Question 3What kind of media institutions might

distribute your media product and why?

Should I make my product independent or have a media institution?

To distribute magazines, you can either have them represented by a media institution, or make your own institution and brand the magazine yourself.

An Advantage of having a music institution to distribute your product is that they know how to fully promote, platform, market and sell the product to the consumers. Usually if specific media institution are independent, they are radios, television or newspapers. Its

very irregular that a music magazine doesn’t have a music institution to advertise and sell their product to the consumers.

An advantage of being independent, is that I get to decide myself how to promote, platform, market and sell the product to the consumers.

I have decided to have a music institution to distribute my product because they would have more of an idea of where the gap in the market is for my product, also they specialise

in promoting, platforming, marketing and selling products.

My magazines genre is R&B. It is aimed at both the female and male audience as I found that both males and females read R&B magazine when I did my research. I have decided to aim the magazine at both genders so it has a wide range audience. The age range I have aimed my R&B magazine at is teens, as I found that older teens are the most popular audience for the R&B magazine.

In R&B magazines the conventions include music, fashion and gossip, as I found from my research that most R&B magazines include articles with music, fashion and gossip.

R&B magazines are usually distributed by private institutions. For example; one of the most popular R&B magazines, Vibe magazine is distributed by InterMedia Partners.

But also the popular media institutions such as IPC media, Bauer Media group, EMAP institution and Harris Publications also distribute R&B magazines, as they all publish magazines with different genres.

Information Gathered on Media Institutions

Bauer Media group is Europe's largest privately owned publishing group, which owns over 300 magazines in 15 countries. They own magazines such as “Q” and “Kerrang”. Both of these magazines are very popular in the market and have had great success with the amount of consumers buying these magazines. Both Q and Kerrang are different genre’s which tells me it is open to publishing different genres.

IPC Media has 60 iconic media brands. It is a large media institution which sells their magazines worldwide to 90 countries and sells around 13 million copies per year. IPC media is also the UK’S leading news trade sales, they distribute their media brands in supermarkets to broaden their target audience. Therefore it is available to more people and it increases sales as it broadens the target audience. An example of an IPC Media iconic brand is “NME” Magazine.

Emap is the second largest magazine publisher in the UK. The business was sold to Guardian Media Group (private media firm). Emap also owns 40 radio stations which helps broadcasts the magazines that they sell because the music/ artists on the magazine is played on the radio stations. An example of an Emap brand is the music TV programme and Magazine “smash hits” which has the latest songs out on the charts.

Harris Publications is an American media institution in New York which publishes over 75 Magazine titles. They have a specific target audience of young adults and they specialise in hip hop/ R&B magazines. They own magazines such as XXL which is a popular hip hop/ rap and R&B magazine in the US. They also sell magazines of the rock genre which tells me they produce mixed genre magazines, even though they specialise in R&B.

Benefits of having the media institutions distribute my product

I would consider IPC media for the media institution to sell my magazine because they are the UK’S leading news trade sales. This is good because it means that IPC media know how to trade their products to the British people, in order for them to want to buy the product, as they already have 60 iconic media brands in Britain already. Also I think that IPC media would make a success out of magazine because of where they distribute their magazines. I think it would be good to put my product in the supermarket because it broadens my target audience, so it increases sales, which would make my magazine product more of a success.

I would consider Bauer Media group for the media institution to sell my magazine because it owns over 300 magazines in 15 countries, which tells me they have a lot of experience in marketing and selling different magazines in different countries. Another reason I would consider Bauer to distribute my product is because of the large success they had had selling Q and Kerrang. Both are different genres which is good because it tells me that Bauer has experience in selling different genre’s, which is a benefit as my magazine is a similar genre to Q.

Benefits of having the media institutions distribute my product

I would consider Emap as the media institution to sell my magazine because it is the second largest magazine publisher in the UK. It is good that it is a large popular company in the UK because Emap will know how to distribute the product in the UK well as they would know how to reach out to the British audience as they would know what they want and expect. Another reason as to why I would consider Emap is because it has 40 radio stations, which would help publicise my product on the radio so it could have a potential bigger target audience.

I would consider Harris Publications as the media institution to sell my magazine because it specialises in R&B magazines, which is good because then Harris Publications will know how to distribute my product well as it has had experience distributing R&B magazines such as XXL which has become a success in the US. Another reason as to why I would consider Harris Publications is because it is American, which is good because the magazine may be able to be distributed in America as well as Britain, which will potentially broaden the popularity of the magazine.

The Media Institution I have chosen and why?

I have chosen IPC media to be the music institution that distributes my product. I chose IPC media out of the other music institutions because IPC media is the UK’s leading news trade sales. I wanted a music institution which knows the

UK’s population well enough to know how to distribute my product well in the UK. IPC media have done well because they have 60 iconic media brands, which

tells me they have a popular fan base in the UK, so they would know how to stand out and appeal to the UK’s population to make the audience want to buy

the magazine. I also really liked that they distribute their media products in supermarkets because across the UK there are a lot of big supermarkets so the product would be seen a lot, easy to get and noticed by consumers. I also liked that it broadens my target audience because a range of people would see it, and they might be drawn into the cover and become interested in the magazine. This would be good because it would increase the popularity of the magazine, which

means there will be a increase in sales, and potentially the product could become one of the 60 iconic media brands.

As well as liking that it knows the UK and broadening the target audience, I like that it sells their magazines world wide, so it isn't only available to one country. I think its good because then consumers will recognise the magazine, and it will

be more easier to consume.

DistributionI chose IPC media because they distribute their products into

supermarkets around the world. This would make it easier for the audience to access the magazine as it would be in different

supermarkets around Britain and around the rest of the world. Distributing my product in the supermarket could potentially broaden my target audience as different consumers could see my magazine,

find it interesting, and therefore purchase the magazine.

I would also distribute the magazine online as on the footer of the magazine I have written a website. On the website I would allow

people to purchase online copies and have it delivered to their home rather than them going to the supermarket. I would also put free

copies on the website as samples so that if people have never read the magazine before they would get a taste of what it is like on the website. To interest the audience thurther I would put video clips up on the website of me interviewing the artist who is in the magazine.

For example on the double page spread I have an interview with Bronwen, I would put a video recording of the interview and put some

bloopers with it to keep the audience interesting so they don’t feel they are watching what they have just read.