Universal Music Group Industrial Context

 UMG is a global music corporation. It is the biggest music company in the world and is known to be one of the three big record labels, along side with Sony Music and Warner Brother Music Group. As of 2019, UMG is known to be one of the most innovative music companies in the world due have over 400 platforms worldwide and including artists of all different music genres, styles and abilities. Universal Music Group co-developed Vevo, a YouTube channel designed for music videos, which allows free as supported streaming of videos and other music contents. They engage with a broad array of businesses in recorded music, music publishing, merchandising and audiovisual content in more than 60 countries.  

 

History:

-        Formerly known as Decca Records (1934-1971)

-        Turned into MCA Records (1971-1989) as MCA inc merged with American Decca 

-        December 1996 the company was renamed as Universal Studios and its music division was renamed the Universal Music Group, MCA continued as a label within the Universal Music Group 

-        2004 UMG was cast under a separate management from Universal Studios as it merged with MBC Universal 

-        2007, UMG created hie entertainment merchandising and brand management division

-        The company started to represent artists such as Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Kanye West 

-        2008, UMG agreed to make its catalog available to Spotify for use outside the US

 

Social Responsibility:

Universal Music Group believe that it is their responsibility to nurture music and to foster artistry and self-expression. In a world that desperately needs to find more common ground, they believe that music is the best way to provide this. They also stated that using the power of their passion ant community of music lovers, which ranges from employees to artists to fans, they support and partner with organisations around the globe that are working towards meaningful positive change and social responsibility. 

 

Universal Music Group identifies and develops recording artists and songwriters. They also produce, distribute and promote the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful music to delight and entertain their fans around the world. Their vast catalog of recordings and songs stretches back over a century and comprises the largest, most diverse and culturally rich collection of music assembled. As digital technology refashions the world, UMG are committed to lead in developing new services, platforms and business models for the delivery of music and relayed content empowers innovators and allows new commercial and artistic opportunities to flourish. 

 

Example of artists under UMG music label:

-        Ariana Grande 

-        Taylor Swift 

-        5 Seconds of Summer

-        Shawn Mendes

-        Seventeen 

-        Alex Aiono 

-        Billie Eilish 

-        Bob Marley 

-        The 1975

-        Queen

And many more 

5 Things I’ve learnt from the Photoshoot

 1. You have to constantly adapt your pictures to the lighting and environment of where you are taking the photos 

2. Models have to be confident in their looks and feel comfortable in order to produce high quality pictures

3. To take pictures from a variety of angles and take multiple shots 

4. Backgrounds must compliment the model and to make sure it doesn’t draw attention away from the model 

5. A direct mode of address is helpful to create a forceful impact from the photos 

Photoshoot images

 

 

 

  

Audeince Research: Focus Group

 Primary Audience 

AMAYA CONWAY

Age: 16

Gender: Female

Race: Hispanic, White

Psychographic: Mainstreamers and Succeeders

Location: Thorpe Bay, England

Interests: Reading, Baking, Singing 

MITCHELL ROGERS

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Race:  White

Psychographic: Explorers, Strugglers, Reformers  

Location: Eastwood, England 

Interests: Music, Rugby, Parties, Superheroes 

ASHNA KHODABUX

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Race: Brown 

Psychographic: Explorers and Reformers   

Location: Exeter, England 

Interests: Art, Jewellery Making, Shoes 

WILL WILSON

Age: 20

Gender: Male

Race: White

Psychographic: Reformers and Mainstreamers

Location:  Wales

Interests: Rugby, Gym, Cars 

 

ADNAAN KHODABUX

Age: 22

Gender: Male 

Race: Brown  

Psychographic: Reformer 

Location: Southend-On-Sea, England

Interests: Gaming 

ANWEN SLEATH

Age: 20

Gender: Female 

Race: White 

Location: Exeter, England / Wales 

Psychographic: Succeeders and Explorers 

Interests: Documentaries, Fashion, Art, Socialising 

Secondary Audience 

NABIL BACHRI

Age: 44

Gender: Male 

Race: Brown

Location: Southend-On-Sea, England 

Psychographic: Succeeders

Interests: Music, Sports and Cars 

JAMIE VINCENT 

Age: 13

Gender: Male

Race: British White

Location: Southend-On-Sea

Psychographic: Mainstreamer

Interests: Gaming and Drawing 

Upon doing audience research I asked the candidates eight questions in order to understand what the customer’s needs and wants are of the specific demongrpahic of 16-25 year olds to ensure that my magazine would be appropriate for the demographic. 

