Draft of my Feature Article

Think of Florence without The Machines and The Noisettes going solo… presenting new, edgy, Christian sensation Mimi. A former student of Manchester Met studying accounting, Mimi always knew that sitting in an office with eye’s focused on a calculator wasn’t her main motive; but singing worship songs with all her heart and soul to Christ with a huge number of fans sharing the same emotions was and is her passion.

Since we’re just so brilliant and adore her music, Revelation magazine is exclusively giving you an insight and interview concerning her first album; this fiery artist is the start of a new kind of worship music!

Waiting for Mimi to arrive in Hard Rock Café Manchester, 14:26 she strolls in wearing distressed denim shorts, a white ripped t-shirt with a floral vintage blazer teamed with a trilby hat... the questions begin!

So Mimi tell us, what does it mean to potentially be the face and sound of Christian music for the young generation?

“Well when you say it like that my hearts racing and my hands are getting all clammy, Haha. But no, it’s really exciting to produce music that reaches out to a mass audience of Christians, not only young people though because all the over 50s at my church (Elim Pentecostal Church) love having a little rave to my music but then again, they’re new-edge, funky oldies”

Sounds like your music sends out one message to every Christian right?

“I’d like to think so because writing songs about your love and relationship with Christ may also be the same thoughts others are having, I’m just blessed to be the one producing the sound that other Christian will understand and enjoy.”

As a new young artist in this generation, do you fell it’s a lot of pressure for you to stay as a Christian artist?

At first when I started off it was so hard because people would be advising me saying if I wanted to be more recognised I should just go mainstream music and just ignore the ‘Christ’ bit. So what did I do? I did exactly that, for 6 months I played in nightclubs and gigs that were mainly indie orientated, I had to change my sound, style and even the way I sung to get a gig or two. But then sitting backstage after my performance, something inside me said I needed to give this a rest and go back to my original song, I then realised that my faith is what makes me special and stand out from every other artist in the industry. It’s all about worshiping Christ and having a one on one relationship with him.
But then I got signed with EMI and doors – the right doors just started opening for me. So now I can produce my Christian music whilst reaching out to many people. I’m just all about spreading the word!

So tell us about your new album

“Well it’s called ‘Let the World Hear’ and it contains a variety of songs about our relationship with Christ and following him daily. I had so much fun working with different producers, composers and singers such as TobyMac. It’s basically Soul/R’n’B music with a twist of indie’ – well that’s my definition for it Haha!”

What’s your favourite song and why?

It’s gotta be ‘Here I Am’, it’s a personal response to my own relationship with Christ, which can relate to so many people because what they’ve been through or are going through is spoken through this song because I remember before I wrote this song I was having personal issues that started to affect me
That’s why it’s gonna be my debut single from this album, it’s premiers on April 5th… so watch it! Haha”

I hear your first tour is coming up this year?

“Yeah actually, it’s for 2 months throughout UK in November this year. I have supporting artists like Steve Mcpherson and Brooke Fraser from Hillsongs United and Sonicflood. Them supporting me… What?! Their so talented it’s ill! I’m so thrilled to be working with them; they’re so inspiring and are on fire for God.”

With this new album, video and tour coming up, is there ever any rest for you?

“Well at the moment no, it’s so much hard work. But I love every minute of it! I just feel so blessed to be having so many opportunities to spread my music. In fact, I’m probably the laziest person you’ll ever meet, I surprise my mum every morning when I’m up at 8… beat’s the usual 1.30pm wake up routine, Haha”

So where do you see yourself in 5 years?

“Simply just singing worship songs to people who are in love with Christ like me. All I gotta say is watch this space!” Smiles sweetly

Ideas for Names, Fonts + Colour Scheme

I have then recently produced another questionnaire to my 10 people who are my target audience asking them further questions that will help me with my music magazine.

Below are the possible names I can name my music magazine:

 NuGeneration

RiseUP

Revelation

NUnation

Music Ministry

NUfaith

United Faith

80% of them said:

REVELATION

And my tagline will either be: ''Faith.Music.Life'' or ''The new music ministry''

Below are possible colour scheme's for my music magazine:

The majority said: The second to last colour palette

 I really love the washed out pastel colours. Not only will these colours not give an immediate music genre or preferred gender that may confuse my target audience, but the warmness and subtlety of this colour palette gives an 'inviting, come buy me' feel to it, which will make it more persuasive to purchase.

