses and hats. This will influence the target audience to purchase the designer clothing.

From ‘Explorers’ it says that the individual seeks energy. This is referring to the excitement. Rock Sound magazine features festivals with the top rock bands at the top venues. This contains a lot of energy for the individual.

Festivals Fashion Price

Spending power • As the magazine has the cost of £3.99 it will enable the target audience to be able

to afford the magazine as the target audience falls into the C1 section of the demographic graph. This is for the skilled manual workers that get paid above minimum wage. This means that they are able to afford the magazine that comes out monthly. You are able to subscribe to the magazine on the website for £5 which will give you 5 months of Rock Sound.

Source: https://subscribe.rocksound.tv/subscribe

Associated products

Sonic Publishing publish other Music magazines of similar genres of music. As you can see from the screen shot of the website it shows the other magazines they publish. One magazine being called “Rock louder” which is very similar to “ Rock Dance”. This is also a magazine that gets published once a month. This will therefore have a similar target audience within the publications.

Source: http://www.sonicpublishing.co.uk/titles/

Website analysis • The Rock Sound music magazine has the

perfect website for finding out when the latest gigs are. They are presented underneath the navigation bar. The navigation bar gives you many features such as looking at all their new videos and photos that they keep in their gallery of all the bands that they feature in their magazine. Reviews and competition's are also kept in the navigation bar. For example the review section where the fans can produce reviews of the featured bands on the website. This is this an example of ‘citizen journalism’ (Gilmor – 2004). The reviews page is conducted by the journalists of the magazine.

The magazine website also contains some evidence of synergy with…..

Social media • This feature (Timeline) within this social

media product gives its users all the up to date news on rock music. The Timeline also gives the users what bands and solo artists will be featured in the next edition. The social media product can give the target audience the direct links on the Facebook page to new rock album songs that are able for download. Pictures and other videos are posted on the wall so the users can see their favorite artists and bands in action.

• The social media product will provide all this exclusive to the Facebook page that Rock Sound have.

News and regular features on the magazine pages

News and regular features

Aimed at regular readers and subscribers to keep them up to date with what’s happening

Exposure of new groups

Aimed at readers who want to experience new bands providing dark music and also to expose new groups.

Features / interviews

New Albums

Gig reviews

Provide an insight into stars personal lives and encourages readers to identify with the individual behind the facade

Aimed at people who want to keep up with the latest sounds and entices the reader to purchase albums

Aimed at concert goers and the more social side of rock. Readers can see another persons view of a gig they were at or get information on what they may have missed

Magazine pages/Target Audience The magazine pages that Rock Sound magazine produce make sure that they have certain aspects that appeal to the target audience such as the use of images. The main images on the front cover and the DPS are used to capture the target audiences eye. The images are the featured bands used in the magazine, the magazine choose the top best bands and artists within the genre of rock. Rock Sound magazine also use exclusive interviews with the featured bands that appeal to the target audience. The target audience wants to hear what their favorite rock bands have to say in the interviews. The magazine uses pull quotes from the interview to catch the readers eye which may appeal to them.

Products sold in the magazine

The magazine promotes the fashion company “fashionably great”. These products are sold by the magazine from £100 pounds for a jacket. The magazine is using the fashion of rock to draw in the target audience in. Band names in the magazine are sold on T shirts in the magazine.

Here we have the price of the products that cost the customer for a monthly subscription. They charge £37.99 for a month. They sell around 14,000 subscriptions a year.

Source: http://www.rocksound.tv/

Secondary research For this magazine it was very hard to find any form of rating. The closest I could find was that the

company post the ratio of how well they are doing on Facebook. They also gave the reviews to the subscription websites that they want their magazines to be on and most of them say this magazine is very good for people into heavy metal or just rock in general. They then let iTunes have their copy so people could download them onto gadgets to read on. The iTunes customers have given a 4 star rating. On Facebook they have the chart below which basically covers all the likes and people who are talking about the magazine socially.

Primary Research

So by giving away a free CD and Poster with the magazine, it would increase the sales of the magazine. Most people have chosen the option of yes having the free CD would have an impact on buying the magazine. The free CD and poster has caught the customers attention and encouraged people to be more interested in the magazine.

This connotes how most of the people that have filled out the survey would be more interested in reading a much older age bracket magazine. This means that they would want to see a magazine having better images, the use of text and house style. Only a few people have selected the 14-16 which suggests seeing a magazine that has more appropriate images and use of text within my magazine. As the majority have selected the 17 + I will therefore make sure that my magazine has more images and stronger use of text and house style to make it more interesting for the readers.

