How my product attracts my reader profile
My target audience is young people of both genders aged 16 - 35 in the audience demographics C1C2D. The readers would not only be music fans but most importantly festival goers, attending gigs outside the festival season. The readers would have a passion for live music, generally attending big festivals like Glastonbury and Reading at least once a year and going to gigs outside the festival season.
Sound fields is aimed at my target audience because it follows the conventions of other music magazines appealing to a similar audience. The feel of the magazine is modern and vibrant. Its focus is very specific and the magazine is not very expensive which is important as students and young people have a lower budget. The cover has a wide range of artists to appeal a wide range of people, something that festivals do; giveaways would also link to my focus because they give the reader an incentive to buy the magazine. I have chosen images that my target audience would be able to identify with - the festival pose, the flags story/image, the featured artists having the same look/age as my target audience, making it look as if they are part of an exclusive club.
What other magazines are like Sound fields?
The media product that is most like mine is the website http://www.efestivals.co.uk/. It is similar in that it contains live music listings, an archive of information about old festivals and gigs and sometimes articles related to festivals (travelling, what to take etc). Sound fields however offers the reader much more: in-depth articles and reviews, glossy images that can be taken out and used as posters, giveaways and competitions and it is highly portable.
After extensive research, I have not been able to find a magazine similar to my own as live music seems to be a niche market not yet covered, however, general magazines similar to Sound fields include Q, Mojo and Kerrang. They are similar in appearance with a house style and graphics, all offer in-depth interviews, striking images and reviews (theirs mostly of CDs and dowloads, mine of festivals).
Their target audience is similar but not the same as mine: Mojo is aimed at a slightly older and male group because its articles tend to cover more established bands. Kerrang is definitely aimed more at men being a metal magazine and its content is more masculine. Q's target audience is the closest to Sound fields' but is aimed at general music lovers (those who buy rather than attend). Q is the closest in look, colour and style, and its tone is similar to the one I have tried to use - appealing to lively, youthful readers who want to know more than the basics. It is a step beyond a publication which has the style of an advanced comic! I feel that female music lovers are offered less in existing music magazines than men are, having realised this, I would choose to balance that by including articles on festival fasion etc in Sound fields.
A clear identification of your target audience. I suggest that you now draw on the 'uses and gratifications' model of audience theory which we covered last September and which you will find on the blog.
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