KAT I E H A L F YA R D

DISTRIBUTION OF MY MUSIC MAGAZINE

MAJOR MUSIC MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTORS

• Bauer Media – Bauer Media are a European-based media company who manage over 600 magazines, including music magazines. A big part of their management is the distribution process. This company is responsible for producing and distributing some of the most popular music magazines, including Q, MOJO and Kerrang! 

• Time Inc. UK – TimeIncUK are another major magazine distributor in the UK. They distribute some music magazines, but they also distribute other genres of magazine, such as life style and fashion magazines including Marie Claire and Woman’s Own. The most popular music magazine that they currently publish is NME, but they also publish Uncut (a rock magazine).

BAUER MEDIA

This is Bauer Media’s website, showing a selection of the magazine it publishes and distributes:

TIME INC. UK

This is Time Inc. UK’s website, showing the brands that they distribute:

WHO SHOULD DISTRIBUTE MY MUSIC MAGAZINE?

As Bauer Media and Time Inc. UK are two of the only recognised distributors in Europe who distribute music magazines, I think it would be a good idea for me to ask them to distribute my music magazine because they have experience in this field and are likely to get it right. I would choose to have Time Inc. UK distribute my music magazine over Bauer Media as they are a much smaller company based in the UK rather than in Europe. These factors are beneficial for me because my music magazine is based upon a niche genre, which a small company is likely to be able to deal with better as they are less likely to be trying to appeal and distribute to the masses. Furthermore, I would only choose to distribute my magazine within the UK as it is written in English, and done on a low budget so I probably wouldn’t be able to afford to translate it for other European languages which are prominent in the other countries that Bauer Media distributes to on a regular basis, whereas Time Inc. UK is less likely to try and distribute my magazine to these countries. Also, the content of my magazine is based upon what glam pop music was popular in the 80s in the UK, which isn’t necessarily the same as what was popular in other European countries at this time. The current element to my music magazine is also based on UK trends, which probably won’t be as popular in other nations. In addition to this, Bauer is recognised mainly for its lifestyle magazines, and therefore its expertise lies in this field and their main target audience is middle-aged women, which is only part of my intended audience. On the other hand, Time Inc. UK don’t focus on one specific audience and because my audience is so broad in terms of age and gender (but not interests), it would be better to have a distributor which is more experienced in appealing to different audiences.