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

As my magazine is aimed at the Nerdfighter sub-culture any publishing company would take it on, as they would not have appealed to this audience before. If I picked a publishing company I would probably pick either IPC media or Future LPC as they both have qualities that would be useful in a publisher. I would pick Future LPC as it targets a middle class audience, therefore it would already have connections, and ideas on good places to sell the magazine. I would pick IPC media as it already has experience creating a magazine that is aimed at teenagers (NME), therefore it should know how to advertise the magazine to the correct audience.

There are both good and bad points to going with a publishing company. The good points include; an established distribution network, printing costs will be covered or subsidised and the magazine may have longer to establish an audience. However, this is combated by the lack of editing control that the creators hold over the product. These points are reversed if you publish independently.

I think that my target audience would probably prefer it if my magazine was published independently. This is because the artists featured in the magazine are mainly unsigned; therefore an independent magazine would help to promote that idea.  I also think that control of the magazine is a big issue, because the artists and the readers will be creative people and therefore will not want a stereotypical mass produced magazine, being independent of mainstream publishers will solve this issue.

Though going alone and independently publishing the magazine would be most pleasing for the audience (it would follow their creative ideals); it would not be financially viable. For this reason I would approach an open business that produces many different styles of product, varying from T-shirts and CD’s to card games and posters. An open business such as DFTBA records would be interested in this cross-media convergence as they’re products are already aimed towards my target market. This would mean that they could not only provide financial support, but give great insight into the market that I am aiming for. Not only that but because they don’t interfere with the product, the control would still be with the editor. Though DFTBA records is currently an internet based company, there is room for expansion, becoming a high-street brand.