Music magazine research : Q Magazine

Q Magazine

Q magazine is a music magazine published by Bauer Media Group. It is a magazine that focuses on the most popular modern rock music. It was founded in 1986 by a different media group (EMAP) and sold to Bauer in 2008.

It has an approximate circulation of about 59000. A magazine is released on a monthly basis.

Content

The magazine focuses mainly on interviews with musicians, but includes things such as “best of…” lists and reviews. There are standard features common in each magazine, such as “Q50” which is a list of the vest tracks of the month, and “rewind” which shows an old article from the magazine’s archives.

The magazine occasionally comes with a compilation CD made by the journalists, such as “Q essential Jukebox” and “Essential Glastonbury. The magazine is closely linked with the Glastonbury Festival, and produces a newspaper and review magazine for purchase at the festival.

Publishing institution

Bauer Media Group publishes the magazine, which is a German company that produces over 300 different magazines. They produce similar magazines, such as Kerrang and MOJO. They also produce many other magazines of a different genre, such as AnglingTimes, Closer and Golf World.

Audience

The magazine seems to be aimed at younger adults aged around 18-28, and as the music in the magazine is fairly mainstream, so would the readers in the way they act/dress. The readers are likely to have a fairly high amount of disposable income due to the magazine being priced at £3.99.

Layout

The magazine always has a similar cover. There is always the “Q” Logo in the top right corner, and the general colour scheme uses red, white and gold. The central image is always of a musician featured in the magazine, and often overlaps the Q logo. The style is very solid and does not have canted images or text. The font used is always sans-serif and very clear and easy to read.

I feel that the magazine does not reflect the values of it’s audience that well, as a lot of the music in it’s contents might be considered “edgy” and “rebellious” whereas the magazine itself looks somewhat sophisticated and clean.