Every magazine has to undergo 1 choice; to distribute under a company or to distribute independently. The latter is usually chosen for niches - especially in cases of hobby magazines, but many music magazines work independently.
Using an institution
Pros:
Using an institution
Pros:
- Exposure - Magazines under a large name often get huge exposure in comparison to going self-published.
- Advice - Large companies often know the tricks of the trade and will often advise their magazine editors on which techniques and trends are best suited for their genre. Going independently often is a case of trial and error.
- Funding - Independent magazines often find it difficult to pay expenses to distribute, making it difficult to expand. It isn't unfamiliar for a company to loan money in trade for shares.
- Connections - The greater the company the more likely they are intimate within the music industry. Big named bands are much easier to get an interview with when you have the right connections.
- Manufacture & Distribution - Similar to connections, companies will almost certainly have in-house printing & manufacture as well as contracts with large suppliers such as WHSmith.
Cons:
- Ownership - With a company there is likely a feeling of lost ownership & control; the magazine loses it's independence.
- Profit - The company would have a large percentage of the magazines stock, hence they receive a considerably larger percentage of profit.
Do or die.
In the media industry, it is virtually impossible for an independent fashion-related magazine to survive. This is because pre-existent magazines have exclusivity to certain names & brands as well as owning a name trusted by the public. This doesn't give an self-published magazine any chance of expansion as it would be near impossible to get quality guests & interviews.
Eenie Meenie Minie Mo.
Unfortunately there are many magazines present with a similar genre of a music-fashion hybrid. The two most notable giants IPC and Bauer already hold magazines similar to my own. That is why I would choose to work under the Condenast name. At this moment they currently do not own anything that is aimed towards the mainstream 16-24 female market; perfect!
Distribution
Being a highly mainstream magazine with location-specific articles, I would need to find several retailers. They would have to be franchised & have a general customer base. Independence isn't in question for my magazine, as it is based upon advertising. My select choices of retailers are:
- WHSmith - A common choice, being the nations most iconic book & magazine retailer it's an obvious choice.
- Supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons would be ideal for my magazine because my audience is so broad and these retailers are easily accessible in suburban & urban areas (most supermarkets in towns and cities are within walking distance).
Like a boss (Lonely Island joke)
In order to maximise distribution, synergy has to be considered. An on-line version of my magazine would be simple to implement (as well as cheap!) thanks to services such as Yudo. Along with this would certainly be a website which can be categorized for different article types - Charts, Hot tracks, New lines, Sales.
Sponsoring events such as the MTV awards would be beneficial, but festivals would be the main selling point. Advertising during national festivals, Glastonbury, Latitude, would give great publicity. Advertising on Spotify is also a good idea as my target market is almost certain to play their music on a laptop or PC.
