Proposal

I have chosen to create my music magazine on the Indie/Acoustic genre. I have selected this genre after my research into different music genres and because I am personally interested in Indie music myself. I also thought it would work well as I don't think there is many music magazines out there today representing this popular style of music. The music magazine I have created is aimed at both male and females between the ages of 16-26 as I don't want to narrow my market at one gender and I think it is a style that appeals to both. In researching my chosen genre I found out many artists today and those stereotypically into this style of music are older teens and young adults. I also believe these are the people who are likely to want to read about their favorite genre of music and to spend money on buying music magazines. To ensure my my music magazine relates to the genre and attracts this audience I have used similar qualities and stereotypes that follow the Indie style, such as colour schemes, images, the person/artist I have chosen to feature, fonts, cover lines and gifts.
For the masthead/name of my magazine my first idea was to have a simple slogan for my magazine and use the initials as my masthead, this idea was based on 'NME' which is a very well known magazine they have used these initials which stand for New Musical Express. I want the initials to also relate to my genre so I came up with several sets of 3 simple words which described the magazine. These included; BIM (best indie mag) and IMM (indie music mag) I think IMM works best as it summed up exactly what the magazine stood for and was simple about 'Indie music'. I have chosen to give a 'vintage' yet simple feel to my magazine following the style of many NME magazines.
I like the use of black and white images as this is more unique and think goes well with the retro style usual to the type of people who listen to Indie music. I like red on black and white, but I think on second thoughts this is not usual enough, so have decided to use black, white, grey and a pale yellow colour I have based this on a NME special edition cover of John Lennon. This colour scheme will run throughout my 3 piece as I want there to be continuity and for the magazine to flow.

Cover line ideas:

Celebrating magazine- short cover line informing the reader the magazine has been running for a long time, this would draw the reader in as they would feel trusted in this magazine. I want to use a different layout and design on this so it doesn’t just blend with other cover lines.

Winning/prize- I want a prize to be won in a puff/plug on my front cover; this attracts the reader as everyone enjoys a free competition. I also want the prize to link to my music genre or at least music in general for example- IPod, concert tickets, festival tickets.  

IOW Festival exclusive- This is a popular British festival that is known for being an Indie event. However other style artists also perform there. This will appeal to my audience as it
covers all the genres of music that my magazine does.

Concerts/gigs this year- Telling the reader of concerts and gigs linking to their genre, tells them when and where to get tickets. Advice which ones they should attend.

Artist featured on cover- I want a quote also as a cover line as I think it has a personal inside into the artist who said it with the reader.

The size for my magazine will be 11" x 17", his is the size of many well known magazines such as Q magazine. This is the called 'tabloid size' as it's the size of a tabloid newspaper. It is larger than usual so images and font is easier to read, but also gives the editors the opportunity to show/say more.
I used a friend that fitted the genre perfectly to use for my images but also a recent concert I had gone to as this had an original feel.
The date on my magazine is in April this is because I wanted to mention up and coming festivals and concerts which are usually in summer. This gave readers the time to then go and buy tickets for the festival season.
The majority of my magazine will be about bands and artists, with interviews with them and photo shoots looking at their style and finding out about their life styles as Indie artists. The magazine will also include exclusives about concerts and festivals coming up and reviews on concerts recently attended by people. I also want a question and answer style interview with my chosen artists as this common in double page spreads of music magazines. Also there will be prizes and competitions for the reader to enter; this will be shown on a specific page inside and also on the front cover.