Evaluation - Question 3

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

A media institution is any organisation that is responsible for the marketing, distribution, production and regulation of media texts, often profit based. In this case - music magazines - the distributors are responsible for creating, advertising and publishing the magazine - getting it into the shops.

In terms of magazine publishers in the UK, here are some examples of the companies:

IPC Media are the distributors of the music magazine NME. This distributor makes many smaller and more specific magazines aswell as the famous NME.

Here is the web link to their page:

http://www.ipcmedia.com/

Future are the distributors of magazines Classic Rock and Metal Hammer.

Future tend to distribute specific to particular hobbies or skills.

Here is a link to their web page:

http://www.futureplc.com/

Bauer Media are the distributors of magazines Kerrang! and Mojo.
Bauer Media are a large company, and distribute well known magazines, generally in the entertainment genre - another well known music magazine called Q, and the famous film magazine Empire. Bauer Media also distribute produce specific to particular hobbies and skills.
Here is a link to the web page:
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Brands






Out of the UK major publishing companies, I have decided to choose IPC.
IPC are a large distribution company in the UK who distribute many magazines in the media industry.

I took this quote from IPC's website; PC Media produces over 60 iconic media brands, with print alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 42% of UK men – almost 26 million UK adults – while our websites collectively reach over 20 million users every month.
This quote told me who they were, and helped make my descision to choose this company. They are clearly very iconic, and their gender statistics stood out to me as being quite even, which is ideal for my magazine as it is generally a split genre.

IPC are responsible for publishing well known magazines such as NME, Look, Marie Claire and TV Times. Despite only publishing one music magazine, I chose IPC because they publish NME, which I feel is quite similar to mine. NME is a popular magazine, and I feel that if my magazine were to be published this company could help to make it just as succesful.



With my magazine, as well as having the actual copy of the magazine, I would also have a website, for more music information for my readers. I feel this would extend my readership, because my audience may be looking for something inparticular, and using the website would be more useful to use, rather than reading the whole magazine. On the website there would be features of next month's issue, giving the contents, and showing the front cover. This would also help to widen my audience because it would give the readers information on the next magazine, therefore getting them interested in it, and result in them purchasing my magazine.

Evaluation - Question 2

How does my media product represent particular social groups?

I feel that the audience of my magazine are really into music, and are open to discovering different genres. For my audience, music is generally a part of their life, either they are studying it, or do this as a career. This shows that they must be intelligent, and are also tolerant of other music. As my magazine is aimed at a younger audience, this suggests that they either go to university or college.

Gender

I feel that both genders are represented equally in my magazine. I have aimed the magazine at no specific gender.

However, my magazine mainly features women, in the pictures used, but in the actual features, the gender is generally male artists who are featured.  Although this doesn't match the make up of my audience - both male and females - I feel that this still appeals to all of my target audience, because they are open to any music, so therefore the representation of women and men will not matter as much in my magazine, as to the audience, it is the music that counts.

In my magazine, I feel gender has been represented as something that is not a great deal, and that despite there is a female on the front of my magazine, it is still very much for the male audience as well.

Age

The general age group that my magazine features is roughly early twenties, to early thirties, and also an older generation too, as my music features not only contemporary music, but also 60s rock, and Britpop. The age range my characters fit into are similar to that of my readership. The character on the cover, Ella Ruso is roughly in her early twenties - a young adult, much like the majority of my target audience. This is also the general age range for my other characters, and also the other bands featured in my magazine. Having the audience and the characters the same age allows the audience to relate to the music more; these artists are their generation. The older characters featured in my magazine clearly are and older age range, but this gives my audience something to look up to, and because they are so into music this appeals to them.

This photo is of the character Ella Ruso, a young music artist. I feel that the representation of age is portrayed here; she is smoking, which could represent rebellion in the younger generation. She is also tilting her head, and looks as though she could be dancing, portraying freedom and character in this age group.














In my magazine, age is slightly stereotyped, but not in an extremely obvious way. I have features within my magazine such as "Tommy Britton to perform at Leeds Festival 2011". This represents the younger generation as the generation of music festivals and gigs. I also mention the V Festival, which is a stereotype of people in their late teens early twenties. The character on the front cover is also smoking, which could represent rebellion and an attitude, which is another stereotypical representation of the younger generation. However, my magazine also challenges some of the ideas of typical representations, by featuring older, more classic bands and artists. This represents young people in a different way - that not all of them are interested in the latest releases and tracks, they can also appreciate older music.

Class

Middle class to upper class are the most dominant classes in my magazine. The character on the front cover, and the article about her in the double page spread is generally middle class, or she cam from a middle class family. I feel that my audience too are generally middle class, and upper class - they study a challenging subject at university or college, but I feel that middle class is generally the dominant class.

I feel that this class is represented as generally being a normal class, yet there are tickets advertised for festivals and artists, so therefore represents the class as having enough money for luxuries like this. 

My magazine is aimed at people who may be studying music, or may do something to do with music as their job. Because of this, my magazine does not represent the stereotypical jobs that go with middle class. Therefore my magazine challenges the typical representations of middle class careers or jobs.

Ethnicity

As there is not a large amount of pictures featured in my 3 pages, it is unclear of a lot of the ethnicities of the other bands/artists mentioned, however the characters in the pictures are white. This does not reflect my audience, as I have not aimed my magazine at one particular ethnic group, just like I haven't with a specific gender. I feel there are no real representations of ethnic groups, however I chose the main character featured in my magazine to be white, because a lot of her influence when growing up was Britpop, so therefore I made her British.