Q magazine focuses on popular music. Unlike other music magazines, it has a variety of acts on the front cover, not just focusing on a particular genre. This is the ideology of Q because both old and new is important as well as all genres. The audience expects to see a variety of artists on the front cover, from rock to pop to indie.
It is a quality magazine as it is produced monthly and has a higher standard of photography and printing. This is to set it apart from all of the other music magazines as it shows the quality. Q also heavily relies on reviews for the content of its magazine. It reviews music as well as films, TV and live concert reviews. It also focuses on interviews with artists in depth.
When newer artists are on the cover, it tends to be just the lead singer of the band as they are the one in the band with an instantly recognisable face such as this Kasabian cover. They released their debut album in 2004 so are considered to be a newer name. The two members on the front cover are Tom Meighan and Sergio Pizzorno who are the lead singer and guitarist/ backing vocalist respectively. Only die-hard fans would know the names of the other members of the band as these are the two who tend to do all of the promotion for the band. When older bands are on the cover, it tends to be all members as they have already established themselves within the music world.
The main image is of Tom and Serge. The readers eyes are immediately drawn to the guitar on fire. This could either be an influence of the coverline “the 101 hottest things in music now” or the main coverline “Kasabian: they’re on fire” which is a play on their latest single, Fire; this is for readers to decide. Going against the conventions of a music magazine, the shot is a long shot. This is to show the full effect of the guitar as well as the band members. They have full eye contact with the reader. However, Tom (on the left) is staring directly at the reader as if he has something serious to say and wants to seem powerful whereas Serge (on the right) is pulling a “serious rock face”. This fits in with the ideology of the magazine as readers believe that Q is traditionally about influential music and are always on the look-out for new and upcoming artists to listen to. Also, they tend to like classic guitar music which Kasabian fit in with.
Unlike some other music magazines, they tend to have more than one image on the front cover. This could be to show that their focus is not just of the main image; there are other important features within the magazine.
Q are well known for their lists such as 50 bands to see before you die and the 100 greatest albums. However, they have been criticised for compiling too many of said lists as it is considered lazy journalism. However, these lists are often compiled by readers participating in polls on their website.
The masthead, Q, is instantly recognisable on shop shelves because of its red background with a white Q on top of it. However it hasn’t always looked like this. Only since June 1992 has it been this way. Previously it had been the white Q on a blue, red or yellow background. When it was first published, it was supposed to be called Cue but this was scrapped so it wouldn’t be mistaken for a snooker magazine. It was changed to just the single letter Q as this would look more prominent on newsstands. Also, it is the most successful music magazine so the public
know about it so it can be covered because it has already been established.
The sell line at the top of the magazine is not a typical sell line. Normally, it is a feature in the magazine but this time is just the statement “the UK’s biggest music magazine”. This could be because the main feature of the magazine is the 101 hottest acts so this will take up a big chunk of the magazine.
The dateline, price, barcode and issue number are all in the bottom left hand corner. This is because the makers of the magazine know that if the reader has looked at the magazine and likes the look of the main image and coverlines, they will not be bothered about the price and just buy it anyways.
The institution of Q is Q which also has its own radio and TV channel as well as its Q Awards ceremony and website. However it is published by Bauer Media Group. Their purpose is to make money as it is commercial. This means that it contains adverts and the content is mostly music.
Q magazine targets the music and lifestyle audience. However it doesn’t have a target audience as such because it just targets music lovers.
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