Here you can see that the majority of people have gone for the pop magazine. My magazine is going to be based on the genre of rock because I have exclusive access to a band that is within this genre of rock. The genre of pop is very popular for this day and age because the pop stars appear everywhere on social media and TV. The classic has come last in terms of having the least amount of votes due to people wanting to listen to the brand new music that comes out today.

This connotes that the font style does have an impact on the reader. This could be in terms of the front cover having an impact as this is the first thing that they will see before they open the magazine. The font style that I have chosen will make an impact on the reader because of the colour use and choice of text. The text will encourage the reader to then go on and read the magazine because they will know that the effort has been made to make the magazine look good so they will then look inside the magazine. A few people have said “no” so this could mean that the front cover in terms of colours and pictures will be more appealing.

This connotes you that most people prefer to look at the images in the magazine. This can be understood as the images are one of the first things that the reader will see. The images have a very big impact on the reader in terms of the style that they produce. Only a few people have said text because they think that the magazine is all about what the magazine produces in terms of the information.

Here you can see that most people have gone for the monthly magazine because the monthly magazines seems to hold more information than the weekly ones. This is because the magazine has time to put in more stuff over the month of producing the magazine. This is the magazine that I am going to be producing.

As you can see here the results have shown me that the exclusive news has been the favourite. This is because the news sounds more exciting to people when they read the magazine. People get to read some information that most other people may not get the chance to read. I will have this on the front cover of my magazine because it seems to have made an impact on the reader.

Here you can see that the main image on the front cover is the best because the most people have selected it. This is the first thing that people see on the magazine front cover. People are judging the magazine by the main image. This is probably because the main image usually tells people what is going to be within the magazine.

The interviews in the magazine has been given the most votes because people find the interviews more interesting to read than the other area. People can get to know the music bands a lot more better. The interviews also prove to the readers that this magazine is very popular and successful due to the fact that a famous band has come to them for the interview.

This connotes how popular the magazines that are out today are. At the moment most people suggest that the Kerrang! magazine is the best. This is good to know because Kerrang! produce rock which is the same genre of the magazine that I am going to be producing.

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Product Advertising and Distribution Rock Sound magazine can be found advertised over a few different subscription websites. The subscription websites advertise different music magazines all over the country. You can find the magazine in the category section under rock. Here you can see examples of how the subscription websites advertise the magazine. It gives you full details about the magazine such as the price and when it comes out in the month. The website also gives the customers a reviews of the magazine itself, the website rates the magazine out of stars. The image is bold and shows the whole front cover of the magazine to catch the customers eye just like it would do on the retailers shelves. They have also made the price of the magazine bold to show what good value the magazine is.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/rock-sound-magazine-for-very/id634889531?mt=8

Retail outlets

• Countries where you can purchase the magazine• USA• Canada • South Africa • Australia• New Zealand Source: http://www.rocksound.tv/news/read/where-to-buy-rock-sound

Where can you purchase the magazine in the UK?

You can purchase the magazine in WHSmith as they offer the subscription to the magazine directly. You can also purchase the magazine via the apple store. You can read the magazine on your smart phone or tablet.

Source- http://magazines.whsmith.co.uk/Rock-Sound-Magazine-Subscription.cfm

FrequencyThe magazine is issued to circulate monthly with each month having a brand new interview on the front cover. I found an image on the publishers website of the magazine sonic publishing. This is official because it was from their website. The image bellow has been taken from the company that maintains and controls the website for the company of rock sound. They have the information about what the company do monthly, so this is a reliable source.

Distribution channels • The magazine has a cost of £3.99 which enables the target audience to be able to

afford the magazine as the target audience falls into the C2 section of the demographic graph. This is for the skilled manual workers that get paid above minimum wage. This means that they are able to afford the magazine that comes out monthly. You are able to subscribe to the magazine on the website for £5 which will give you 5 months of Rocks sound. This would get you 5 Issues of the magazine.

