This chart from http://www.magforum.com/glossies/music_magazines.htm shows the sales of music magazines from different distributers.
Top-selling music magazines (2008) | ||||
| Title | Publisher | Genre | ABC figure* | |
| Q (M) | Bauer | Rock | 131,330 | |
| Mojo (M) | Bauer | Rock | 106,218 | |
| Top of the Pops (F) | BBC Magazines | Pop | 105,025 | |
| Uncut (M) | IPC Media | Rock | 91,028 | |
| Kerrang! (F) | Bauer | Rock | 76,937 | |
| Classic Rock (M) | Future Publishing | Rock | 67,399 | |
| New Musical Express (W) | IPC Media | Rock | 64,033 | |
| Total Guitar (M) | Future Publishing | Practical/playing | 48,673 | |
| BBC Music Magazine (M) | Bristol Magazines | Classical | 47,104 | |
| Metal Hammer (M) | Future Publishing | Rock | 45,809 | |
| Sources: ABC *Jul-Dec 2007 | ||||
There are three houses that publish the majority of music magazines, these are the Bauer group, Future publishing and IPC Media.
IPC was established in 1963, its HQ is London and it publishes NME among others. It is a subsiduary of TimeInc which is a big international establishment. It has a large portfolio of digitally pubished magazines, published the NME weekly (not a standard convention of music magazines) and aims at three specific markets: men (Nuts, Rugby World), mass market women (Look, Chat, Women's Own) and up market women (Marie Claire, Ideal Homes).
I don't feel that IPC represents my readership and would not choose it to distribute my magazine.
Future Publishing caters for specialist individual magazines rather than the mass market, it produces more upmarket magazines than IPC, more focused towards specific markets. The music magazines represent sub genres of rock, such as Total Guitar, Classic Rock, Rhythm and many others. I would consider this strongly because it deals with niche markets, which is my magazine.
The Bauer Group is the largest privately owned publisher in Europe with growing sales in many areas and a wide ranging portfolio. It produces high quality intelligent music magazines such as Q, Mojo and Kerrang, it's publications are all of high standard and it has a good reputation.
After researching these companies and looking at BBC publishing (Top of the Pops), I believe that the best media institution for my product to be distributed by is the Bauer group as the magazines it distributes are include quality music magazines with the same styles as Sound fields and they are all very successful financially with growing sales. It also deals with a European market with offices in France, Germany and Spain which might mean that they could market my product in Europe as it features European festivals.
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