Two big distribution companies that I found were Future plc and IPC Media.

Both have many magazines that are widely distributed throughout the world not just in the UK

The following is a little information on IPC media from their website.

IPC Media produces over 85 iconic media brands, with our print brands alone reaching almost two thirds of UK women and 44% of UK men – almost 27 million UK adults – while our online brands collectively reach 20 million users every month.

IPC's diverse print and digital portfolio offers something for everyone, with a focus on three core audiences: men, mass market women and upmarket women.

Our men's portfolio (IPC Inspire) comprises a wealth of leisure brands including Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World and Decanter, as well as lifestyle brands including Nuts, Mousebreaker and NME.

Our mass market women's division (IPC Connect) comprises famous women's weeklies including Look, Now, Chat and Woman; TV entertainment brands including What's on TV, TVTimes

At Future we base everything we do around clusters of like-minded individuals who are passionate about their interests. From video games to film, from cycling to music-making, we provide magazines, websites and events that inform, entertain and unite these communities. We share the same passions as our consumers.

Future’s magazines, websites and events are managed across four portfolios: Games, Technology, Music & Movies and Active. Our biggest titles include XBox 360: The Official Magazine, Total Film, T3, Guitar World and Maximum PC.

Future sells nearly 4 million magazines each month and we attract more than 27 million unique visitors to our websites. We also produce more than 1,500 items of multi-media content every month and we host 27 annual live events, attracting hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts.

The magazine I chose to research was VIBE magazine as I feel this would be my closest competitor. Although this magazine is produced and aimed at a predominantly American audience it is also distributed in the UK with healthy sales figures. The institution that publishes VIBE would probably produce my magazine as well.

I feel the media institute most likely to distribute my magazine would be Future.

This is because they have a wide portfolio of magazines but a Hip Hop magazine isn’t among that and as a big international publisher they may take an interest in publishing a magazine from a genre with a large core of listeners although it would be a gamble as my magazine would be little known.

Smaller publishing companies would be less likely to take a gamble on my sort of magazine as they do not have the funds that Future do