Analysis of Institutions

ICP Media 

IPC Media (formerly International Publishing Corporation), a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.

ICP are known for their award winning music magazine NME which reaches a population of 1.1 million people each week and is the longest published and most respected music magazine worldwide.

They branch over many different platforms such as online magazines, which gross over 25 million views each month, as well as traditional paper magazines.

They are the UK's leading consumer magazine publisher as they sell magazines to over 26 million adults.

Divisions of the company:

• IPC Newspapers — including The People and The Sun (soon sold), as well as the Daily Mirror and Sunday Pictorial
• IPC Magazines — consumer magazines and comics
• IPC Trade and Technical — specialist magazines (later known as IPC Business Press Ltd.)
• IPC Books — all book publishing (headed by Paul Hamlyn, whose own company had been acquired by IPC).
• IPC Printing — all non-newspaper printing operations (headed by Arnold Quick, whose own company had also been acquired by IPC).
• IPC New Products — launching pad for products which used new technology (headed by Alistair McIntosh).

The New Musical Express, popularly known by initialism NME, created by Theodore Smythson, is a music journalism publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. During the period 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism (self-involved reporting), then became closely associated with punk rock through the writing of Tony Parsons.An online version of NME, NME.com, was launched in 1996. It is now the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month. From the issue of 21 March 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colour covers.In the early 2000s, the NME attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott, electronic music pioneer Aphex Twin, Popstars winners Hear'say and R&B groups like Destiny's Child, but as in the 1980s these proved unpopular with much of the paper's readership, and were soon dropped. In 2001 the NME reasserted its position as an influence in new music and helped to introduce bands including The Strokes, The Vines, and The White Stripes.In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed editor. With a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley, Andrew Kendall, James Looker and Pieter Van Hattem, and a high turnover of young writers. It focused on new British bands such as The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party and the Kaiser Chiefs who emerged as "indie music" continued to grow in commercial success. Later, Arctic Monkeys became the standard-bearers of the post-Libertines crop of indie bands, being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespread commercial and critical 

In May 2008 the magazine received a redesign, aimed at an older readership with a less poppy, more authoritative tone. The first issue of the redesign featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single. Circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. In the second half of 2011, the magazine's circulation was 23,924, 66% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442.

Bauer Media Group

Bauer Media Group is a multinational media company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany which operates in 15 countries worldwide. Since the company was founded in 1875, it has been privately owned and under management by the Bauer family. Worldwide circulation of Bauer Media Group's magazine titles amounts to 38 million magazines a week. Bauer Media is a division of the Bauer Media Group, Europe’s largest privately owned publishing Group. The Group is a worldwide media empire offering over 300 magazines in 15 countries, as well as online, TV and radio stations. Bauer Media joined the Bauer Media Group in January 2008 following the acquisition of EMAP plc's consumer and specialist magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses.Collectively, the Group employs some 6,400 people. Bauer Media is a multi-platform UK-based media Group consisting of many companies collected around two main divisions - magazines and radio - widely recognised and rewarded as being industry innovators. Their business is built on infliuential media brands with millions of personal relationships with engaged readers and listeners. Their strategy is to connect audiences with excellent content through their broad multi-touch point brand platforms, wherever and whenever and however they want. Their wide portfoli of influential brands gives them advantages over pure play magazine or radio competitors. Among publications are the magazines Kerrang!, Q and Mojo.

Kerrang! is a brand that specialises in Rock Music. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on an electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. It originally began as a magazine and in 2004 Kerrang! Radio was launced. A Kerrang! TV channel also exists and as of 2005, all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open scheduled, for text requests from their playlist.  With regards to the magazine, it was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper.  Launched as a monthly magazine, Kerrang! began to appear on a fortnightly basis later, and in 1987 it went weekly. The original owner was United Newspapers who then sold it to EMAP in 1991. During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover (like Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison, and Venom) but later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nirvana rose to fame. Readers often criticise the magazine for repeating this process every time a new musical trend becomes popular. Kerrang!'s popularity rose again with the hiring of editor Paul Rees circa 2000 when the nu metal genre, featuring bands like Limp Bizkit and Slipknot were becoming more popular. Rees went on to edit Q magazine and Ashley Bird took over as editor from 2003 to 2005. However, the magazine's sales went quickly into decline in 2003 and Paul Brannigan took over as editor in May 2005. With the emergence of emo and metalcore, Kerrang! begain to heavily feature this musical trend. However, the revamp was not welcomed by all readers and many complaints were received about Kerrang!'s sudden emphasis on emo and metalcore music. Brannigan took the magazine into its most commercially successful period with a record over ABC for the title of 80,186 copies. 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 6 June 2011.

Q, the UK’s biggest selling music monthly magazine, sits at the heart of a cross-platform brand that celebrates the biggest stars in rock and roll and brings you the most exciting new artists. The Q brand has developed a worldwide reputation as a trusted and premium quality voice of musical authority amongst fans, musicians and the music industry alike - one that is founded upon Q's unrivalled access, world-beating exclusives and outstanding production values. Originally it was to be called Cue (named after the act of cueing a record to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth felt the music press of the time ignored a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology — from artists such as Paul Simon, Level 42, and Dire Straits. Modeled after Rolling Stone, Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing, with an emphasis on style. The Q music brand has expanded to Radio and Television, with Q Radio and Q TV being music entertainment that specializes in indie, rock and alternative. Q also holds annual music awards in the UK, known as Q Awards. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicized music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behaviour of the celebrities who attend the event.

My Magazine

Both ICP Media and Bauer Media Group would be suitable for the genre and style of magazine that I am trying to create, however, Bauer Media spans over 80 influential brand names covering a diverse range of interests and is known for magazines such as Kerrang! - which specialise in all kinds of rock music, but focus solely on this genre, and Q - 'the UK's biggest selling music monthly magazine', which also focuses on 'rock and roll' (although it has become much more diverse nowadays) and so would possibly be more suitable for my chosen market and would gain my piece a lot more recognition than ICP, as ICP's most famous magazine, NME, although the 'longest published and most respected magazine worldwide', has fallen continuously since 2003, and therefore may not put my magazine 'on the map', so to speak.