Q3 What kind of Institution might distribute your magazine and why?

When choosing the institution to distribute my magazine, I did some research online about various well known magazine distributors in order to gain a wider range of knowledge of the institutional side of the project. While researching online, I found a list of the four main distributors of music magazines, these being: Conde Nast, National Magazine Company, IPC and Bauer Media.   

Initially I thought of the Bauer Media to distribute my magazine, this was because they already distribute many music magazines such as; Kerrang, Q and MOJO magazine. Kerrang appeals to a very similar demographic as my magazine, therefore my magazine and Kerrang would both be able to draw in the same demographic. Which would inevitably increase business and profit from the metal lovers. I also felt that they would successfully distribute the product across a large area due to the institution operating in 15 different countries.  However, because they already distribute Kerrang, a magazine which covers the same genre, I thought that it wouldn’t be ideal to be distributed by the same institution that already distributes a magazine that covers the same genre as my magazine. Also, since Kerrang already have an established fan base, this will cause my magazine to sell a significantly less amount of copies since most people will buy the magazine that they are most familiar.

I therefore believe that IPC would be the best choice of institution to distribute my magazine. One reason for this is that it is one of the main four magazine institutions and it already distributes many successful magazines such as; NME, Wallpaper*, TVTimes and Marie Claire, so it will no doubt give the magazine some public attention and hopefully some success within the general public. IPC’s leading and most popular magazine is NME, NME focuses mostly on the rock genre with bands such as Biffy Clyro, Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon. I think IPC will therefore be interested in my magazine as it covers the genre Heavy Metal which is only lightly covered in their magazines, hence my magazine will appeal to a certain demographic that NME can’t appeal to. This will bring in a significant amount of new consumers to IPC products and will hopefully benefit the company greatly. I also believe that my magazine is unlike their other magazines so it would bring in the metal crowd, which is an audience which isn’t usually interested IPC publications.