Why I Asked The Questions For The Questionnaire

Unlike many questionnaires people are asked to complete, I chose to give the person questioned anonymity. I felt this would make each form impersonal, and people may be obliged to be more truthful, especially about their age or sex, throughout the questionnaire as they would know that the information couldn’t be tracked back to them.

The first two questions asked were, in fact, ‘sex’ and ‘age’ of the person. These would help me categorise my results more easily once all were collected, into groups such as boys/girls or under 30 years old/over 30 years old. This could clearly indicate whether certain age groups prefer certain types of music and consume different types of music to other age groups, or whether one particular sex seem more likely to go to music events or pay more for a music magazine.

By asking how the person most commonly listens and learns about music, I can get an idea of what music sources appear to be most popular and therefore might be worth including in my own production. The next question, asking which particular genre’s of music the person is interested in, would also help me learn what to include in my magazine. If a particular genre, or several genres, appeared to be most popular (from my results) then I may choose to focus more on these particular ones. The next question is also very similar, not only helping me discover which genre of music people enjoy but also any individual music artists that they favour. This would help me captivate the greatest potential amount of consumers for my magazine and could also encourage certain solo acts or bands to approach the magazine, so as to reach out to the specific audience who are guaranteed to like their genre of music.

As visiting music events, such concerts or festivals, is such an important aspect to many budding music fans, by finding out which ones they’ve been to, I would be able to add more pages into my production that would be of interest to the prospective consumers. It would enable me to write articles on the particular events people seem to enjoy most. I could attend the events myself and get feedback from people there, or even ask readers to send their comments or pictures of them at the events, therefore making the consumer feel more connected with the magazine and more likely to enjoy reading it.

I knew from the start that my main source of help for creating and producing my music magazine would be from looking at and learning from original music magazines that are already on the market. By asking, in my questionnaire, which music magazines the person finds of most interest and also what attracts them most to particular music magazines, can help me in my decision of what to issue in my own production. Some people may buy certain magazines for the competitions they offer, whereas others may buy them for the free posters included inside or the free gifts that come with the magazine. I therefore asked these questions as I was interested in whether, by adding extra ‘bonuses’ to buying my magazine, it would make a difference in the volume of consumers I would gain.

The next question I put on my questionnaire was for very similar reasons to the previous few; ‘the type of music magazine articles you’re most likely to want to read’. The purpose of this question was simply just to gain more knowledge on what consumers, of magazines like the one I was going to create, enjoy reading- and therefore would be happy to buy a particular music magazine for.

To help discover the popularity of music magazines in general my next two questions asked how often the person buys music magazines and what the maximum price was that they would be willing to pay for a music magazine. The first of the two questions would help me decide how often I would want to publish my magazine. If many people answered that they bought magazines on a weekly basis, or possibly even more often that that, I would look at making my production a weekly publicised one. However if they answered that they buy it less often than that I may wish to look at creating, printing and distributing them on a fortnightly basis or possibly even monthly. The second part of the question would show me what prices would seem too high for a music magazine, therefore gaining no interest from the public. By getting a good idea of what I could sell the magazine for, I could then further budget the rest of my production and issuing costs so as to not overspend and ensure I still gain a profit at the end of it.

‘All-time favourite song’ was the final question on the questionnaire. There was no specific reason for asking this question except for genuinely finding out what song’s different people classify as their ‘favourite’. I thought that if I left the questionnaire on a humorous, unsystematic question then people would feel more comfortable and will be more likely to hand it in or send it to me. It would also bring a smile to their face, which is always a good thing!

