Music magazines institutions research

1. Music Magazine
Institutions Research
SHARNEL MEHMI

2. ContentsBauer Media Group
•Company History
•Bauer Media’s Publications
•Detailed look at Publication: Kerrang!
• Publication Target Audience: Kerrang!
•Detailed look at Publication: Heat
•Publication Target Audience: Heat
Time Inc.
• Company History
•Time Inc’s Publications
•Detailed look at Publication: NME
•Publication Target Audience: NME
•Detailed look at Publication: TVTimes
•Publication Target Audience: TVTimes

3. Bauer Media Group
Bauer Media Group is a large European company based in Hamburg Germany. The company has
a portfolio of more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 radio and TV stations
around the world. They also offer print shops, postal, distribution and marketing services. Their
work force consists of approximately 11,000 employees in 17 countries.

4. Company History•The company was formally known as Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG which was abbreviated to HBV
and shortened to H. Bauer
•Bauer Media Group first started production as a printing house for business cards on the 2nd
January 1875 and has been passed through 5 generations of the Bauer family
•During the war years of 1941-1942, the Bauer family was forced to discontinue publication due
to paper shortages and in 1943, the publishing house had been damaged due to air raids
•In 1987, Bella was Bauer’s first publishing in the UK
•In 1986 Q Magazine was first published, setting itself apart from much of the other music press
with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing
•in 1990, Bauer had gained more attention through their launch of Take a Break magazine
•Bauer had seen their first venture into TV listings in 1991 with the launch of TV Quick magazine
•In 2004, Kerrang magazine was launched and soon became a radio station in 2005

5. Bauer Media’s Publications
Bauer Media hosts over 300 publications, some of which are:
•4music
•Grazia
•Kiss fm
•Planet rock
•Heat
•Model rail
•Box television
•Q magazine
•Kerrang

6. Detailed look at Publication: Kerrang!
Kerrang! is the best selling weekly rock magazine worldwide. The magazine is based within the
UK and is focused and devoted to rock music. The magazine was first published on the 6th June
1981 as a one of in the Sounds newspaper. The magazine had originally launched as a monthly
magazine which had then began to appear on a fortnightly basis and then in 1987 it went
weekly. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to Emap in 1991.
The popularity of the magazine had rose in 2000 with the hiring of editor Paul Rees. Rees then
went on to edit Q magazine and Ashley Bird took over as editor from 2003 to 2005. however, the
magazine’s sales declined in 2003 and Paul Branningan took over as editor in May 2005. With
the emergence of emo and metalcore, Kerrang! began to heavily feature this music tend
however was criticised due to their sudden emphasis on the genre. In 2008, Emap sold its
consumer magazine to current owner Bauer Media Group. Brannigan left Kerrang! in 2009 and
Nichola Browne was appointed editor, she later stepped down in April 2011. Former NME
features editor and GamesMaster deputy editor James McMahon was appointed as editor on
6th June 2011.

7. Publication Target Audience: Kerrang!
Gender wise, the magazine is attracted to both male and female readers who are fans of rock
music however, 54.7% of the target audience consists of males compared to 45.3% females. It
can clearly be seen that the audience age range is mainly amongst 15-24 year olds as they
construct 56.1% of the total audience.
Kerrang! has a wide range of audiences as there is range of rock genres included and discussed
within the magazine. Pop punk groups such as Bring Me The Horizon and You Me at Six attract
teenagers to the magazine as they create music that are featured in the charts. Whereas other
rock music such as Motorhead and Metallica most likely appeal to an audience of an older age
as rock music has change and innovated over the past few decades.

8. Detailed look at Publication: Heat
Heat was launched in February 1999 with the intention of being a general interest
entertainment magazine, at a cost of more than £4m. However, unlike many other Emap (now
Bauer) magazine launches before and after, it was not an immediate success for the magazine as
their circulation was below 100,000.
A series of revamps quickly repositioned the magazine as a less serious, more gossip-oriented
magazine aimed at women, therefore causing circulation to quickly grow. With a series of high-
profile celebrity relationships such as Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, the magazine was provided
with ample material whilst material from reality TV shows such as Big Brother and Pop Idol
helped in order to fill the pages.
In 2009/10 Heat created a campaign alongside Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud, advocating the
ban of sunbed use for under 18s in the UK. The successful campaign was passed by Parliament
shortly before the 2010 General Election.

