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

As my product is print-based, it would therefore go through various stages before becoming the music magazine that is similar to NME or Kerrang’s. The five main stages are; firstly where a new idea is created and fully planned, secondly when there is research conducted to see if there is already similar products on the market that could hinder magazine profits, thirdly where flat planning is done to show what the magazines will look like/what it will feature in issues etc., fourthly where the construction on a professional programme(s) to create and edit the magazine will occur and finally the distribution of the product to institutions where the product will be sold to the public. 

After production, comes the distribution of the magazine. A distributor’s role is to work on behalf of the publisher and provide clients and markets for their magazines at a cheap cost. There are currently four main distributors in the UK for magazines: Comag, Frontline, Marketforce and Seymour in addition there are a number of smaller ones who tend to look after smaller circulation titles.

The more in-depth stages of magazine production stems from the Concept stage which is where the initial ideas are developed and ideas for possible content emerge.

Next is the content development where content is gathered, stories assigned, delivered and edited, photographs are selected and cover/main features may be selected.

The design and layout stage comes next with the graphic designer layout each page with all editorial contents and graphs as well as any advertising. This however is just rough edits of the magazine.

Proof production then sees the printers producing a copy of the magazine that is reviewed by the magazine editors.

The final proof sees the magazine staff review each page of the proof looking for errors such as odd-looking colours or any content that is difficult to read.

Once changes are made, final printing is given the go-ahead. Final printing is then done, where the magazines are printed, bound and distributed.

As for my own product, it may distributed by any of the main four UK companies previously mentioned.

It may be that it is taken on by a distributor like Frontline who already produce music magazines like MOJO or Kerrang! Magazine (who fall under Bauer Media Group’s portfolio) which focus more on generic music genres like Rock therefore meaning that there could be an opening for a more niche magazine like mine, which falls under the sub-genre of Indie Rock so my product could therefore still be similar to the rest of the music print products while still offering something for a more individual audience.

However, my product may also be published by Marketforce who is the distributor for IPC Media, the owners of NME magazine. This company may also take on my product due to it being more niche than NME music magazine and so means that the companies involved would be able to access a different audience, bringing in more revenue for the products.

By using these distributors, this may mean that they know how to access the target audience my product is targeted at which is between 16 and 25 years old (the same as Kerrang! and NME magazine which I had researched into before creating my product). This could therefore benefit my product in reaching as wide a audience as possible and be handled by a company with plenty of expertise in the area.

Next for my product would be advertising. As my product is aimed at individuals between the ages of 16 and 25, this would therefore mean that advertising through social networking sites would be a good idea as the majority of people who use sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr are between these ages too. So therefore it may be beneficial for my product to use such marketing schemes.

Of course, advertising for my product may be exactly similar to already-existing magazine products like NME and Kerrang, which are advertised via their own websites (e.g. kerrang.com and nme.com) or via TV/radio stations like Kerrang! Magazine with Kerrang! Radio or Kerrang! TV.

These products are similar to mine in genre of music and style so therefore may be distributed similarly and sold in similar places, such as supermarkets, newsagents and online.

However, as web 2.0 is taking over, newspapers and magazines are seen to be losing readership to investing in a new more unique magazine may prove costly. Therefore it may be unique to create an online ‘magazine’ or “onzine” where print magazine can be produced for a fee and posted to your house too. Otherwise, my magazine would more than likely be sold in shops similar to other magazines of all genre. To the right is a diagram of the whole process of my magazine and the retailers where it might be sold.