Magazine case study

Music Magazine Case Study

Introduction

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology. Q was first published in October 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing. Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands. The publisher of the magazine is Bauer Media Group. The monthly readership of this magazine is 371,000; it is the UK’s number one actively-purchased music magazine. 2/3 of the readers are male and only a 1/3 are female. Here is a chart to show the age range of the readers

15-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+

        38.3%                   23.8%                  19.5%                   13.6%                  3.1%                   1.8%

Content: The magazine has an extensive 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.

Technology: Q also has a radio station to enhance its audience across different media devices. After a few years as a magazine Q Radio launched in June 2008 as a full service radio station with a complete roster.

In the cold play edition of Q, Chris Martin, the lead singer, is the image on the front cover. The cover is a lot different to most covers and makes it stand out to readers, it also informs the audience that this edition is focused on the band Coldplay.

This edition has a featured article on Coldplay where the band announces their 50 favourite albums and says why they like that specific genre of music. They also answer personal questions so that fans of the band will be interested in reading the magazine.

In this special edition they also have an article called ‘Q’s view of 2011’ which looks back at the stand out happenings from the year and the most memorable things. This article will be sure to attract attention from readers as it may create a difference in opinion on the editor’s views.

 

Advertising: As the majority of readers are from the younger generation there are a lot of fashionable advertisements for clothes, watches, headphones etc. the headphone company ‘Maxwell’ are often seen in the magazine advertising their new products. Also because there are a lot of male readers there are some sport advertisement such as clothes and equipment. The products advertised are probably for the higher- middle- class people. Furthermore there are a lot of sweets and chocolates, such as kit kat and skittles, advertised. This is probably aimed more towards the younger readers as they are more likely to buy sweets or chocolates.