Music magazines institutions research:
Bauer & Future.
Bauer
Who are they?
Bauer Verlagsgruppe is a large European- based media group. It's a collective of multiple companies, but it known mainly for the divisions: Magazines & Radio.
Company History:
This company dates back to 1953 -when they launched 'Angling Times' which is still iconic today.
Since then, they've been managed by 5 generations of Bauer.
Publications:
Here are some examples of their most well known publishings:
Gratzia
FHM
Kerrang
Closer
FHM magazine
FHM is a men's lifestyle magazine that's published monthly & have been since 1985 (though under a different name).
It's well known for its article such as "100 sexiest women in the world"
In the 90's FHM dominated the male market & then began to expand internationally, it is now published in 27 countries.
However, they recently announced that they will be suspending publication.
Q magazine
Q (originally named 'Cue' as in "cue the record") is a UK brand that was first published in 1986 -& at this time was unique for their quality of printing.
This monthly subscription also believed that they would stand out well as there wasn't really a magazine for the older generation, so their target audience of multi-gendered mid 20 year olds and above.
Q isn't really genre specific so caters to a mass audience of all music lovers.
Future
Who are they?
They're the 6th largest media corporation in the UK & was founded in 1985.
This company also owns the US company 'Future US'.
They're wide-spreadly known as the official company to publish magazines for the major games consoles.
Company history:
They won the Association of Online Publishers award (OPA) 'Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year' three years in a row in 2010.
Publications:
Future plc publish over 30 magazines in various fields such as: photography, films, video games & sport.
i.e Future Music
Nintendo
Playstation
XBOX
Total Guitar magazine
Total Guitar seems to be aimed at a mature audience as it would appeal to them - there isn't any gossip, everything is laid out quite neatly.
The use of the two focal colours -pink & blue- indicate that their target audience is both men and women guitar music fans.
The central image & graphic image both show people holding guitars which would interest a market of musicians/ people who listen to guitarists.
Rhythm magazine
Rhythm is the leading UK magazine for drummers & percussionists & has been published globally since 1985.
They put out 13 magazines a year with helpful tips/ tutorials/ videos (on a disc that comes with the magazine) for musicians as well as the hottest topics concerning drummers/ percussionist fans.