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

Distributing my magazine would be an important factor as my distributor would have to attract the attention of my target audience away from other music magazine such as Kerrang and Rock Sound. Attracting my target audience would be done through advertising, marketing and distributing to other sale outlets. It would be an appropriate choice to use a leading publisher/distributor to publish my music magazine “Rock Star” so I have therefore chosen IPC Media as my publisher. IPC Media produces over 85 different media brands which reach approximately 27 million UK adults and their online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month. IPC Media uses Marketforce to distribute their brands which means my music magazine would then be distributed via the same company.

IPC Media already publishes a music magazine called “NME”, my music magazine is different in terms of target audience so therefore my magazine will not be in direct competition NME. NME's readership consists of 76% males and 24% females, the average age of the readers are 23. My target audience is mostly made up of males and are of a different age than NME's so IPC Media would not have to worry about advertising one magazine more than the other. Distributing a music magazine of a different genre would also be beneficial to the company as they would then make more profit and expand their brands further by appealing to a wider range of audiences.

My music magazine is very similar to Kerrang in some ways in terms of target audience however Kerrang focuses heavily on bands that are deemed popular at the current moment in time and disregard less known bands, my magazine on the other hand will focus on the less well known bands at the same time as more popular bands, this will appeal to my target audience who are interested in listening to a wide range of music. Kerrang is distributed by Bauer who is in competition with IPC Media and this would therefore require more advertising to attract my target audience away from Kerrang. My magazine could be advertised on TV and in other IPC magazines to increase it's exposure to my target audience. I could also advertise my magazine in shops such as WHSmiths, Newsagents and Supermarkets who are known to sell magazines. Places like HMV would also be an appropriate choice to advertise my magazine as HMV is one of the leading stores in the UK to sell entertainment goods, HMV would also sell band CDs of those included in my magazine.

My music magazine “Rock Star” would be marketed at a niche target audience which would be made up of a majority of males who listen to post hardcore and metal music, this type of audience has not previously been targeted before as the majority of music magazines focuses on certain types of genres of just publicise bands that are popular. My magazine would therefore stand out against magazines like Kerrang. To advertise my magazine further I could also use the internet, my magazine could have its own personal website similar to that of Kerrang's where news could be updated more frequently and the website could offer special offers to those who sign up to the newsletter or even subscribe to the magazine. My magazine could also have a radio show where the readers are able to request which songs they want to be played. There are a number of other ways where I could advertise my magazine and these would include; through sponsorships, music channels, and even through iTunes.