Question 1: How often do you read Magazines?

Amaya: Rarely 

Mitchell: Rarely 

Ashna: Never

Will: Rarely 

Adnaan: Never 

Anwen: Rarely 

Nabil: Sometimes 

Jamie: Never

Question 2: Are you most likely to read a digital or print version of a magazine?

Amaya: Digital 

Mitchell: Print 

Ashna: Digital 

Will: Print 

Adnaan: Digital 

Anwen: Digital

Nabil: Print 

Jamie: Digital

Question 3: What’s your favourite genre of magazine to read? (E.g. fashion, true crime, gossip, TV, etc)

Amaya: Fashion and True Crime 

Mitchell: Gossip, TV, Fashion 

Ashna: Fashion 

Will: Rugby/Sports 

Adnaan: Gaming and Trading 

Anwen: Gossip and True Crime 

Nabil: Motors 

Jamie: Gaming 

Question 4: How much would you pay for a magazine? 

Amaya: £2.51 - £3.50 

Mitchell: £1.50 - £2.50

Ashna: £1.50 - £2.50

Will: £1.50 - £2.50 

Adnaan: £1.50 - £2.50

Anwen: £1.50 - £2.50

Nabil: £2.51 - £3.50 

Jamie: £4.50+

Question 5: What social media platform do you interact with the most?

Amaya: Instagram 

Mitchell: Snapchat 

Ashna: Snapchat 

Will: TikTok 

Adnaan: Instagram 

Anwen: Instagram 

Nabil: Facebook 

Jamie: TikTok

Question 6: Which social media platform are you most likely to read a magazine article on? 

Amaya: Instagram 

Mitchell: Instagram 

Ashna: Snapchat 

Will: Facebook 

Adnaan: Instagram  

Anwen: Twitter

Nabil: Facebook 

Jamie: Instagram 

Question 7: How many magazine companies encourage teenagers and young adults to purchase their products? 

Amaya: Interviews with popular media influencers 

Mitchell: Advertise relevant things for them 

Ashna: Include stuff about teenagers 

Will: Advertise them on social media 

Adnaan: Include discounts on stores teenagers frequently go to 

Anwen: A few discounts on brands 

Nabil: Fashion 

Jamie: Include current trends 

Question 8: What would be your main reason for purchasing a magazine?

Amaya: Entertainment 

Mitchell: If I think it’s interesting 

Ashna: To look at clothes or make up to buy 

Will: For rugby tips 

Adnaan: Entertainment 

Anwen: Interesting title 

Nabil: Bored 

Jamie: Entertainment 

Top 10 Best-Selling Magazines in the UK

 1.   The National Trust Magazine

Full behind the scenes stories and photography that helps readers to get more from their visits to places in the National Trust

Circulation = 2.4 million

Publisher = National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty 

 

2.     Asda Good Living 

Lifestyle magazine with a family focus

Circulation = 1.8 million 

 

3.     TV Choice 

Includes highlights of all the best programmes, a movie guide and the least east on all soaps 

Circulation = 1.2 million 

Publisher = Bauer

 

4.     What’s On TV

Guide to UK TV, news, gossip and spoilers about soaps including EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale and top TV

Circulation = 945,252

Publisher = Future PLC

 

5.     Radio Times 

The world’s first broadcasting listings magazine when it was founded in 1923, Radio Times is a weekly television and radio programme listings magazine. 

Circulation = 577,087

Publisher = BBC Magazines and Immediate Media Company 

 

6.     Slimming World 

UK’s best-seller title in the health and diet sector 

Circulation = 560,000

 

7.     Good Housekeeping 

Monthly women’s magazine featuring articles about women’s interests, products testing by The Good Housekeeping Institute, recipes, diet and health, as well as literary articles

Circulation = 422,000

Publisher = Hearst Corporation 

 

8.     Stylist 

Free women’s magazine as a complement to ShortList

Circulation = 404,000

Publisher = ShortList Media Ltd/The Stylist Group

 

9.     Take a Break

Branded as Britains best-selling women’s magazine, true life stories, as well as women’s health and lifestyle features, puzzles and competitions 

Circulation = 416,695

Publisher = Bauer

 

10.  Woman’s Weekly

A weekly magazine for women, which focuses on the home, family and lives of grown up women, providing them with health advice.  Featuring beauty and fashion advice which is age-relevant.

