Review of 'Q' Magazine

Established in 1986 'Q' magazine is the UK's “biggest” music monthly.

It has found readership with the 90s 'brit-pop' generation, a predominantly male audience, who are young and affluent and have a wide range of interests. The magazine infuses music with lifestyle and has features on film, gaming, sport, comedy and gadgets; this is the magazine for the man with a diverse range of interests. Similarly it is not genre exclusive offering quite a broad range of music ranging from indie and alternative to hip hop and rap, although it's focuses more so on rock, indie and alternative. The artists are similarly varied ranging from The Strokes to Dizzee Rascal.

The magazines circulation is around 90,000 and it's readership is estimated at 550,000, of which 68% are male, the average reader is 29.

Pub quiz fact: It was originally called 'Cue' magazine, which people often mistook for a snooker magazine.

Are blackness and whiteness useful concepts in the study of popular music?

Hatch discusses the idea that “popular music has always depended upon the interaction between white and black traditions”. Popular music is a frequently a fusion of many different cultural and racial backgrounds and no style of music is exclusive to a race of people. Looking to an example such as rap, a genre where the artist is typically considered to be black, but the best selling rap artist of all time is white (Eminem).

Hatch also discusses that the idea of 'black' and 'white' music is curious, as musicologically there is “no satisfactory definition” and ideologically it turns what is often issue of class into a race issue; this can be the case as music often comes from struggle and frequently from the deprived areas of society. The concept of black and white music is quite flawed and it communicates an air of exclusion which isn't truly there.

Does the emergence of the digital download signal the end for the music industry?

Since the invention of the cassette tape, music piracy has often been blamed for the “demise” in record sales by the music industry. Now with the rise of broadband internet and the mp3 peer to peer network music downloads have thrived.

Lessig looks at RIAA estimates for 1999-2001 in which 803 million CDs were sold and 2.1 billion were downloaded for free , he discusses that if one download was equivalent to one lost sale they would be accountable for a 100% drop and not 7%. He also discusses the 4 types of downloads and deemed only one, “to replace purchasing”, to be harmful to the industry, the second “to sample then purchase” can be seen as free marketing and can only benefit them.

With iTunes recently hitting it's 10 billionth track purchased the digital download could be seen as helping push the music industry forward (into cheaper legal downloads) and embracing new technologies faster.

Can popular music achieve genuine political change?

Popular music has long had associations with politics, it is often used as a platform in attempt to instigate social and political change. In theory this can be achieved through raising awareness of an issue into the social conscience. A good example of this is Band Aid, which aimed to raise awareness (and money) for the famine in Ethiopia. The campaign did raise a lot of money and awareness for the cause and has seen change.

In the 1980s a organisation of musicians formed to create Red Wedge, who attempted to sway the vote in the 1987 general election towards the labour party. Their campaign was unsuccessful and disbanded in 1990. It would appear from this that music has less impact in instigating this kind of political change, and trying to persuade voters from their established beliefs may seem to be quite blind sighted.

What is world music, and why do we have such a category?

World music as a genre is quite interesting in the fact that it contains music that often has little musical similarity, but it is sold to us in the same category. When we speak of Global Music, we talk of music that is sold all over the world, heavily marketed, and is often anglo-american in language, the “accepted standard global template”.

World music is often traditional indigenous local music from around the world, which has been marketed to us as world music; in other words it is music of non anglo-american language, it is music that doesn't fit into any of the other categories.

The cultural imperialist theory discusses the idea that multinational companies will 'buy up' many of these small indigenous musicians in an attempt to continue their monopoly on the sector. It could be said that world music has emerged because of this monopolisation.

Is popular music a mass produced commodity or a genuine art form?

Marxist theorist Theodor Adorno discusses the concept of popular music as “mass produced, inferior commodity”. He also discusses the role of “standardisation” within popular music, through “part interchangeability” and “pseudo individuality”. A good example of this would be the way in which TV programmes like 'The X Factor' “churn” out music, which in many cases is often something which has previously been released within a relatively short timeframe. The music in some cases sounds almost no different to the original material.

One way in which popular music cannot be considered mass produced is through its consumption, unlike other 'commodities' we don't consume popular music in quite the same way, we don't buy the same track repeatedly but we do buy similar music or material by similar artists.

It is difficult to state whether it is one or the other but sometimes it does sway towards Adorno's argument.

How useful is a production of cultural perspective in understanding the birth of rock and roll?

Looking at Peterson's cultural perspective “Why 1955?” he discusses six elements which came together in what some believe to be the birth of rock and roll. His work also dismisses some common myths attributed to the rise of rock and roll, the impact of the post war baby boom or that it was sparked by artists; but it fails to consider many other significant social factors, and why in particular it was rock and roll that was born.

One of the major factors Peterson does not discuss is sex, the term 'rock and roll' is a synonym for sex and a relaxing social attitude towards sex in the 50s amongst teenagers surely must have had an impact.

He does discuss the technologies involved in distributing the music but does not consider those such as the microphone and amplifier, without which any of this movement would be possible.

Is it reasonable to consider that rock music is gendered male?

With men far outnumbering women as rock performers and musicians it is easy to consider the idea that rock is male orientated. In a Rolling Stones magazine list of the top 100 guitarists only 2 female guitarists made it into the list, and were placed no higher than 72. There is no physical reason why a woman cannot play the guitar as well as or better than a man, it therefore cannot be due to an apparent lack of talent and Bayton discusses the idea that “female absence is entirely social”.

Female guitarists are often seen playing acoustic guitars, this could be due to the “encoded phallocentric message” attached to the electric guitar, where the guitar is held low down suggesting the guitar is an extension of the mans penis (Bayton). With this in mind it is very reasonable to consider the idea that rock is gendered male.

Can popular music ever really be unplugged?

It can be said that popular music owes much of it's existence to technology, the invention of the microphone and the amplifier has greatly impacted the way in which music is heard; it has taken music from small intimate groups to vast stadiums. Without these two technologies it is unlikely that popular music would exist in the way in which we currently recognise it. It is also possible that it wouldn't exist in the mainstream and remain the preserve of trained musicians. This would also mean that the recording industry would not exist and would therefore prevent millions of people from hearing popular music. Even 'unplugged' gigs are not 'unplugged', as it would not be possible for the majority of the audience to hear the music. Popular music can never truly be unplugged as it's use of technologies is one of the foundations of popular music at it exists today.

What is Popular Music?

The word 'popular' is one that cannot be concisely defined, this is why the term 'popular music' often means different things to different people. The word originally comes from a legal term 'popularis' meaning 'to favour the people.' The term has come to encapsulate music that is 'widely favoured' or is seen as a synonym for 'good music'; although there is an element of truth in this statement it is not always the case as many shocking examples in the UK charts will demonstrate. Burnett discusses the idea that popular music is “commercially oriented” whilst there are plenty of examples in which this is true it can't always be said that the primary intention of the artist is to make money. Popular music could be considered as music which is released to or heard by a mainstream audience often for, but not exclusively to, economic gain.