This document summarizes four major music magazine institutions in the UK: Bauer Media Group, IPC Media, EMAP, and Future PLC. It describes when each company was established, the types of magazines they produce, whether those magazines target niche audiences or mainstream audiences, and their overall success and reach. The document concludes by stating that Bauer Media Group would be the best publisher for a new pop music magazine due to their large audience reach and history of successful pop music magazines.

1. AS MEDIA COURSEWORK
RESEARCH: MUSIC MAGAZINE INSTITUTIONS

2. BAUER MEDIA GROUP
 They are a multinational media company which was established in
1875.
 It is privately owned and under management of the Bauer family.
Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles is 38
million magazines a week. It is a worldwide media empire offering
over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio
stations. Bauer Media is also linked to H Bauer Publishing,
publisher of the UK's biggest TV listings, Take a Break and Bella.
 Example of magazines produced include Empire, Closer, Match,
Smash Hits, Kerrang! and Q.
 Q magazine is a mainstream magazine as it focus’ on a wide range
of music, not just one genre like Kerrang! which only focus’ on rock
music which makes it a niche magazine. Smash Hits is a
mainstream magazine as it is a Pop magazine, therefore its
audience is a large scale one.

3. IPC MEDIA
 IPC Media was established in 1958. It is the UK’s leading
consumer magazine publisher and reaches 26m UK adults -
almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men. With
more than 60 iconic brands, IPC is a multi platform company
which is spread across print, online, mobile, tablets and
events. It has a large portfolio selling over 350 million
copies each year. IPC media groups its current titles under
three magazine divisions which each focus on a core
audience:
 Connect — mass market women
 Southbank — upmarket women
 Inspire — men
 The types of magazines they produce include NME, Nuts,
Teen Now, Woman’s Weekly etc.
 Uncut is a niche magazine and NME is a mainstream
magazine as it targets a large audience who are interested in
all types of music.

4. EMAP
 EMAP was founded in 1947 and is a British media
company which specialises in the production of
business-to-business magazines. It focus’ on retail,
health, architecture and fashion. EMAP is a multi
platform industry with radio, magazines and events. In
2006, EMAP had a revenue coming in of £1.154 billion, so
by looking at this we know that they have been
successful.
 Magazines employed by EMAP include The Architectural
Review, Retail Week, The Nursing Times and Drapers
amongst others.
 All of these magazines are niche magazines as they all
focus specifically on one area, therefore their target
audience are not as large as they would be if they were
mainstream magazines.

5. FUTURE PLC
 Future PLC was established in 1985 with only one magazine at
the time. Today, Future is an international media group with
operations in the UK, US and Australia. Future holds market-
leading positions in core sectors: Technology, Entertainment &
Video Games, Sport & Auto, Music and Creative. It attracts more
than 50 million monthly visitors to their website, they deliver
over 100 digital editions to tablet devices and sell 2.2 million
magazines every month. Future is the PPA and AOP Consumer
Digital Publisher of the Year.
 Magazines produced by Future PLC include Metal Hammer,
Classic Rock, Guitarist and Rhythm to name a few. All of these
magazines are niche magazines as they all focus entirely on
rock music, which excludes the whole, wider population.

6. MY MAGAZINE
 For my own music magazine which has a genre of pop music,
my main player would be Bauer Media Group because, with
their strong portfolio, they have proven to be the strongest
business with a circulation of 38 million magazines a month. In
the past they have also employed other pop music magazines
such as Smash Hits, which tells me that my magazine is
suitable for them. By having a main player like Bauer Media
Group, I can be certain that I will be able to attract customers to
my magazine due to the success of Bauer pop magazines in the
past.