Case study

1. Case study on the ‘Q’ magazine
Background/ownership
My case study will be based on the ‘Q’ magazine which is a music magazine. Q is a popular
music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Founders Mark Ellen and David
Hepworth and is published monthly in the United Kingdom.
Q is owned by Bauer/ Emap who also own the publishing rights to Kerrang, Mojo and Empire.Q
also reached out to other media formats such as radio, TV and internet. Q radio was launched
in 2008 and is known in the industry for playing almost entirely indie rock music. As well as
the radio Q music station was launched alongside the magazine and, again, is the front runner
in promoting indie style music. As well as this, Q also holds an annual music awards title the
Q awards. By having the brand spread out across many different media platforms it is almost
impossible for audiences to escape the brand name and will be come into contact with it in
some way or another.
Style/layout/address
The target audience of the Q magazine is the older generation. You can tell this by the style
and layout. The main colours used are red, black and white and they are all very dull colours
which won’t really attract the younger generation as they are still young and want to see
brighter colours.
The Q magazines consists of nearly 190 A4 pages and also costs £3.90 which suggests that
this magazine is more likely to targeted at the more mature adults as college students or even
the younger generation may think that this price is too much to pay for one magazine.
However, it is this price as the magazine releases monthly and not weekly.
The content of the magazine is expressed in the same form as the main heading but placed
in a way that would not detract from the centre image. This layout offers very little to audiences
when establishing more magazine content and is limiting audiences by focusing on one main
band as many may not like or listen to this style of music. The style of Q has been dominated
in the past by more indie rock influences and the bands referred to on the cover follow the
expectations from audiences. The cover image, contents page and general news pages all
suggest a more mature audience due to the use of pastel colours on a white background. This
would be more visually stimulating to adult audiences and allows the magazine opportunity to
write in sophisticated text to follow the style and layout of the magazine. Photography plays a
very important part in this magazines identity and the very artistic choice of images throughout
the magazine also tie into a more sophisticated stance.
Content and approach to music
The magazine has an wide review section, featuring: new releases (music), reissues (music),
music compilations, film and live concert reviews, as well as radio and television reviews. It
uses a star-rating system from one to five stars; indeed, the rating an album receives in Q is
often added to print and television advertising for the album in the UK and Ireland. It also
compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the
last three months.
Much of the magazine is devoted to interviews with popular musical artists.

2. The magazine is well known for compiling lists. It has created many, ranging from "The 100
Greatest albums" to the "100 Greatest '100 Greatest' Lists". Every other month, Q — and its
sister magazine, Mojo (also owned by Bauer) — have a special edition. These have been
about musical times, genres, or a very important/influential musician.
Promoting the industry and other products
The Q magazine promotes other stuff as well as magazine. As you can see below is a front
cover page of the Q magazine where it’s promoting other things other than musicians or just
music in general.
The Q magazine promotes other products such as football. This shows that music magazines
promote other products in their magazines to attract their audiences or even people in general
to buy their magazine. This is a good way to get people to buy your magazines as your
magazine doesn’t only consist on one thing but others too.
Often, promotional gifts are given away, such as cover-mounted CDs or books. The January
2006 issue included a free copy of "The Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany … Ever!", modelled
on Schott's Original Miscellany.