Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

I feel as though my magazine would be best to be published by independent publishing company TeamRock.

 

I feel this because the ideology of my magazine and of this company match more that IPC or Bauer; the  publishers of other similar magazines NME and Kerrang!  Although I've used NME and Kerrang! as my main sources of inspiration for designing my magazine, I want the ideology of my publisher to be different to that of IPC.

For instance; IPC Media also publish magazines such as Nuts, Woman's Weekly, Marie Clarie etc.  This demonstrates the mass audience for which IPC publishes.  To me, this suggests that their ideology is more one of making money and appealing to the masses.  Of course, there are advantages to this, in that my magazine will reach a wider audience.  However, readership counts show that Classic Rock, the biggest magazine published by TeamRock, sells more copies than the NME. 

TeamRock seem to have a much more down-to-earth approach and have more passion behind what they're actually publishing.  I believe this is because they only publish Rock Music magazines, so are able to consolidate all their passion and effort into this.

On the about section of their webpage:

"TeamRock is a company that combines the best of traditional media with the boldness of new media, corporately speaking.

We've spotted a gap in the rock music market, it's called "the rock music market" and we've noticed that rock music fans aren't getting the right access to the content they want, the way they want it, so we're changing that. Along with the recent acquisitions of Classic Rock & Metal Hammer magazines, the plan is to keep growing and delivering the content that you want, any time you want it.

...

Everyone who works for TeamRock is a rock music fan; from the newly divorced IT guy on the window ledge, to the Van Halen fan in accounts that always shouts "Jump" - we live it, we breathe it, all day every day."

To me, it's obvious that a passion for what you're publishing is important when creating a music magazine.  I would want my magazine to be published by people who know what rock is about.  If you're a fan of the music yourself, you're going to know what to put into the magazine. Furthermore, the ideology of TeamRock matches the rebellious ideology of rock music; being independent, individual, and having a true passion for music.  

  Another advantage of having my magazine published by TeamRock is that the other magazines they appeal to an older audience due to the genres of music that they focus on.  (Classic Rock, Prog Rock, Blues, Melodic and Heavy Metal)  This is good because my magazine is more likely to reach the older audiences that I want to sell to, but also because it won't be in constant competition with the other magazines that TeamRock publishes.  My magazine tries to appeal to both a younger and an older audience.  This fills the gap in the type of magazine that TeamRock publishes, which would in turn be economically advantageous for the company as their sources of profit would be expanded to a younger market.  It may also be advantageous to publish a magazine with an ideology like mine; uniting rock genres in a magazine institution and creating a sort of synergy between audiences.