Source: https://subscribe.rocksound.tv/subscribe

This tells you that if you pay for this option you will get 5 issues over 5 months

Distribution/Media Platforms • This music magazine is advertised at the electronic stage meaning that you will find the

magazine being advertised on the internet through sites such as Facebook and on the subscription websites that you get that I have also mentioned in this presentation. The magazine likes to be on the internet as I have seen on iTunes they are selling copies of the magazines. This means that people can have a copy of the magazine on their iPads. They keep all their news up to date on Facebook and advertise where they sell the magazines and when the next magazine will be coming out. This is the main method they use unlike Kerrang! as they have their radio station where they like to broadcast their magazine news and even music. This may be due to the market position they are in at this time - using the electronic method is a lot cheaper than using the broadcast method.

Marketing - Above or Below the line

• The magazine is advertised below the line due the financial position they are in. The publisher advertises the magazine below the line due to the money they need to save. The advertisement is mainly put on the social media sites such as Facebook and Youtube. On Youtube they advertise what is happening during the day with the bands that they interview so rock fans can see all the bands in front of a camera instead of just seeing them on a piece of paper. Instead of broadcast, poster advertising or TV they like to put the magazines on Itunes which is a way of making people download their magazine. Then if they like the download they can buy the magazine from the stores.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/rock-sound-magazine-for-very/id634889531?mt=8

Stereotypes• Reader profile - The stereotypical reader of the magazine will look young with a wild sense of fashion. This

includes non-verbal features such as piercings, rebellious hair styles, tattoos and dark clothing. This magazine is based on the genre of rock so has a stereotype look which is “wild”. From the images below you can see that the females and males both enjoy the rock vibe at concerts. This means that the stereotypical readers would look something like this.

• As you can see from the stereotypes that are below, they share the same sense of style such as exhibiting tattoos and wild hair styles. There are a couple of expectations and stereotypes to be challenged such as the make up and the hair colour, with some of the dark colours connoting their rebellious attitude.

RepresentationJohn Berger (1972) “men act, women appear” Within Rock Sound magazine the representation of males is a lot more prominent than women. The majority of the front covers that Rock Sound produce have male artists on the front. The males according to the theory like to act tough and bold which is shown on the front cover of the magazine.

Rock Sound magazine, in contrast, tent to objectify women on the front cover or within. Rock Sound magazine present the females on the front cover in the heavy metal culture. This culture is different to the “ Male gaze” theory as the female on the front cover doesn't’t fit the stereotypical look to what the theory is referring to.

RepresentationLaura Mulvey (1975) ‘Male Gaze’

In addition to the points raised on the previous slide, Rock Sound conforms to the “Male Gaze” theory by Laura Mulvey where men will find the female artists on the front cover attractive and appealing to look at.

For example front covers that present the females within the heavy metal and hard rock culture theme are represented as heavy metal artists. The majority of the front covers that have been published that feature female artists are presented in the heavy metal culture. There are however front covers of females that males will find more pleasurable to look at such as the screen shots shown below.

Target audience • The target audience for Rock Sound magazine is teenage rock fans between the age of 15 to 22. Using Katz’ Uses and

Gratification theory, the target audience can relate to the musicians and bands within the magazine and feel a close bond with the subjects. This enables the audience to escape from reality for a while, giving the publishers an opportunity to educate and market to the target group.

• There is an argument that the target audience for “Rock Sound” are ‘social climbers’ (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs), driven by improving their status in society and using the magazine to exist virtually in a fantasy world. This is evidenced by the way in which the narrative is directed at the reader

• Dissecting the target audience using Hartley’s 7 subjectivities, the target audience could be considered as:– Aged 15 to 22– Predominantly male (the articles and photographs are predominantly male biased)– Predominantly middle class (the advertisements and “gig” calendars identify price points suitable for middle income individuals)– Gothic in style (the photographs and fashion comments suggest this)– Predominately from native America (the origins of rock)

• 1. Content that would NOT be appropriate for a younger generation such as using words on the front cover such as “Suicide”. This is something that young people should not be exposed to the younger target audience of the magazine. This would create a bad influence if the younger audience used words like this within society.

• 2. Iconography and/or props that ‘signify’ (De Saussure) the rebellion associated to the genre include piercings, Dark Make up and wild hair styles. Therefore the magazine creates a rebellious attitude towards the audience.

Influence on individuals, mass audience Target audience

• Within Rock Sound, there are many images that will have an impact on the audience. Most of the influences are based on the guitars and make up that many of the rock stars convey. The content talks about the gigs that mainly take place but that is not the main attraction because many people who are into rock already go to gigs. The magazine talks about how the rock music has been produced so therefore influence the audience to understand how the music is made and in a way what goes on behind the scene. How the stars get their make up on, where they get there guitars from. They all have an influence on the audience who may try to do their make up and hair the same way that the rock stars do theirs.

