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

To answer this question it is important to place my magazine in an institutional context. In the case of my magazine I think that it is the kind of music magazine that would be on the shelf with magazines like NME or Kerrang as it is very similar in content and style and so I would see it being in the same sort of position as those kind of magazines.

However before deciding on the media institution that I think would distribute my media product it is important to discuss the three options that are involved in the publishing of magazines. There are 3 publishing routes that you can take when publishing a magazine and these three routes are major publishing, independent publishing and self-publishing. Each of the different routes have their own advantages and disadvantages and each route would mean that my magazine would be treated differently in the industry.

Major publishers are big institutions that are usually owned by corporations for example IPC (One of the largest publishing companies around) are owned by Time Inc. These major publishers typically publish a numerous amount of magazine titles that cover a wide range of genres and different audiences. These major publishers have the advantage of typically being vertically and horizontally integrated within the industry and so it is easy for them to publish titles as they own all the stages of production and distribution and many of the forms of production and distribution. Some of the advantages involved with using major publishers is that have an established status in the media already, the payment is not as much your responsibility as it is shared and they cover a wide range of magazines and if they do not already publish your magazine they are very likely to want to publish your magazine as it helps them to compete with rivals for example IPC do not publish any music magazines that are similar to mine and many other publishers do and so they may want to publish my magazine so they can compete with their rivals. There are disadvantages involved with using major publishers though, for example most major publishers will already be publishing many different magazines and so they are likely to already be publishing a magazine that is similar to the one you are trying to publish, in the case of my magazine if I wanted to get Bauer to publish mine I would have trouble as they already publish the music magazines Q and Kerrang and both of these magazine titles are similar to my own. Another disadvantage of using major publishers is that you would lose a lot of the control that you may have had over your magazine as they will have a large involvement in the way the magazine is produced. So, overall major publishers can be a good option to use for a magazine distributor but it is very dependent on the major publisher and on your own magazine.

Independent publishers are usually small publishing houses that only really publish one or two magazines and usually these magazines will be produced for niche audiences as they are not covered by other publishers. An example of an independent publisher is The Slow Journalism Company, they publish a magazine called Delayed Gratification which is a multi-topical magazine about the world. They only sell this magazine via their website, subscriptions or in independent bookshops and all of these options are typical of independent publishers as they are not usually vertically or horizontally integrated due to their low status in the industry. Independent publishers do have advantages though for example, they are extremely unlikely to currently be publishing any magazines that are similar to mine as they usually only cater for niche audiences but it would be difficult to convince them to publish more than one magazine. Another advantage is that is it likely to be a much cheaper option than major publishing due to the nature of the industry. Publishing with an independent publisher would also give me far greater control over how my magazine is produced as they tend to nurture designs rather than change them. However, independent publishers do have disadvantages to think about for example the fact that they only cater to niche audiences and can only publish a few magazines at a time means it would be difficult to convince them to publish my magazine. It would also be extremely difficult to rise above the major publishing houses as they have much more power and money in the industry. So overall, independent publishing could be a valid option for the distribution of my magazine but it would require finding a publisher that would take my magazine on and it would also be difficult to become well known from an independent publisher.

Self-publishing is the other option involved in deciding on a suitable distributor, self-publishing can mean two things but one of them is far more prominent in today’s society. Self-publishing used to mean creating your magazine and publishing it yourself for example the magazine Sniffin Glue was published in this way. However in today’s society it is more to do with creating your magazine and then distributing it online or through an e-mail subscription service, these magazines are usually referred to as e-zines. This route is obviously not vertically or horizontally integrated as it has no involvement with the industry only by using digital technology. An example of a popular web-based magazine/newspaper is The Huffington Post which is essentially a free online newspaper which uses social media to gain viewership or circulation. Many magazines and newspapers have adopted this way of publishing now as it is extremely cheap and digital technology is becoming more and more prominent as people are becoming digital natives. Some of the advantages of using self-publishing is that it gives you complete control over your magazines production, it is essentially a free method and it can allow you to reach a huge amount of people thanks to the nature of the internet. Some of the disadvantages of using it is that it is extremely difficult to gain any popularity or recognition from the general public as there are so many magazines out there your own can get lost, speaking of other magazines it is extremely likely that somewhere out there another magazine which is similar to yours will also be available online and so competition is a big problem. A problem that some magazines may suffer is that their audience may not trust the internet but my audience being aged 16-24 are very familiar with the internet and so would trusts.

So, after reviewing each of the different publishing options I think that the best distributor to choose for my magazine would be a major publisher because when self-publishing it is difficult to get recognized amongst the competition and my magazine is the type of magazine that would have lots of competition due to its popular genre and large audience. Independent publishing may not be the best option either because I am unlikely to find an independent publisher that would take on my magazine due to its large audience and nature.

I have decided that it would be a good idea to use IPC as my publisher because looking at the magazines that they currently publish they do not sell one that it like mine and so they would be likely to be fond of the idea of publishing a magazine they do not currently publish as this would help them compete with their rivals in the industry.

In planning for the distribution of my magazine I think a multi-platform approach is a requirement due to the nature of my audience. An online presence is a must as I have found that my audience spends around 6 hours a day online and so having a Facebook page, a twitter page, a YouTube channel, a magazine website and other online presences is essential. People should also be able to read my magazine on electronic devices and online as the nature of today’s society and my audience negates that this would help get my circulation higher. Thinking about my point of sales, I think it would be wise to offer distributors a discount for the first few issues if they place my magazine in a prime location on the shelves as this will get any readers interested in the magazine and when it is not in the prime spot anymore they should hopefully look for it and become dedicated readers. Perhaps a deal can be worked out with IPC to include free previews of my magazine in titles they currently own to let people know about it and to hopefully get them interested in it as well. Also I think additional incentives of perhaps free downloads in every issue would be a very valuable point of sale.

So to answer the question, the kind of media institution that would distribute my product is a major publisher as this has come out as the best option for my magazine after reviewing all of the different publishing methods. The best major publisher that I have found to distribute my magazine is known as IPC Media. I think they would want to distribute my product because it is not something that they are currently selling and this is something that other major publishers are publishing and so it would help them in competing with their rivals if they distributed my media product.