American Profile to target retail, DM markets for music
American Profile, the flagship publication of Publishing Group of America, will begin marketing its own label of music CDs under an agreement with Sheridan Square Entertainment Inc.
The partnership is in an effort to integrate editorial with the products it features in both retail and direct response markets.
American Profile Presents will market a minimum of four releases in 2007 for sale through retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, as well as via direct mail through American Profile.
Under the terms of the agreement, American Profile will develop stories for which an accompanying music offer would appeal to readers.
Sheridan Square will create American Profile Presents music packages that coincide with the content - either career retrospectives of single artists or multi-artist collections - in genres that appeal to the magazine's audience. These genres include Country, Country Gospel, Contemporary Christian, Instrumental and Oldies collections.
Sheridan Square's retail distributor, Koch Entertainment Distribution, will handle retail distribution and marketing of American Profile Presents though mainstream retail and alternative channels such as religious bookstores, department stores and truck stops.
Publishing Group, Franklin, TN, and Sheridan Square will share in the revenue generated by both retail and direct response sales.
Sheridan Square aims to capitalize on American Profile's built-in marketing. The magazine is distributed through more than 1,400 newspapers with a combined circulation of more than 9 million.
With this venture, American Profile is targeting an under-marketed, high-volume segment of music consumers that frequently live far from music retail outlets and do not download music files online.
Earlier this year, reader requests for items related to stories in the magazine spurred Publishing Group to market items from cookbooks and CDs to floral delivery.