• The hair and the rebellious make up may have an impact on the audience of the bands who may want to mimic behaviour. The fans look up to the features artists and bands such as the ‘stars’ (Richard Dyer) often included in the magazine such as bands called Linkin Park and You Me At 6. There are some negative effects on the audience such as the use of language and imagery presented to the audience. On the front cover there is an example of the bad language used such as “Suicide”. This has a negative effect on the audience as it gives a bad influence on whoever reads it. Below you can see a screen shot of the use of bad language on the front cover.

• http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/how-types-of-group-norms-influence-individual-behavior.html#lesson

Legal and Ethical • When producing the magazine there are many things that the magazine has to be aware of before they can

start to sell the magazines. • Copyright is the main issue within the magazine industry today. Copyright is illegal because in basic terms

it means that you are stealing media pictures or even text from other sources of the media. For example taking a picture of a celebrity and not asking for permission would be classed as copyright.

• Copy and pasting text from an online magazine and then putting it in your magazine would then be classed as an infringement of copyright. The ethical issues that stand today within the magazine is to do with race. For example if you were to put on the front cover of your magazine a white or black person, then using words that are offensive to that race would then be illegal. People could become offended and then have the right to sue the magazine. So the magazine company's have to be very careful what they are writing because this could be the result of getting into litigation.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright

On the Rock Sound website they have stated on their terms and conditions page about the use of copyright. As this magazine is interested in new bands featuring in the magazine, Rock Sound explain how they keep the data safe from Copyright. As you can see on the left I have taken a screen shot of their privacy policy. This is part of the data protection act that they follow.

Copyright and Trade marks • This is when a piece of work created by someone has the right to own it and therefore cant be copied. For example you cant take

someone's song that they had written and then make another version of it. The original artists has the right to own it and therefore cant be taken. If this is the case of taking a song then selling it the artists then has the right to take the legal action that is required.

• Trade marks are things such as names, slogans ands designs of a product. Once they have been produced for the business they then belong to the business. If the trade mark has been made and then registered and checked it will then have a ‘®’on top of the trade mark. In the magazine industry making sure that you have all the rights covered is important. The law is in place to make sure that the magazine will not lose the money because of other magazine’s taking the originals magazines idea.

• Source- https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/intellectual_property• • Rights covered: The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts, films and

typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their material may be used. The rights cover; broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending copies to the public. In many cases, the creator will also have the right to be identified as the author and to object to distortions of his work.

• International conventions give protection in most countries, subject to national laws.1. Types of work protected

1. Literary song lyrics, manuscripts, manuals, computer programs, commercial documents, leaflets, newsletters & articles etc.

2. Artistic photography, painting, sculptures, architecture, technical drawings/diagrams, maps, logos.3. Typographical arrangement of published editions magazines, periodicals, etc.

• The Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992 extended the rules covering literary works to include computer programs.

• The magazine would have to ensure that they do not inform any laws above.

The magazine (See image above) is a registered trademark name so use of the ident and use of this would require permission from the institution and publisher.

Press complaints commission Here you are also allowed to be able to make the complaints about what the magazine has in anyway had any offence on you. They deal with things such as the pictures, text and even colour for the magazine. This is where you would make a potential complaint about the magazine. They then explain when you will hear back from them and talk about how they are able to deal with the situation. This is based in the UK and as I have shown using evidence of screen shot in previous slides that its free to use. Therefore if the user is offended by Rock Sound magazines this is how they can make a complaint. One code could be accuracy which means that when I publish my magazine I need to make sure that the information that has been published is accurate. Publishing incorrect information goes against the code in IPSO.

http://www.pcc.org.uk/complaints/makingacomplaint.html

IPSO• This is a company that handles complaints about the media that may in any way have offended you in any w ay of from. This

could be classed as being racist or even being too stereo typical toward people . IPSO give you the voice so that you can be heard for the complaints' because of it being a huge company. They offer you the guidance and support for your concern about the editors that you have been offended by. You have to fill out this form that you provide online so that they know what they are dealing with online before that go through the process of the complaints. They are based within the UK and are only there for the public. The overall objective for this company is to make sure that the media have the standards at the correct level for the public. Bellow is the screen shot of the website and the information that I used for this assignment.

