What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? It could be argued that my magazine could be published by either a large company such as IPC or Bauer, or a small/independent company with the option to self-publish. Firstly, let’s discuss the concept and features of my magazine. Kench focuses its content on hip-hop, as well as British genres of music such as Madchester and Britpop. On top of the music aspect of my magazine it also focuses itself on the interests of typical young men – such as women and beer. It has a comical/entertaining twist to it, despite also relying on some informative written elements. I have targeted it towards a younger generation of males, one of my main sub-cultures is casuals. This is mainly because of the music side of the magazine. To extend my audience I have added a lot of extras that are not music related and therefore the sub-culture of towners may also be considered when thinking about my target audience. Taking all of this into consideration I must choose the best company to sell my magazine to. Despite targeting a slightly wider audience than just one music genre, it may struggle being published by one of the larger companies such as Dennis or Future. This is because it still lacks range. Big named music magazines such as NME cover a large range of different music than Kench. However, getting into a big named company would certainly have its positives and despite my reluctance to start off this way it could be an option. Getting a partnership with one of the big companies would give Kench more in terms of recognition. Independent or small companies may struggle in the market due to not being recognised. It’s the same with anything, Tesco and Asda run away with it in the supermarket industry and if a new supermarket chain was to start up and try to compete, even with a considerable amount of investment, it would still struggle. Low prices would mean more customers but nonetheless it would struggle to balance out and create revenue. Wellknown companies are so large they can afford to drop their prices or do whatever to compete with anyone. This is the same as the magazine industry and starting off independently or within a small publishing business would probably lead to the same problems. Despite this, publishing Kench as an independent company still has its pros; publishing your own magazine means you can control more and take more of your own actions in the market. There are further options also. Starting and running a magazine over the internet is another. The increasing use of the internet as oppose to reading off-line now is certainly a factor that would be considered when deciding whether to go ahead with this option. However, publishing a magazine only
on the internet will lack originality of the idea of a magazine. Most big-named magazines publish both online and paperback nowadays, however the cost of doing this in a new company may be too much to deal with. I believe building your way up the ladder is key. Without any recognition whatsoever it will be extremely hard to break into a large publishing company. To use a small publishing company or likewise to publish independently would also be difficult without any recognition whatsoever. What if the magazine completely fails? The percentage of magazine titles which fail within their first three years is extraordinary. I believe the best and possibly only way to start off a magazine for some titles is to give it away for free and make money through advertising. To be as realistic as possible, I am a college student with no recognition or expertise in this field whatsoever so reaching out to a large, or even medium publishing company, at this stage would be near on impossible. Taking everything into consideration, I think Kench would have to start off as a free magazine, avoiding online distribution due to lack of originality. This way I can further judge its potential without spending as much money at first. If it has potential, the magazine can be developed further and a partnership with large publishing companies may become more realistic as it grows.