task 4

1. Research into Music Industries and Institutions
1. What types of magazine and target audiences have Times Inc (formerly IPC) been
associated with over the years?
In 1932 there was the launch of ‘Woman’s Own’ which was established as one of IPC’s ‘Big
Two’ with the magazine ‘Woman’ being produced just 5 years later so it is evident from this
that IPC targeted females mainly however magazines such as ‘Caravan’ which suggests that
IPC were not just interested in females. IPC went about things in a similar way throughout
the 1940’s with ‘women’s weeklies’ which kept women’s morale up through the war. 1952
saw the first music magazine to be produce by IPC which only increased their target
audience further with ‘NME’ setting the ball rolling which was bound to encourage more
males to begin reading some of IPC’s magazines. The introduction of targeting males carried
on in the 1960’s with a weekly football edition of ‘SHOOT’. The 1980’s expanded IPC’s target
audience to more than nationally with the formation of ‘European Magazines Ltd’ where it
combined with another company and they began to produce throughout Europe. Magazines
such as ‘NME’ had their own websites in the 1990’s which again expanded their target
audience to people outside the UK. ‘Nuts’ was produced by Ignite in 2004 which was men’s
first weekly magazine this was followed by a weekly women’s magazine in 2005 called ‘Pick
Me Up’. It seems to be that females dominate the market audience historically but overtime
males have been given more of a recognition by Times Inc.
2. Why might Times Inc an appropriate publisher for a new music magazine?
One reason why Times Inc would be an appropriate choice for publishing a new music
magazine would be that they have very large investment backing by other companies. For
example, ‘TVeasy’ was backed by a huge £10 million marketing investment whilst ‘Look’ the
fashion magazine was backed by an £18 million pound investment. This shows that Times
Inc are a massive company and businesses are willing to put a lot of money into their
magazines as they have lots of success with the magazines they produce. If you are a new
music magazine producer you may look at Times Inc as they have had lots of success with
one of the biggest music magazines in the world ‘NME’ which may entice a new music
magazine producer to use Times Inc as a publisher after seeing the amount of money ‘NME’
has made.
3. What sorts of genres of music/types of magazines might they be likely to publish?
The genre of music you'd expect to see Times Inc publishing would be something quite
mainstream such as Rock or Pop as you see from the music magazine ‘NME’ that is what
that magazine covers the majority of the time. Most people you see on the front cover of an
‘NME’ magazine are recognizable and are normally a well-known mainstream artist so
basing on that, you would expect to maybe see a mainstream Rock or Pop magazine
published by Times Inc. However, ‘NME seems to cover a wide range of music and not just

2. the ones I have mentioned. Times Inc seemto have published all sorts of magazines over
the years such as home, gossip, fashion, TV listings, sport, music and more so they are
willing to publish any type of magazine that they believe has the potential to be successful.
4. Why might independent publishers like Development Hell be appropriate?
They might be appropriate as they may have a lack of money to keep going and they may
need an investment in which Times Inc would be able to give. Also ‘Development Hell’ had
just purchased the rights from ‘Mixmag’ and they were taking over a magazine which had
decreased in popularity due to the increase in technology and the fact that Dance music
(Mixmag’s music genre) had been declared dead by the press meant they were in need of
success and a way to get people buying the magazine they had just bought. After seeing the
big success Times Inc has with magazines it would seemlike ‘Development Hell’ going to
Times Inc as they needed success and profits to start being made again by ‘Mixmag’. Also,
the fact that they are independent means they would not be combined with any other
magazines which Times Inc had done with other magazines and this means the profits
‘Mixmag’ would make would be shared with just them and Times Inc.