After doing this questionnaire, I realised that my choices are neither market or product orientated but asset led: basing my descisions and planning on consumer wants as well as my own requirements, so that my final product will be successful.

So by using these colours throughout my magazine, I feel that my magzine will look professional and appeal to my target audience.

My Musician

For the past week I have really been struggling to figure out what 'image' I want my Christian music magazine to potray.

Most music magazines that are faith based have very mainstream artists that give an indie/rock feel to it such as these:

Looking at these images, you can't tell they're 'Chrisitan/religious' musicians; you could see these bands on any music magazine such as NME or Q. However, my magazine isn't only indie/rock.. it's also a mixture of R'n'B and Pop!

In addition, I wanted to achieve all these genre's in my magazine. I don't want them to only give off one 'look' by their style etc.

Therefore, my model/musican will be a solo artist, Mimi Chitsa aged 21 :)

Below are images of her typical, everyday style.

I think the quirky style she has will work effectivley for my music magazine because even though her style is very individual, it means so will her music (R'nB with a rock edge). I think of my model/musician as ''The Noisettes, but solo'' (I might actually use that quote in my feature article!)

Reader Profile

A reader profile is an outline of a typical reader for my magazine. This simple guidline of my target audiences' interests will help me with the musican/s I will feature in my magazine and the topics that I will cover on my contents and front page.

Age: 17 (age range is 16-25)
Sex: Female 
Relationship Status: Single (relationship status won't be that important, unless part of the feature article mentions marital status of person)
Hobbies: Music, hanging out with friends, concerts, shopping, reading (magazine will provide reading entertainment for different readers interests)
Education: College (High school & University suitable because some articles will be tackling problems that involve education)
Religion: Christian - Pentecostal (Other Christian faiths are also ideal because the main importance is young people and their relationship with Christ)
Music: Indie/Rock, R'n'B and Pop
Favourite bands/musicians: Outkast, Chris Brown, Beyonce, Kirk Franklin, TobyMac, Delirious, Coldplay, The Killers, The Noisettes, Hellogoodbye, Hillsongs United etc.

Inspiration for Composition + Layout

During my planning, I came across several content pages & feature articles I really liked. Below are the scanned in images:

Even though it's not a music magazine, I love the simplicity in these two pieces of Vogue media texts. Hopefully I will be able to incorporate this classy, professional technique whilst still standing out from your typical music magazine.

The composition in these two media texts are very interesting and eye-catching. Therefore, by combining a simple layout with an appealing composition, my Chrisitian music magazine will look edgy and professional. 

Mood Board

By producing a mood board it helps with the inspiration of the colours, fonts, etc I will be using for my magazine. By using DaFont and various colour palettes, I will be able to design my magazine effectively.

Planning: Equipment

Programs I will be using for the production of my music magazine will mainly be InDesign, for the actual formation and composition of the magazine as well as Photoshop for editing images I will be taking for my front cover, contents page and feature article.
I will also be using the Mac's to produce my work, a 7.2 mega pixel camera for the taking of my images and scanner for scanned in ideas, layouts etc.
By using various equipment and technology, it enables my music magazine to have a 'professional' look, which will mean that my music magazine will be able to compete against other music magazines on the market.

An Institution To Produce And Distribute My Product

For a successful magazine, it needs to be produced and distributed by a publishing comapny which specialises in the field. Popular publishing companies like IPC or BMG publish music magazines such as Uncut, NME and Q. But since my music magazine is faith based, I think that if I want my music magazine to be at it's peak, I should research publishing companies which distribute exisitng Christian music magazines. Therefore, I came across Salem Publishing: produces and distrubutes former printed CCM magazine and current Homecoming faith magazine.
So by deciding to have Salem Publishing as my chosen institution, I don't have to worry about promotion and marketing as much compared to if I chose a non-Christian publishing institution because of high competition with other music magazines.

Further Knowledge on Target Audience

Every media source, marketing scheme etc whether printed or digital should have a target audience because age, gender, social status are important factors to consider if you want your product to be successful because every product should be aimed to someone so you know how to market that product to them. Therefore, my target audience being 16-25, both genders with no preferential race who listen to Christian music and in the C2-A socio-Economic scale with a psychographic profiling of aspirers, succeeders and reformers would be a good choice, because I feel as a Christian, you aspire to be a better person whilst trying to succeed in life as well as wanting the world to be a better place.
However, I dont think that my target audience should be in any ''lifesyle groupings'' because Christianity is the most popular religion with people coming from different classes, countries etc. So why would I want to specifically target my music magazine to   'WASP's or 'KIPPERS', when I can have them all?