Circulation = 227,000

Publisher = Future Plc 

Industrial Context: Bauer Media

Bauer Media:

Bauer Media is a privately owned business that is the known for being the UK’s number one magazine publisher and the number one digital commercial audio broadcaster. It was founded in 19875 with now 200 million consumers worldwide and operates in 13 countries including the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, UK and USA and has 15,000 employees. 

It is also an entertainment network of iconic and innovative multi-platform brands reaching 25 million consumers using insight and instinct to tell stories that are relevant to audiences and advertisers alike delivering cultural impact. No other media owner has the range and diversity of brands and audiences that Bauer has, it has cultural connections with audiences that makes Bauer different. 

They use audience insight to get a deep understanding of their audiences as they feel it is no longer enough to understand what consumers are doing right now but to understand where behaviours, values and attitudes are changing. To do this Bauer strives to create a culture in which diversity is appreciated and supported, where opportunities are open to all where people treat each other with respect and get the same in return. They want their culture to support the highest standards if behaviour everywhere. 

 

What they offer:

SME Services:  

Offering marketing and lead generation as a service

Digital technology offers SME services to grow and flourish. As commerce moves online, more people set up digitalised small businesses, digital marketing and sales expertise are increasingly needed to reach customers. 

 

Audio:

Reaching over 55 million listeners weekly

Bauer Media operates over 110 audio brands in seven countries, spanning the UK, Poland, Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Norway. Their mission is to “make our listeners world sound better”

They are also growing their podcasts which currently includes popular series such as The Empire Film Podcast, The Frank Skinner Show, Superscoreboard and the Pilot TV Podcast 

 

Online comparison platforms: 

Bauer Media Group holds market-leading positions

In online comparison in seven European countries, operating platforms for users to compare insurance, personal finance, telecommunication and energy services. 10 million people trust their OCP brands to save time and money when making purchasing decisions 

 

Publishing:

From women’s magazines to TV listings to food and special interest, they create some of the most popular publishing brands in Germany, UK, Poland, France and the US. Over 400+ titles and 100+ digital products entertain, inform and inspire audiences of all ages 

 

M&A, investing in future success:

Bauer media also invest in young and complementary business models, that they course for a successful future

They actively look for interesting acquisition opportunities in each of their four business areas and 

 

 

Industrial Context: Financing, Distribution and Exchange

Financing, distribution and exchange copy from AyaahBachri

Magazine Timeline

Magazine timeline from AyaahBachri

Planning : Reflection on Moderator’s Report

 Magazines:

1.     Promote and reinforce brand identity 

2.     Clear sense of branding across the two elements Of the cross media production 

3.     Aesthetic being carried across both editions of the magazine, including the context pages and the websites

4.     Not relying on standard body-text fonts to create sell lines or the masthead and showed control in terms of size and leading

5.     Variety of images on the contents, with anchoring them to the written contents and appropriately laid out and sized text 

6.     Do not use place holder style guides, they must be fully replaced by the candidates own text and graphic 

7.     Question normative gender stereotypes 

8.     Adhere to the codes and conventions of the form and include the key elements from the brief including production detail 

9.     Specifically address the demographic and make sure to have focus on the topic 

10.  References to the website with also linking cover lines to the content pages 

 

Online Products:

 

1.     Go beyond the brief, in terms of the amount of material included, in visuals and copy

2.     Best sites exhibited effective, bespoke photography and copy, often capturing a tone appropriate to the needles o the intended audiences with a degree of sophistication being clear (as well as wide range of representation)

3.     Original backgrounds and labour elements that showed a degree of creativity 

4.     Consistent Branding 

5.     Replicate the style and content of the magazine and a range of images and issues indicated by the magazine 

6.     Add creative audio-visual material including make overs, video look books and interviews with designers

7.     Example of tweets, or Instagram posts, a newsletter, example of merchandise for the brands, or discussion of other products available to buy 

8.     Links between the two products needed to be stronger than just placing the product on the website and limiting social media in order 

9.     Even pages with visible menu bar 

10.  Relevant media industry context 

 

Digital Convergence:

 

1.     Mention the website 

2.     Link it directly to other products 

3.     Logo on website must match those on other products

4.     Use the Sam models 

5.     Mention the features of for example the website in other products 

6.     Coherent branding and synergy effectively engaging and giving sustained and insightful meaning for the audience across both products 

7.     Use of imagery/logo/models/colours/themes across products clearly demonstrated tha the overall branding had been considered 

8.     Use of cross-media links

9.     Consideration fo how to interact with the target audience 

10.  Develop further than shared fonts and colour schemes 

NEA Brief : Magazines