Unit 30 (LO1) – Understand UK-based media publishing and associated products.
Q3evaluation
1. Oyster House Media Ltd Oyster House Media, the UK’s largest independent publisher of music magazines
2. Who are they and what do they do? Oyster House Music (OHM) is a company specializing in Artist Representation and the supply of top-class musicians to the industry. In partnership with OWIT Music Europe, OHM is able to provide superb opportunities to promoters, agencies and festival organizers both in the UK and on the Continent. With company personnel skill sets that include event promotion, record production, music magazine publishing, professional songwriting and professional consultation, OHM is well-placed to offer a highly flexible service to professionals and the music industry.
3. Why should Oyster house publish my magazine? Oyster House Media publish specialist magazines such as www.ribmagazine.com, www.acousticmagazine.com and www.bassguitarmagazine.com magazines. It definitely relates to the type of music titles Oyster House publish and so I think the Oyster House would be a suitable distributer of my magazine. When researching about Acoustic Magazines I came across the website www.acoustimagazine.com. It was a very useful website because I could link the information and research to my media product. I later found out this is one of the magazines that the Oyster House media ltd publishes. I think my magazine would fit in with the similar products oyster house publish because I believe it looks professionally made in terms of the layout, content, colours, typography and photographs etc. Here are some screenshots of similar double page spreads to my Acoustic Magazine. My media product Here are some similarities that my magazine’s front page have to “Acoustic Magazine”. Acoustic Magazine My Media product Bold, short, snappy masthead Includes similar topics i.e. interviews Screenshots from www.acousticmagazine.com The layout is similar to those from the Acoustic Magazine Website because they are in columns. The colour scheme is subtle and matches the rest of the magazine as well as the genre. The article is an interview about someone in the music industry. There is an image of someone to show who the article is about. Main Image of person holding guitar Writing is in line with the edge’s of the page
4. OHM is involved in creating exciting new opportunities for new and emerging musical talent and accordingly works closely with selected venues and festival organizers in terms of artist development, public relations and concert promotion. The latter is also closely associated with event management and the staging of national shows sponsored by some of the world’s leading corporate brands. The Oyster House Studios are therefore are a natural extension of the OHM operation in bringing high quality products and services to the music making community. More about Oyster House Media Ltd The Oyster House Group of companies includes Oyster House Media (OHM), the UK’s number one independent publisher of newsstand music magazines. Here are some examples and photos of the titles that Oyster House produce for: namely, Drummer, Guitar Buyer, Acoustic Magazine and Bass Guitar Magazine.
5. The Oyster House Records are one of their sister companies who record bands such as “Swans In Flight”, “TM Stevens” and “Marco Mendoza”. The Oyster House Events are another sister company and they organize events such as festivals. They are associated with event management and the staging of national shows sponsored by some of the world’s leading corporate brands. The following website links are associated with the events; www.ribexhibitions.co.ukwww.acousticexpo.com Hugo Montgomery-Swan is the owner of Oyster House Media Ltd and has a wealth of experience in the music industry, he is the lead vocalist and guitarist of “Swans In Flight”.
6. Advertising By Advertising in magazines, you can reach your target audience and educate them about your products or services and the point of this is to move the consumer closer to buying the magazine. The genre of magazine depends on what they are going to advertise. First, target audience must be identified in terms of age, gender, social groups, and general background. My media product’s genre is acoustic. I don’t believe it matters which gender or age reads this genre. However, I think this style of music is aimed more at men than women because more men listen to it, play it or read about it and I think there are more male artists than women within this genre. My media product is aimed at 16-18 year old men and woman. I feel it could be open to a social group who are laid back, stylish, care-free and enjoy going to festivals or music gigs etc. After the target audience is clear the type of product used in advertising that would appeal to this audience can be narrowed down somewhat. I think the following categories could be successful with the advertising in my media product; clothing, gadgets, drinks etc. I am certain these categories are very popular with my target audience. The categories cover a wide range of products, such as Topman, superdry and Jack Wills clothing, ipad, phones, TVs and other gadgets, alcohol or sports drinks that are popular with the target audience. At least one of these categories are bound to catch the attention of the reader.
7. Magazine advertising can be very expensive and the research can also be time consuming, this is why it’s important to advertise the right product/service. I think clothing would be an appropriate and effective method of catching the reader’s eye when they see my magazine. Well known clothing brands such as Jack Wills and Superdry could be used as effective advertising on my genre of magazine because people will recognize the brand name and if they are attracted to the product being advertised then they are more likely to want to buy the magazine. I will use Superdry clothing as an advert in my magazine in order to capture the reader’s attention. The main reason for choosing Superdry is because the person on the front of my magazine is wearing a superdry hoody. This will also attract some attention from viewers because if they recognize the brand and like it then they are more likely to be interested and therefore be a potential buyer of the magazine. I think my magazine could have an ‘online presence’ and I believe it would be suitable because it matches the style of magazines that Oyster House Publish. I believe my magazine is appropriate to have an online version. It has a similar quality to other magazines of its genre and having an online version of a magazine is another method of targeting your audience. For example, some people may prefer to look on the internet to buying a magazine.