Results of Questionnaire

Here I have displayed the results of my questionnaire, I decided to ask 10 young people within my target age range 16-25 who listen to both Christian and non-Christian music, This helped me analyse if any one would actually be willing to buy my magazine and what music genre's it should contain. 

I have created pie charts for the questions I feel are important.

For the rest that don't buy music magazines, 70% say they aren't any in the market that interest them.

80% of all people I asked said yes to buying a Christian music magazine if it were to be introduced into the music magazine market.

60% said NUnation would be most suitable for my music magazine, however I could come up with more names for my magazine and produce another questionnaire just focusing on magazine names.

50% of the people I asked prefer Chrisitan bands rather than solo artists.

Only 40% acutally buy music magazines and 90% of them prefer Q.

Overall, this questionnaire helped me to decide what type of Christian music magazine I would like to produce: Mixed music genre mainly focusing on Indie and R'n'B Christian music with a featured band/solo artist. It also shows that there is an audience out there who will purchase my music magazine (well if it's good enough) Hopefully, these decisions will have a positive outcome!

Questionnaire

I came up with a questionnaire to find more about my target audience and their preferences. Below is an example of it:

The top 40 Downloads

Below are 40 top downloads of mainstream pop music and 10 top downloads of mainstream Christian music

1. Fireflies Owl City
2. Look For Me Chipmunk Feat. Talay Riley 
3. You've Got The Love Florence + The Machine 
4. One Shot JLS
5. Russian Roulette Rihanna
6. Young Forever [Jay-Z + Mr Hudson] Jay-Z
7. Your Love Is My Drug Ke$ha
8. Echo (Radio Edit) Girls Can't Catch
9. One Less Lonely Girl Justin Bieber
10. Thieves In The Night Hot Chip
11. Many Of Horror [When We Collide] Biffy Clyro 
12. Horchata Vampire Weekend
13. Bonkers Dizzee Rascal
14. Speechless Lady GaGa
15. Stylo (Album Version) (Feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack) Gorillaz
16. Hollywood Marina And The Diamonds 
17. BedRock Young Money 
18. Stay Too Long Plan B
19. Pass Out (Radio Edit) Tinie Tempah
20. Drop The World Lil Wayne
21. Take That (Extended Mix) Wiley & Chew Fu
22. One Life Stand Hot Chip 
23. Bodies Robbie Williams 
24. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) Florence + The Machine
25. Morning After Dark (Featuring Nelly Furtado and SoShy) Timbaland 
26. Don't Stop Believin' Journey 
27. Down Jay Sean
28. Playing With Fire Mr Hudson , N-Dubz
29. The Climb Joe McElderry
30. Where We Belong Lostprophets
31. Forever Drake , Kanye West , Lil Wayne , Eminem 
32. Doesn't Mean Anything Alicia Keys 
33. Party In The U.S.A. Miley Cyrus
34. Pencil Full Of Lead Paolo Nutini
35. Break Your Heart Taio Cruz
36. Down To Earth Justin Bieber 
37. Sex On Fire Kings Of Leon
38. Admit It Esmée Denters
39. Hotel Room Service Pitbull
40. I Can Transform Ya Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne & Swizz Beatz

...

1. Until The Whole World Hears Casting Crowns
2.What Faith Can Do Kutless
3.City On Our Knees tobyMac
4.Hold My Heart Tenth Avenue North
5. The Words I Would Say Sidewalk Prophets
6.There Is A Way newworldson
7.Forgiven Sanctus Real
8.Safe Phil Wickham Featuring Bart Millard
9.Let The Waters Rise MIKESCHAIR
10.Sing, Sing, Sing Chris Tomlin


By looking at the top singles' charts both Christian and non-Christian music, it helps me look at what genre's of music are popular to my target audience at the moment. This will also help me in my descision of my new featured star... the genre of music they will be in and as their overall personna and personality that will make readers fond of them. So maybe a featured article of a young man who produces synthesized music may mean more sales for my music magazine.

