MAGAZINE ANALYSISRHYS NELSON – 12E

Institutional Information & History

Q magazine’s first issue debuted in October 1986; produced by the institution of Bauer media group.

Q has made a few alterations to their brand image. In late 2008 Q revamped its image, consisting of a smaller amount of text along with an increased focus on subjects other than music. This resulted in some criticism, from their loyal readership. Although, it has not yet been identified whether this change in attitude will dramatically affect their sales.

The multi-national media group Bauer media group produce many sources of entertainment via varied outlets, for example via the internet, a phone application, physical document like a magazine etc. Bauer media group are also well known for their diversity.

Institutional Information

Genre: Q primarily celebrates the rock and rollmgenre it caters for, but also explores a range of the world’s biggest artists – from U2 to Adele, Oasis to Rihanna, Radiohead to Lady Gaga.

Audience: Q shapes music in the UK and beyond. Q’s audience appear to be relatively young and more affluent than any other music monthly published magazine. This is apparent as I would guess their readers value their lavish photography, detailed reporting and sense of humour.

Representations: Caucasian artists are mainly featured on the cover of their magazines, in which they are portrayed to be successful, risqué, and eccentric. This could be seen as appealing to the audience, as stereotypically this race is seen to be well off.

Tally ChartQ MAGAZINE

Album Advertisement Subscription Advertisement ArticleReviews Tour Competition

Stories

Q magazine publishes stories revolving around on new releases of music as well as upcoming artists which is reinforced in interviews. Also including “world-beating exclusives” and “definitive album reviews”. Q is able to ascertain the biggest stars in rock and roll. Adhering to the musical aspect, Q includes tour reports, insights into a artists life as well as reviews.

The cover story of “The Killers” investigates their musical career. In terms of their success (single ranking in the chart), asserting a nice insight to each band members’ personality, their experiences and antics. The Killers discuss their new album (Day & Age which debuted at no.1 in the UK, also “sold 600,000 copies” by early December. Following that the band’s tour commenced in spring which “sold out in a matter of hours”.) This 9 page cover story included the techniques of a drop cap, bold font, strict colour scheme, page number, brand motif, varied font sizes, pull quote, image caption and key image.

Stories

This article is to help further consumers’ knowledge on this artist, in this case band. Prior to this, they are able to form a perception of them as individuals as well as a group. Readership are expected to develop a relationship on a personal level, this is through techniques like anecdotes, pull quoted etc. From that, they might deduce why certain words are used. Perhaps a word said is quite popular, so shows that individual is fond of trends and/or pop culture.

Without interviews, magazines would not be as successful. A magazine’s core is the interviews, which fans invest in to appear loyal to the musical act and show a keen interest in their talent. Furthermore, features of varied acts are vital which is why Q has featured the pop band “Take That”, then the more alternative rock band “Coldplay”, to supplement the soulful audience “Amy Winehouse” has a story. To further develop a more diverse audience Q includes articles on Metallica, Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Beastie Boys, and Steve Coogan & The Rise And Fall Of Top Of The Pops.

Advertising Analysis

Advertisements such as, albums, alcohol, rizzla (smoking substance), success stories, fashion, concert/tour dates, mobile networks, storage facilities, film, artist memorabilia, cd-players, magazine subscription and dvds.

These do successfully relate to the target audience, as the audience is quite quirky, care free, eccentric, sociable (at times) and interactive. The advertisement campaigns meet their criteria of the typical consumer. The focal point of the magazine is music, therefore readership would have a keen interest in albums, buying their merchandise, somewhere to store it, hearing the songs live, a device to playback the songs and to subscribe to the magazine in order to stay connected to this outlet. The mobile networks works in terms of trend where communication is vital. Social events are also a social convention where films are watched, substances like alcohol are consumed, music is listened to etc. All of which are most likely connected to this genre of music, prior to their rebel like behaviour.