Music Magazines: Initial Research – Publisher

to help get more of an idea of what goes into the creation of magazines i have done some background research into publishers and what they do and how they work.

A magazine publisher makes literature or information available for public view.
Traditionally publishing refers to the distribution of printed works, for example books. But due to the growth in technology and the use of the internet publishing has been extended to include e-books, websites and blogs as well as a number of other things.

the concentration of media ownership as a whole refers to a large number if not the majority of media outlets being owned by a small number of conglomerates and corporations, some of which that are owned by more corporations. A good example of this is NME, NME is owned by ipc media along with a large number of other magazines, and then ipc media are then owned by time Warner. This is evidenced by the ownership/ publication of NME. NME as a magazine is seen as a statement of individuality to all of its readers, however this individuality is short lived when you realise that NME is owned by IPC media along with such titles as horse and hound, caravan and nuts. This wide range of magazines aimed at all sorts of audiences raises the argument as to wether NME is just another magazine used to sell a specific audience specific products. This idea is then strengthened if not confirmed when you see that IPC media is owned by time Warner who own a number of record labels. And it makes you wonder as to how much marketing and advertising time Warner place within NME to sell more of there products to maximise profit, which may raise concerns as to the integrity of the brand “NME”.

This is the same with the magazine that I have been looking at “metal hammer” metal hammer as a magazine is owned by future plc, who also own a number of other music magazines of a similar genre as well as a large number of gaming magazines. This suggests that they have a basic interest within these two areas, however more research into future has lead me to find that they are owned by Pearson plc, another horizontally integrated media conglomerate who own such publishers as penguin. Which leads us to the question of whether it is actually about peoples interests or whether it is all about profit, and the evidence shows that it is more aimed at making profit than anything else.