Circulation Figures

January to June 2009

Classic Rock : 70,301 3,669 5.5

Kerrang! : 43,253
Metal Hammer : 46,004
Mojo : 97,722
NME : 40,948
Q : 100,172
The Fly : 107,771
Uncut : 76,526

Finding these up to date circulation figures was really difficult to find, but then came across these from Mediatel. Even though none of these music magazines fit into my initial genre, I can look at what type of magazine is most successful. So maybe if my music magazine were to be hardcore, classic rock and  explicit... would that mean more readers?! Possibly. But it also shows that there is a gap in the market for a mainstream Chrisitan music magazine... well one that can compete amongst these music magazines. And by providing one, could mine beat Classic Rock magazine?

Analysis of Feature Article

Here I have print screened a feature article from CCM magazine, a digital Christian music magazine. Like all feature articles, the name of the band is in a larget and different font from the article itself so that it can stand out and enable readers to know who the article is about. In addition, the feature article also has a large image in the centre, which draws the readers eye towards it as well as two small digital links that are not only used to break the text but to also make the pages look appealing and interesting.

I really adore the simplicity of this feature article because I think the classy yet edgy feel compliments the genre of the bands music as well as giving the feautre article itself a serene feel... colour changes moods. And therefore, by using neutral colours, it gives the feature article a 'friendly, read me' type which will appeal to their target audience (16-25). 

On the other hand, to break the text even further and make the page look more appealing, I would highlight/increase the font size on interesting quotes or themes that are included in feature article to grab the attention of 'page flickers'.

CD Cover Analysis (band image)

Here is a 'greatest hits' album by Delirious, a Christian rock band. By showing all the band members but only presenting them as sillouettes  is very effective because for consumers, this denotes as not needing to pay attention to the band members themselves and the image they potray, but in fact the main objective of their music: praise and worship. In addition, the simple colour palette of black, white and light green stripes, with a tribal design and their quirky recognised house font at the top left cornor with their band name Delirious,  gives the CD album an edgy style which will attract young consumers , (who are their initial target audience) to buy product.


Moreover, only seeing the band members and their surroundings in shadow also shows the genre of the music... rock because by presenting a drum kit, guitars and a mike stand, these instruments are in the production and creation of rock music. And for consumers who are not familiar with their music or purpose of music, may be drawn to their genre of the music and purchase it.

By looking at this CD cover it gives me an idea of the possible genre I could present through my music magazine or potray an "image" on the front cover that wont be explicitly "Christian" therefore, my music magazine could have a larger young audience because it wont entirely bepresemted  as a religious one music magazine but a young, edgy music magazine with faith added into the eqaution.

My Unique Selling Point

I think the genre and target audience for my music magazine will be a unique selling point itself because even though CCM is a popular magazine, readers can no longer purchase it in print: since 2008, it has been an online broadcasting 'magazine', therefore there is actually a gap in the market for a magazine such as this. And for other Christian magazines that are on the market, mine will be a monthly 'glossy' magazine solely targeted for 16-25 year old providing  mixed genres of music and a featured article that will interest readers. 

Research: Christian Music Magazine

CCM magazine a popular Christian music magazine, like my initial idea is mainly targeted to 16-25 year olds. With a famous, aspiring Christian artist, Toby Mac produces rap and rock music focusing on the main theme: God. Therefore, by presenting him on a this popular magazine cover it will entice readers to purchase the magazine.

CCM magazine (an acronym) has changed the meaning of it's magazine three times: from 'Contemporary Christian Music', to 'Contemporary Christian Magazine' and now 'Christ. Community. Music.' Yet the name is still relevant with the genre of the magazine and overall theme, meaning that it still has it's house name and recognition but changing the meaning of the magazine was to broaden the audience. The title of the magazine itself is always at the top of the front page, using the same font but changing the colours depending on the theme of the issue. By also sticking to 3 or 4 basic colours through the magazine front cover, in this case: orange, yellow, white, black: it gives it a professional touch. In addition, the feature article of the star ''Diverse city... TobyMac'' dominates the front page, this will persuade readers to buy the magazine as well as with the mode of address, readers will feel they're getting to know the star. With other articles shown and strap lines on the front cover such as 'front row for Relient K' it provides a wide variety of options so other interests that their target audience have will be forfilled.

Overall, by looking at this existing magazine as an outline of a Christian music magazine, it will aid me for my final magazine to be a successful piece.

Research

I will be researching and analysing existing music magazines in and out of the same genre as mine. This will enable me to further my knowledge on codes and conventions of music magazines that I will apply for a successful and effective Christian music magazine.