Artist Profile

Niall Spierin is representing the artist that I will use for my front cover and double page spread. however the article will be an interview with his producer about Niall.

Niall Spierin is a well-liked young music artist; his style is indie house the sound is unique and is not usually heard in the indie music. However he also enjoys taking inspiration from the 1980’s electronic sound that came out of Chicago and New York in that time. This type of music genre collaboration is inspired by others who have done similar work, such as C + C Music Factory who pulled together Hip-Hop, Pop and House Music their sound may be different but their concept is similar to Spierin's.

He is only 22 and has been in the industry for over 5 years in total, this is through playing gigs and working with other producers to learn more about generating the unique sound that has built. He came into the business during the time which the delivery of music completely transformed to online oppose to hard copy sales in stores. Due to this many of his early work was uploaded onto YouTube to build up a fan base. He is now signed to EMI Music Productions. he signed to these as they have a large profile of indie artists so can give him great support.

He likes to make music that in parts hopes to build a relationship between artist and listener, which also adds anecdotes to his songs to show a true life representation of himself through music. Niall Spierin is not an artist who is solely determined to become as rich as possible but instead hopes to make enjoyable and well-liked music.

Class Pitch of My Magazine

ideas for colour pallette, in response to pitch feedback

Colour Pallet

summary of pitch

I feel that overall my pitch went well, I rehearsed and prepared before the delivery so that the presentation and order was run smoothly. What I had not covered in my animoto video were my ideas of colour palette and type face, therefore the questions/feedback I received on these parts were useful as it gave me a chance to think about how these could be displayed. As a result i have looked at some different type faces, sans serif fonts seem to be most appropriate.

My concept, of making a magazine that catered for a very small neash of the market, targeted at those interested in the background of the music industry, and magazine title 'larynx' seemed to go down as a success. From comments made I feel that i have the support from students in my class as I have from my teachers.
However since the pitch I have decided that my magazine concept may be too complex to complete successfully as it will require in depth knowledge of an area that I may not have. Although I may have reconsidered my type of magazine I still intend on using some of my original ideas such as my double page spread featuring the producer of a music artist.

The concept of my magazine, being about the unseen side of music has deemed to be popular as it is clear that there are not any products on the market that match accurately to what I am aiming to produce.
I have also had the opportunity now to consider how my photography may look in my magazine. I have decided to use one single image of my main artist on the front cover. It would be a studio shot and I would like to create a shadow behind the model. On the contents page again I will again include the main artist as that is a convention that is used in many magazines that I have looked at previously such as NME. Also on this page I will include smaller images of other features. On my double page spread I intend to have a shot of my main artist in a location shot alongside his producer who the article is about.

Having the chance to ask others questions about their concepts was a good chance to discover different and new ideas that I could use as inspiration. It also gave me an idea of what other genre of magazines looked like; therefore I can do my best not to clash with other conventions.

who would publish my magazine

Firstly I have found sites online where there are lots of articles on the topics of the music bussiness that are not covered in the conventional music magazines such as Rollingstone where the focus is on the artists. An example of this is http://www.musicweek.com/ this is a sight that I can see many of my articles to be published. This would cover the onine publishing of my magazine.

However for hard copy magazine publishing I would be more directed at using a publisher who has experience in dealing with magazines such as mine that are more focused in the logistics and unseen side of music. an example of his type of publisher would be Future PLC this is because they have a wide portfolio in both music and film magazine in this area specifically.

Future sells 3.2 million magazines each month,  they attract more than 23 million unique visitors to thier websites. They host 27 annual live events that attract hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts. they have publications in over 85 countries.

Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today they have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating over 180 special-interest publications, websites and events for people who are passionate about their interests.

the reader of my magazine

Consumer Profile for Magazine

animoto video for pitch

contents page analysis

Contents Page Analysis

contents page analysis

Contents Page Analysis

Front Cover Analysis

Front Cover Analysis

pre lim analysis

For me preliminary magazine I took inspiration from some of my favourite magazines that I’m most used to seeing, such as, NME – Front – Wired. From these I looked for ides of how to photograph my model and how to place them on the front page. Often on these magazines the band or artist name is typed big across the front of the picture so I replicated this with ‘Z!NK’ the band that was the lead story for my pre-lim. From a NME front cover I took the idea of circle shapes with promotion text inside placed on the front cover, I used this for the story on UCAS applications. Most of the magazines that I used for inspiration followed their lead story on the front page on to the contents with a different image of them often with a quotation from an interview. Once more I replicated this to make my piece as professional as possible. The reason for my background being a neutral colour is so the magazine is kept simple and the text and images are clear and clean cut.

During this work I have learnt very useful skills that I can take into my final piece, the first and main skill is my use of photoshop. In the past I had never really come across the software so this was my first opportunity to develop an idea of how to operate it successfully. Using photoshop has allowed me to make a piece that has a more professional look to it compared to any other programme available to me. I hope that my ability cut pictures using the magnetic lasso will further improve so that in my final piece the finish is to good quality. Through the project I have also developed my knowledge in current magazines in the market through market research. I have been able to identify key features that suit the genre or artist shown. Again this will only improve my final piece as my genre will be suited to the look of my magazine.

Of my prelim work I felt that my photo placement was good as it made the magazine look as professional as possible due to it replicating my inspiration from current magazines. I felt that my features on the front page were good as they gave a clear view of what was inside. On my contents I like the way that the stories flowed from the front cover and my main story had a good paragraph including a quote that is a technique often seen in professional magazines.

social groups - uktribe.com

after watching the video on http://uktribes.com/ that shows the opinions of a diverse range of young people i have learnt that many factors contribute to people fitting into different social groups. fashion was higlighted as key factor as one girl raised the fact that all of her friends dres the same and also share the same music taste, this creates clear differences for target audiences in the way that a magazine is designed and structured. common interests and hobbies also groups people as they socialise with thoe with similar interests.

NME target audience research

NME has become a truly unique multi-platform media proposition. NME reaches over one million music fans every week. NME is the longest published and most respected music weekly in the world. Includes the latest releases, live reviews, the definitive guide to the best new bands in its Radar section.
The nme.com audience is made up of key demographic groups that can be difficult to target through other media:

• 65% Male*
• 50% 16-24*
• 23% 25-34*
• 79% ABC1*

this is useful information for me to go by as the audience for this magazine is similar to my target audience of 19 -28

schedule for coursework

G321 CW Schedule 2012