Future Publishing

Future Publishing creates a wide range of magazines from gaming to music magazines. In their music magazine section they publish a total of 11 magazines, eight of which being specialist magazines for those who know how to play or are learning how to play an instrument. These eight magazines include Total Guitar, Rhythm, Computer Music, Hi-Fi Choice amongst others, and are all about perfecting performances, techniques and becoming the best musician you possibly can.
Classic Rock, MetalHammer and Classic Rock Presents Prog are all about already famous musicians or bands, Classic Rock goes behind the scenes and is the 'voice of rock journalism', MetalHammer covers hard metal rock bands and features a comprehensive news section, and Prog covers bands creating progressive rock. There is a clear link between Classic Rock and Classic Rock Presents Prog as the second magazine features Classic Rock in its title.
The specialist magazines are linked as there is a choice of what magazine you read for your instrument, this is highly attractive to advertisers as there is a multiple choice of magazines for one topic so they can place there advert across many magazines whilst only having to deal with one publisher. Eg. There are three magazines for Guitars
Also the instruments that the specialist magazines cover could be put together in a band, unknown bands could buy a selection of Future Publishing's magazines and everyone would have something to read.
Furture Publishing can also promote their other products in their magazines, this is like how they could promote their events in the corresponding magazine:

• In MetalHammer they can advertise for MetalHammer Tours
• In Classic Rock they can advertise for Classic Rock Roll of Honour

Also many of their magazines have an accompanying website so this could feature in their magazines and vice versa. There may also be readers of Total Guitar who might be interested in buying Guitarist, or readers of Computer Music interested in reading Computer Music Specials etc. so Future Publications can adverise many of their magazines in ther other magazines, during their events and on their websites.

Magazine Covers

On magazines the Editors main concern is what is on the cover. This is because the cover sells the magazine to the public, tells us what the magazine is about and it creates a brand image for the magazine; when we walk into a shop we can easily identify the magazine.

The Editor of Kerrang! appeals to the whole of its readership by including different sub-genres of rock, from indie to punk, this ensures everyone has something to read. As Kerrang! is generally read by teenagers , its main sell points are the free things they give away eg stickers, posters, calenders, exclusive interviews with favourite famous bands or musicians and the chance to turn a magazine into a collectors item eg. collect all five My Chemical Romance Covers, one member on each cover.

Sometimes Kerrang! features a CD, this is desirable to the general public and boosts sales up about 40,000, most of which are casual readers, the Editor then has to ensure that the magazine can keep the new readers. Mixmag magazine has a CD mounted cover each issue, however this pushes up costs of production which is passed on to the consumer, and also a huge amount of employees and work time so the CD is not low quality.

On a front cover of a magazine, the most important parts are the logo (title) and the sweetspot as this is where our eyes are drawn to first, they confirm the brand image and sell the magazine to us. Magazines have to be reassuring but different on each of their covers so the readership can identify it and also not get bored by repetition.

Publisher Research

Bauer
Bauer Company produces 282 titles ranging from both niche and mainstream, as it is a big company the target audience is quite general and they provide for everyone.
Some of the mainstream titles include:
· Heat FHM
· Grazia Closer
· Kerrang! Q

They also provide for the niche market and have a wide range of magazines to choose from:
· Modern Rail Pregnancy and Birth
· Angling Times Bird Watching
· Classic Cars Practical Photography

Also within each subset of the magazine world, whether that is fishing or music, Bauer has a wide range of titles, all of which are aimed at adults.
They also provide media on other platforms including local and mainstream radio like Northsound Radio and Kiss FM, channels like 4Music and The Box and they own the charity Cash For Kids.
Based on the magazines that they publish and the other media platforms, it seems that the brand image of Bauer is a musical one. Although they publish a wide range of magazines, the amount of radio stations and music channels they own is substantial. It also seems that Bauer aims to provide for the niche market as the amount of this type of magazine outweighs the mainstream titles.

IPC Media
IPC Media produces a range of 80 magazines falling both in the niche and mainstream category. Over 26 million adults read an IPC magazine, the mainstream magazines include:
·Look
·Marie Claire
·Nuts

They also produce a large amount of niche magazines, more so than the mainstream ones, including:
·Ships Monthly House
·Railway Magazine
·Motor Caravan

IPC are committed to making their magazines the best so do not operate on other media platforms. Most of the magazines produced by IPC are niche, ranging from transport to good housekeeping. The mainstream magazines produced are wide ranging, this varies from women’s weeklies to men’s entertainment magazines.

BBC Magazines
BBC produce many magazines, most of which are based on their shows or feature an element from their TV programmes. Most of these magazines are aimed at adults, preschool and pre teens, the adult titles include:
· Countryfile
· Wildlife Magazine
· Radio Times

The preschool and preteen magazines include:
·Doctor Who Adventures
·Charlie and Lola
· Teletubbies

The BBC offers media at other platforms as well, from TV to Radio, this influences and features heavily in their magazines. The brand image we get from these magazines is that the BBC wants to educate and entertain us by making magazines that go along side the shows, providing for the diehard fans of their programmes.


Development Hell
Development Hell is an independent media company that produces two monthly niche magazines.
· Mixmag
· The Word

Both of these magazines are music magazines aimed at adults, because of this Development Hell acquired Dontstayin.com, a social networking site for clubbing. This accompanies Mixmag as it is a club and dance magazine; here Development Hell is providing its readership with the things they love, club and dance, on another media platform.
The brand image is of a small company focused on providing niche music magazines that can be the best possible as they only provide two magazines. Also they may also only be able to provide two magazines as Mixmag is CD mounted each issue which is extremely expensive, they may not have the funds to provide more magazines.