Introduction

The media landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade due to advancements of digital technology, and this has directly impacted on media institutions, both the way in which they construct and produce their media texts as well as the form in which to present them.  Consumers are now more powerful than ever before and magazines such as NME (IPC Media) and Metal Hammer (Future PLC) have had to respond to the new emerging needs and demands of their audiences in order to survive; “Technology is shifting power away from editor’s, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite, now its the people who are taking control” (Murdoch, 2006).

Prosumers, UGC, Uses and Gratifications

The advancement of Web 2.0 and internet sites such as YouTube allows consumers to become directors, producers, marketers and distributors of their own media texts.  The ability to consume and produce media texts has been coined ‘prosumers’.  IPC Media’s, NME magazine has responded successful to this change and have proved that there a rich opportunities to thrive in this online age; they have been praised for the amount of content offered on its website.  NME magazine offers their audience a one-stop-shop where they can purchase music, clothes, find out about the latest gigs, communicate with other ‘like minded’ consumers all whilst listening to their radio station or watching their TV channel, this is a truly multi-platform approach.  This however has been at the detriment of the sales of their print magazine as they have seen a drop in circulation by 24.1% (National Readership Survey). 

Future PLC describes prosumers as “enthusiasts who’s passion for their hobby makes them more like professional consumers” (Future PLC, 2010). Their target audience is predominantly 18-24 year olds (Alexa’s WebTraffic, 2010), with a majority of 64% being males (National Readership survey).  This demographic also happens to be the most technologically involved therefore Metal Hammer must offer the audience fruitful opportunity to UGC (User Generated Content).  Overall, Future, has performed well in a declining market, with Metal Hammer and Classic Rock reporting increases in circulation, with Metal Hammer reaching a circulation of 50,269 and classic rock 70, 188 (ABC, Dec 08).

The fact that these are both music magazines means that consumers approach NME and Metal Hammer from a very personable position.  ‘Music’ naturally creates communities and consumers are incredibly passionate and create strong personal relationships with their favourite bands/artists.  This online community adds to the experience as users can interact with like-minded people, voting in polls such as “who has the best slipknot mask?” (MetalHammer.co.uk), giving users the sense that they are contributing to a community (Uses and Gratifications theory, 1974).  They are also educated and entertained (Use and Gratifications, 1974) with video exclusives, Metallica Live, and Opeth on tour.  In this way convergence maintains interest in the Metal Hammer brand.  Web 2.0 allows users to submit and generate a content, so Metal Hammer has competition in that users can go elsewhere for such videos.

Mass Vs Niche – loyalty, audience targeting

The Future Plc title Metal Hammer is a monthly rock and metal magazine, that has existed since 1994.  In that time, Metal Hammer has built a positive reputation amongst both modern and traditional metal music coverage. It’s publisher, Future, is an independent company with a portfolio of magazines aimed at niche market sectors.  In comparison IPC’s NME is a mass audience magazine which must target a much wider audiences who have differing needs, demands and expectations.  They tend to include the newest, and hottest bands/music artists as they position themselves to be the front runners of the music magazine industry (they are currently reporting on Amy Winehouse’s come back in Brazil).  This does have its disadvantages; as they have such a wide audience, not all of them are going to be interest in Amy Winehouse and therefore they may esclude some of their consumers.   Metal Hammer have much more of an advantage due to the fact that they are a ‘Metal’ music magazine, with a much smaller, niche market to target and thus they are far more likely to offer content that targets a greater majority of their audience.

Convergence

NME have been incredibly cleaver with the use of convergence which has come out of the advancement of media technologies.  Their website offers consumers the opportunity to listen to their radio station and watch their TV channel whilst searching their website for festival tickets or the latest reviews from their favourite bands newest release.  This offers consumers a lot more than other magazines thus this is a USP (Unique Selling point), which in turn creates a greater and deeper relationship between the magazine and the audience, thus creating loyalty.

The Metal Hammer website is also a demonstration of convergence, and has proved popular with nearly 60,000 individual visitors since starting (futurelicensing.com).  Alex’s web traffic analysis suggests that visitors are mostly male, aged between 18 and 24 and spend around 2.7 minutes on Metal Hammer.co.uk.

Synergy

The advancement of technologies has also allowed for greater synergy.  For NME, the tweets and Facebook updates and RSS feeds encourage listeners of the podcast. The podcast drives subscribers to the website. The website drives fans to the free information. The links among all these activities become the synergy where activity in one area improves the entire experience.  This use of social-networking synergy drives up advertising revenue for their website which is a vital factor for success.

Metal Hammer has also had successful synergies created as a result of convergence.  In 2008, Metal hammer.co.uk encourages users to send in photos taken on their mobiles of them playing “Guitar Heroes”, combining the internet with both mobile technology and video game trends.  The use of podcasts also allows for content (often User Generated Content, UGC) to be sent faster than ever to multi-media formats, thus satisfying the ever impatient target audience. 

Advertising

Advertising is the most important revenue for magazines, this is where they make their money.  Both NME and Metal Hammers audience demographic falls into18-24 year old males (Alexa’s Webtraffic, 2010), which are also the most important demographic for advertisers. This should suggest a continued revenue for both of these magazines and should therefore secure their future.    However the effect of advertising on the internet is not fully understood yet and thus this could be an issue to the survival of magazine.  Metal Hammer saw a 15% drop in advertising in print and online during Dec08-March 09 (futurelicensing.com. 09) which is a cause for concern.  However the ability to track consumers behaviour far more closely online, with the use of sites such as Alex’s web traffic,  than in the print magazines should ultimately allow for a more closely targeted advertising campaign.  It is of course important that there is an obvious connections in the choice of brands that advertise within the print magazine and online.  Therefore NME advertise brands such as HMV and Amazon and Metal Hammer have formed a close relationship with O2. 

Distribution

Indeed, distribution is an interesting issue to consider for the magazines industry.  The internet, podcasts and video channels allow readers to access their wanted content within seconds.  Where as hard copies of a magazine must be ordered or brought from a shop; printed magazines are in fact out of date by the time they has been printed, published, distributed and then purchased by the consumer, when, in comparison, internet content which can be updated continually and with substantially less cost.

Future

We are now living in exponential times (M. Wesch, 2008) and the use and potential of Web 2.0 is unknown.  The way in which media texts are produced by everyday ‘average’ humans and the ways in which this travels around the globe must impact on the magazine industry and media industries alike.  Will magazines survive?  In my opinion they will; they have proven they can adapt successfully within this changing climate but the extra content offered to consumers via convergences in technology, could replace the magazine itself.  They may well survive and continue to evolve but their use, construction and media form in which they exist will inevitably change.