Questionnaire Questions

Sex:
Age:
Most Common Source Of Music Consumption (iTunes, YouTube, radio etc):
Particular Genres Of Music Interested In:
Main Music Interests (favourite groups, solo artists, etc.):
Festivals You Have Been To In The Past (if any):
Concerts And Gigs You Have Been To In The Past (if any):
Music Magazines You Find Of Most Interest:
What Attracts You Most To A Music Magazine Before You Buy It:
The Type Of Music Magazine Articles You’re Most Likely To Want To Read:
How Often Do You Buy Music Magazines (if at all):
Maximum Price You Would Pay For A Music Magazine:
All-time Favourite Song:

Front Cover Title Ideas

Unplugged
Intune
Jolt
Alarm
Omen

I decided to carry out some research, to come to a final conclusion for my magazine title. I asked a range of people for their opinions on the ideas I had come up with for the title, all the candidates questioned being potential consumers of a product like the one I was creating.
From the five titles I had thought of the two liked the most were ‘Unplugged’ and ‘Intune’. The other three options-‘Jolt’, ‘Alarm’ and ‘Omen’- I was told, were more vague, meaningless words that seemed less relatable to the magazine content than the other two. My candidates said that ‘Unplugged’ and ‘Intune’ could both be more connected to music, and fitted in better with the theme of the magazine.
With only two names to choose from I decided to tally up the pro’s and con’s of each name, for myself, to get to a final decision for the title of my music magazine. After much deliberation I finally came to the conclusion that ‘Intune’ would be a much more suitable title for my magazine than ‘Unplugged’. Firstly, the word ‘Unplugged’ has many letters in it, which could pose a problem when trying to fit it on the front cover, around all the other items on the page. Being so long, it also is less catchy and snappy than the ‘Intune’, which could make it less memorable. Finally, going back to the point my research participants thought of, ‘Intune’ seemed more connected to music than ‘unplugged’ did- with a friend pointing out it made her think of a sink being ‘Unplugged’!

Focus Group

Name: Indie Linzey
Age: 16
Hobbies: Singing, musical theatre, gigs, WAITROSE
Recent Media Usage: Magazines, newspapers, tv, internet
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: Indie, rock, musical, alternative rock
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: Kerrang
Favourite Song Of All-Time: Thunder - Boys like Girls





Name: Steve Randall
Age: 24
Hobbies: Playing football, snooker and golf. Watching Arsenal and travelling europe to watch them play!
Recent Media Usage: T, Ipod
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: Anything really but mainly Indie and Rock!!!
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: NME and Q
Favourite Song Of All-Time: Breakfast at Tiffanys by Deep Blue Something



Name: Lucy Glover
Age: 17
Hobbies: Clarinet, cinema, going out, tennis
Recent Media Usage: Desperate Housewives, Outnumbered, Facebook.com, Google.co.uk
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: Pop, dance, indie
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: None
Favourite Song Of All-Time: All These Things I've Done - The Killers




Name: Alex Hughes
Age: 16
Hobbies: guitar, football and hanging with mates
Recent Media Usage: Laptop
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: Indie
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: NME
Favourite Song Of All-Time: Fall to sorrow - the rifles





Name: Laura GrantAge: 19
Hobbies: singing, acting, dancing, swimming, netball.
Recent Media Usage: reading magazines, watched tv.
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: acoustin/Pop/electronic dance.
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: NME
Favourite Song Of All-Time: "I'd rather be with you" Joshua Radin.






Name: harvey abel
Age:18
Hobbies: basketball, clubbing, chilling
Recent Media Usage: tv
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: all
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: not to my knowledge

Favourite Song Of All-Time: depends on what mood im in




Name: Claire Lamb
Age: 18
Hobbies: Reading, swimming and listening to music
Recent Media Usage: T.V, Computer, Radio and Mobile
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In: Indie rock, pop and RnB
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past: No
Favourite Song Of All-Time: Aqua - Dr Jones

About The Focus Group

I chose to include a focus group for my music magazine, as research before starting to create the product. The focus group consists of people I would classify as (typical) potential consumers of my creation. The questions asked to my focus group were to help learn more about the type of person I’m aiming my product at. By having a focus group, it isn’t to say that other people, who may not fit in the ‘stereotypical image’ of the people in my focus group, wont also want to buy the magazine.

Focus Group Questions

Name:
Age:
Hobbies:
Recent Media Usage:
Particular Genre’s Of Music Interested In:
Any Music Magazines Purchased In The Past:
Favourite Song Of All-Time: