What kind of media institution might distribute your media product

and why?

• The media institutions which are most common amongst popular music magazines are Time Inc. UK (NME), Bauer Media, Editions Freeway and TeamRock.

• The magazines which my product is most similar to are Rocksound and Kerrang. Rocksound is published by a French institution called Editions Freeway. Kerrang is published by an institution called Bauer Media. After researching the other similar institutions, I decided that Bauer would be the most effective for my product.

auer Media claims to be the ‘UK’s most influential media brand network’. This means they know they are a powerful institution and so want to use this in a way which will benefit their audiences the most.

They also publish on a variety of platforms, as shown above. This means that there is potential for my product to grow and therefore appeal to wider audiences. Some members of my chosen demographic will be very technology-based and therefore may be opposed or less likely to buy a physical copy of a magazine.

Bauer Media also publish Q and Kerrang magazines. These are both incredibly popular music magazines that appeal to different target audiences. Kerrang is very much aimed at a youthful demographic whereas Q is aimed at people aged 20 –30. It is much more serious and sophisticated. I believe that my product would provide a middle-ground for the institution because my target audience is aged between 15 and 25.

Bauer’s Aims

• Bauer Media’s mission statement is:

Their website also states that

This is a message that I want my product to convey; therefore the ethics of my product and this institution are very similar. I have tried to promote a sense of gender equality throughout my product by using artists who are both male and female. This would hopefully inspire female members of my target audience to not be afraid of getting involved in music if it is something they want to do.

Why Bauer would be the best publisher for RockTime

This is a double page spread from a main feature in an article in Kerrang. The band featured in this article is Blink-182, an American pop-punk band. Although my magazine is very much focussed on the pop-punk genre, RockTime does mainly focus on upcoming, British bands rather than large, American bands such as Blink-182.

As well as this, we can see from this Kerrang contents page that all of the bands they write about are very much focussed on the heavier side of the rock genre (e.g. Amon Amarth, Bring me the Horizon and August Burns Red). RockTime includes content specifically in the pop-punk and indie rock genre – therefore creating a difference in content to Kerrang. RockTime also includes features about musical equipment (Vic Firth announcement), meaning that it will appeal to a musically talented audience who could be looking to engage with smaller, up and coming bands.

• Although there are several similarities between RockTime and Kerrang, the difference in genre and content will make RockTime considerably different to Kerrang. This means that Bauer would not be publishing two magazines which are more or less identical and provide competition for each other.

• As well as this, my product would provide a middle ground for people who don’t enjoy reading Kerrang but find Q too sophisticated. Bauer would be able to recognise the success of their existing magazines and could consider publishing a third because it would mean that they are providing music magazines for a much larger audience than they would have been before.

• My target audience may differ from Kerrang’s to a degree because of the inclusion of information about musical equipment and how my magazine typically focuses more on upcoming, British bands.