1. The Music Press: Institution

2. Institution
 Institution is all to do with the business and
industry behind the texts.
 Institutions are the companies who own magazines
and websites.
 It includes big companies who own a lot of
magazines and websites, medium-sized
independent companies who just own one or a few,
and even small companies run by one or two
people.
 Studying institution also includes:
 how texts are promoted and sold
 how the institutions of the Music Press support
the institutions of the Music industry (the record
companies, the artists and bands)

3. Research task
 Find out which music magazines and website these
companies own:
 Emap
 Silentway
 Development Hell Ltd
 IPC
 Future plc
 This Must be Pop
 Egmont UK
 Bauer
 Put the institutions in order of size, from the biggest
(own most things) to the smallest (own least things)

4. Watch….
 David Hepworth talking about magazine
institutions Clip 1 Who Does What (0.00 –
4.15)
 Discussions of the relationship between the
Music Press and the Music Industry in Clip 4
The Influence of the Music Press (0.00- 6.08)
 Clip 6 Marketing the Music Press (all, 0.00 –
4.09)

5. Cross-media presence
 Some institutions have a multi-platform presence where they own
web-based, print and broadcast texts, e.g. websites, apps,
magazines, TV and radio programmes or even whole stations, all
linked together.
 This gives the company more power and influence to make and
break bands and artists.
 It gives the audience more ways to access their favourite texts.
 It means the company can cross-promote itself (i.e. advertise its
magazine on its website, advertise its website on the TV
programmes and so on).
 Which of the institutions in your research had the strongest cross-
media presence?

6. The independents
 It’s good to be big, and have a cross-media presence but are
there any advantages to being small?
 Small companies can focus on niche markets: i.e. a
small group of bands / artists in a small sub-genre of
music. They only need to appeal to a small target
audience.
 Small companies don’t need to make as much money –
they don’t need to rely on advertising as much; they don’t
need to cover the big mainstream bands; they can be
freer and more independent.
 Small companies can react to changes more quickly,
update their product more quickly and stay ahead of the
big companies.
 Small companies can feel special for the audience
because not everyone knows about them; they often have
a small group of really committed fans.

7. Advertising
 The Music press make a lot of their money from selling
advertising space in their website and magazines.
 They have ‘core’ advertising, which is adverts from the Music
Industry, about new albums, tours, merchandise and so on.
 They have ‘consumer’ advertising which aims to sell other things
to the specific audience group, like clothes, cosmetics, hair
products, cars and so on.
 They have ‘inserts’ which are separate pages or pamphlets
loosely inserted into the magazine.
 There are also ‘advertorials’ which are a cross between
advertising and editorials.
 Advertisers choose very carefully which type of advertising they
want, and which magazine or website will help them reach their
target audience.

8. Watch…
 Clip 5 Advertising and The Music Press (all,
0.00 – 7.06)

9. Where to advertise?
 Which Music Press title would you choose if
you wanted to sell:
 Lipstick
 Expensive family cars
 Cheap ‘first’ cars
 Clubwear
 Houses
 Skateboards

10. Case Study 1: Kerrang! - success
 Until 2000 it was just a magazine: it started in June 1981 as an
offshoot of ‘Sounds’ magazine, a one-off special dedicated to loud
guitar music, then it became a monthly magazine, then a weekly. It
used to sell about 40 000 copies a week
 In 2001 it launched its own TV station which has over 1 million viewers
 Kerrang! has since launched:
 Kerrang! radio station
 Kerrang! live events
 Kerrang! website
 The Kerrang! tour
 The Kerrang! awards
 Kerrang! CDs and DVDs
 Since it expanded, it now reaches about 5 million people per month,
making it hugely influential in the rock / metal world.
 Fans can satisfy all their music needs through one institution.

11. Watch…
 The editor talking about how Kerrang! started
in Clip 1 Who Does What (4.15 - 5.28)
 Clip 8 Kerrang! world (all, 0.00 – 5.42)

12. Case study 2: Smash Hits - failure
 Smash Hits was a very popular pop magazine in the 1980s
and 1990s but then it lost so many readers that the print
version ceased in 2006; it’s now only online.
 Its USP was printing song lyrics, and giving away free
posters, but by 2006 all this could be found on the internet,
more quickly and cheaply.
 Its audience had become younger and younger girls (10-14
years), so it lost credibility as a music magazine; it also lost
many readers to the then new celebrity gossip magazines.
 Unlike Kerrang! it didn’t have a loyal niche market, and it
didn’t diversify into TV or radio to expand the brand.

13. Watch…
 Clip 9 Smash Hits - the rise and fall of a
music mag (all, 0.00 – 9.22)

14. Case Study 3: independents
 There are a lot of independent websites. They often fill a gap in the
market and have a loyal niche audience.
 Investigate these sites, and any others you can find:
 This must be pop
 Drowned in sound
 The girls are
 Wears the trousers
 The Quietus
 Try to identify the target audience for each site, find out whether the
text exists across platforms, whether it seems to be expanding or
not, and how successful you think it is likely to be in the future.

15. Watch…
 Clip 11 Indie Websites (all, 0.00 – 4.54)

16. Your own case study
 Choose an institution. It can be big and mainstream; medium
sized and independent; or small and aimed at a niche market.
 Find out:
 What texts they own
 What music genres they specialise in
 What platforms they operate on
 What cross-media promotion they do
 Who their man audience is
 How they meet the four needs of their audience group
 Who advertises in their website or magazine
 What ideology / lifestyle they promote
 If / how the text fits into a larger institution
 How successful you think they are at meeting the needs of
their audience / making money / promoting music

17. Summary
Explain these terms:
- institution
- independent
- mainstream
- multi-platform
- cross-promotion
- niche market
- diversify