Evaluation Question 3

3. What kind of institution might distribute your media product and why?

An institution is a company or an organisation that is responsible for media texts. It would be marketing, production, distribution or regulation. I looked into the three most known ones which existing magazines use. Q and Kerrang magazine uses ‘Bauer Media’ however NME uses an IPC Media. Baring in mind they carer for a similar audience, its interesting to see how they differ.

Development hell Future publishing IPC Media BBC Channel 4 ITV SKY Bauer Media (Are known to be the main large brands.)

For my magazine I think I would use a well-known branded publishing house rather than an independent just basses on the success rate, I feel by using them, it would give me a big push and help to distribution my magazine as they already cater for similar genres to me. However I have an advantage as my magazine is unique in the contents and what they provide, which is not seen as much in a large company. Like NME, which tailors for indie, rock music, I want to follow their path in doing so, by using IPC. IPC is the UK’s leading magazine publisher, which engages

with 26million adults, with over 25 million users global every month. It is split into three parts which adapt for a slightly different audience. For my magazine I would use IPC Inspire, as this is the same part NME uses, which is targeted at wealthy men and leisure brands which would fit into my content. I have chosen this one in particular because if I chose a big brand such as ‘Bauer Media’ then I would have too much competition as existing magazines like Kerrang and Q already partner with them, making it even more harder to get the recognition and be seen as a copy.

But on the other hand I would also think about using an independent publishing company, even though that they may not get me as much publicity, but I would have more control over what happens when the final piece is published. With larger companies they can control the final say and alter things in your magazine to fit their needs, whereas with an independent one it is entirely up to you, so it’s all original. Looking into independent publishers I have found a slightly new one called pinterest which was formed in 2007, and bases is on line, however it has grown largely from there, this could give me a chance to actually publish my magazine on line rather than sending a hard copy out, which would be easier to access, quick and fast, but there are a lot of limitations to this and it may not be the best idea. Keeping everything I have researched in mind, I think I have

come to a decision that I would use IPC to distribute my magazine because of its leading name, and is already being used by NME which I know is successful, therefor mine should be as well. It also opposes Kerrang, which is the vibe I was going for, to make even more of a struggle now rather than being distributed by the company and finding it to be hard opposition.