9. Publication Target Audience: Heat
The age range of the target audience is from 16-25 and due to the fact that the magazine
consists of a mixture of gossip, beauty advice and fashion, the magazine is primarily aimed at
women.
The magazine also features reviews of movies and music, TV listings and major celebrity
interviews, indicating that those who are interested in the film and TV industry may be attracted
towards this publication showing that the magazine may have a secondary audience by featuring
such content.

10. Time Inc.Time Inc. is an American New York based publishing company and is known as one of the world’s
leading media companies, reaching over more than 130 million consumers each month across
multiple platforms. Its influential brands include, InStyle, Sports Illustrated, Southern Living and
Entertainment Weekly. As of September 30th 2014, Time Inc. operated approximately 40
websites, collectively having over 100 million average monthly unique visitors around the world.
The company also operates integrated publishing businesses that provide content marketing,
target advertising programmes, branded book publishing and marketing and support services.
Time Inc. is the leader U.S consumer magazine industry in print and digital audience as well as
share of print advertising. The company connects with 100 million consumers in print and 81
million online each month and are Time Inc. Uk is the leading publisher of print and digital
magazine content in Britain.

11. Company History
Henry Luce and Briton Hadden both aged 23 formed Time Inc. in 1922, having raised $86,000 of
a $100,000 goal, the first issue was published on March 3rd 1923 as the first weekly news
magazine in the US. Luce launched the business magazine Fortune in February 1930 and created
the pictorial Life magazine in 1934, and launched House & Home in 1952 and Sports Illustrated in
1954.
In 1963, recommendations from Time Inc. based on how it delivered magazines led to the
introduction of ZIP codes by the United States Post Office.
The mergence of Time Inc. and Warner Communications was announced on March 4th 1989 and
the formation of the two companies’ merger was completed on January 10th 1990. However,
instead of the companies becoming defunct, the impact of the merger gave off a new corporate
structure, resulting in the new company being called “Time Warner”.

12. Time Inc. Publications
Time Inc. has over 60 iconic media brands that captivate and inspire millions of people every day
across print and online experiences such as:
•InStyle
•NME
•Style at home
•TV Times
•What’s on TV
•Trusted Reviews
•Black ink

13. Detailed look at Publication: NME
New Musical Express, popularly know as the NME was created in Britain by Theodore Ingham. It
is a weekly music journalism publication, being published since March 1952. it was the first
British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14th November 1952 edition. The magazine is most
commonly associated with rock, alternative and indie music.
Within the early years of the publication, the magazine had started as a music newspaper and
gradually moved towards a magazine format during the 1980s and 90s, changing from newsprint
in 1998.
In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper and from 1972-1976 it was
associated with gonzo journalism (self-involved reporting) and then became closely associated
with punk rock.
NME.com was launched in 1996 and is now the world’s biggest standalone music site with over 7
million users per month.
It had been seen on the 16th August 2012 that the magazine’s circulation was measured as
23,924, showing a decline.

14. Publication Target Audience: NME
It can be seen that the NME’s target audience is mainly men as they make up 73% of the
audience and females only make up 27%, all who are between the ages of 17-30 from the lower
middle class, skilled working class and working class. As magazine reading can be time
consuming, it would be expected that majority of the audience are not in a relationship and are
in some sort of education such as college or university. Priced at £2.20 it is middle priced
magazine aimed towards aspiring working class citizens who are music enthusiasts. 80% of NME
readers feel that music is a big part of their life and 52% are interested in taking a musical
course/qualification, 34% of these are working full time, 18% are working part time and 26% are
full time students this supports my evidence of a mainly educated/working target audience.
As the magazine is associated with rock, alternative and indie music, their audience is built up
from fans of these music genres and many others.

15. Detailed look at Publication: TVTimes
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the UK by Time Inc. UK. It is known for its
access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed with a modern look,
increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps. TVTimes belongs to Time UK’s family of
television magazines including What’s on TV and TV & Satelite Week.
The magazine was launched 22nd September 1955. until television listings were deregulated in
1991, the TVTimes was the only place where complete weekly listings of ITV programmes can be
published.
in 1989, the magazine was acquired by IPC Media, its current owners which became Time Inc.
UK in 2014.

16. Publication Target Audience: TVTimes
As adults watch an average of 4 hours and 2 minutes of TV a day and are more literate than
children, it can be seen that the magazine is targeted towards this particular age group,
especially women (such as housewives) as they watch more TV than men per day therefore
meaning that the magazine appeals more and is more useful to them.
However, as children watch an average of 2 hours and 4 minutes of TV per day and their
programmes are listed within the magazine, it is expected that they construct a percentage of
the target audience.