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

The two major publishing houses in the UK are Time Inc. and Bauer Media, these distribute different magazines that we are accustomed to seeing today. A lot of the design inspirations for my magazine were taken from different existing magazines such as Q, NME, and mixmag. This is because my magazine is targeted towards a similar demographic to these three.

One of the magazines which is particularly like mine is Q magazine, which is produced by Bauer Media. This is the list of credentials for this brand which I have found on the website.

The target age of my magazine is around 17-35, making the average age 26. This is close to Q's median age of 29; this means that the content and design may be very similar. However, I have based my magazine on the market research that I gathered using SurveyMonkey, and a dominant 60% of the people whose opinions I have used are female, and only 40% are male. In the credentials of Q magazine, it says that 75% of the readership are male, whilst only 25% are male. Although this is in direct contrast to my own, that doesn't mean that the magazine content will be very different as the music industry in this day and age is very unisex, and I do not believe this will have any influence. Bauer Media also produces music magazines such as 4Music and Kerrang! Kerrang! is another very modern magazine brand with a large readership and, with a median age buyer of 22, is similar to my magazine. Kerrang! is a rock magazine, which is one of the sungenres of my own. Q is an indie magazine. My magazine would likely be in-fitting with the other magazines that Bauer Media distribute. Likewise, it says that they

like to produce magazines that are in-touch with their readers, which mine intends to be through the use of social media.

However, the other popular publishing house in the UK, Time Inc., are well known for the music magazine brands NME and Uncut. These are titles which focus more on giving light to the new and modern rather than a particular genre. As my magazine has three separate genres - indie, rock, and electro - this may be a good choice. The design styles of my magazine and NME are quite similar; the colours are bright and contrasting but still remain sophisticated. This is how NME appeals to a very wide audience. Uncut, in contrast, uses artists of an older age to appeal to older readers. Their readership are made up of experienced music listeners and the brand take pride in the fact that their readers spend more than twice the amount of money on music than the average adult.

Nevertheless, the magazine mostly deals with rock, indie, and Americana music, which is quite similar to my own.

The main selling point of my magazine is set to be its online presence; in this era of Web 2.0, having a consistent use of social media is one of the strongest ways to retain a devoted readership. Because of this, the genres aren't that specific, and I believe my magazine would suit both Bauer Media and Time Inc. Due to the analysis I have given to Q magazine in particular during the design process of my magazine, I think my magazine would be best suited to Bauer Media. In spite of this similarity, it may be likely that the publishing house would be unlikely to want to produce two similar magazines, in which case Time Inc. would be more likely.