• 1. Initial assessment 2. Referral to the publication

3. The investigation

4. Adjudication by the Complaints Committee

5. Remedies 6. Review of the process

7. Complaints which are not pursued

8. Unacceptable behaviour by complainants and vexatious complaints

https://www.ipso.co.uk/IPSO/index.html

IPSO- Legal & Ethical impact Rock Sound • Accuracy- when Rock Sound publish their magazine they need to make

sure that the information that has been published is accurate. This will include information such as publishing wrong GIG dates in the magazine. People would then go to the IPSO website to make an complaint about the incorrect date.

• Confidential sources- The journalists for Rock Sound need to make sure that they are getting the correct information from reliable sources. For example when interviewing a band member. The journalist has to make sure that the band member is the actual band member.

• Discrimination- The magazine must not have any reference to an individual's, race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability. This can be shown through images and other quotes within interviews.

• Source : https://www.ipso.co.uk/IPSO/cop.html

Potential complaints being made about Rock Sound

Potential complaints that could be made about Rock Sound could be the use of accuracy in the interview. An example would be that the featured rocks album will be released by Christmas. But in the interview the rock star says that it wont be released till the summer. This can annoy people as the magazine is therefore not accurate. This IS against one of the codes by IPSO. People would then complain to IPSO saying my magazine is not accurate in what it says about the release of a music album.

Protecting the IP for Rock Sound • Making sure that the IP for Rock Sound magazine is very important to make sure its

been protected. This is a very valuable commodity to keep safe from copyright. A website called Intellectual property magazine allows you to create your own account. Within this account you can keep safe all the registered trade marks and copy rights. This website is in use of the EU which means that Rock Sound are able to use the website to keep the IP protected. You will be given a 7 day free access when you set up your account. Within the sign up to the website they give you a detailed guide to how you should be protecting your, Trademark, Design and strategy.

Source: http://www.intellectualpropertymagazine.com/patent/protecting-ip-in-the-cloud-110081.htm

Terms & Conditions/Copyright info from the Rock Sound website

• Rock Sound magazine have a terms and conditions page on their website. The terms and conditions page states the privacy policy that they have. The policy explains to the users how they have a policy to making sure that the data that has been collected is safe. They explain why they need to collect the personal data from you, who else they will tell about you and their commitment to keeping it safe. Rock sound have presented this information because the website is for users to apply to be featured in their magazine. Rock sound like to hear about potential bands that could make within the music industry of rock. The website allows the users to get recognition from Rock Sound magazine to then have a chance to be reviewed. I have taken a screen shot of the terms and conditions page below.

IP Permission for Logos • Within Rock Sound magazine there is social media idents placed around, which will

be to help promote Rock Sound on social media and encourage viral marketing. To use a social media logo that isn't legally mine I have to either buy the rights to have it or ask permission. If I used Facebooks ident without permission I would then be facing fines and possibly prison. directly to see if I'm allowed to use their logo in my magazine.

• https://www.gov.uk/using-somebody-elses-intellectual-property/overview

How to get Permission to use Facebook’s Logo

Rock sound use the Facebook logo in their magazine they need to get some permission to use it. To do this you simply type into Google “permission to use Facebook’s logo”. This will then take you to a page as displayed below on the left hand side of the slide. You must first choose an option for how you would like to use the logo. For example, having it downloaded online or having it printed off. The next step is to read the guide lines that have been written out by Facebook. The guidelines explain what you can do and what you cant do with the logo. Once you have read this information you are able to download the logo by clicking download.

Source: https://www.facebookbrand.com

Register Trade Mark

• If you have made a design or a logo and what to legally own it you have to register it on the www.GOV.uk website. The government have a intellectual property office to assess your application. The office will be able to tell you if the application you have sent them meets the rules for the registration. The cost of this registration will cost £170. If the application then meets the rules and regulations then the government will send you the rights for you to own the trade mark. This will mean no one can legally copy Rock Sounds logo design.

Water Marks • This is when a piece of work created by someone has the right to own it and therefore cant be

copied. For example you cant take someone's song that they had written and then make another version of it. The original artists has the right to own it and therefore cant be taken. If this is the case of taking a song then selling it the artists then has the right to take the legal action that is required. Rock Sounds magazine doesn't use water mark images in their magazine. A possible reason that Rock Sound might not use water marks is because its something that doesn't’ belong in the image. Watermark images are distracting to the human eye.

• Source- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/content/pros-and-cons-watermarks

• Source- https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/intellectual_property

Conclusion

From this Unit I have understood the media products and the institutions that produce and distribute them to the intended target audience.