Q axes free CDs

The time-honoured way of shoring up music magazine circulation, the cover-mounted freebie CD, has had its day. Or so reckons Q, anyway, which is dropping the giveaways as part of a redesign which attempts to pin down exactly what it is that the magazine is about.

Q will now focus on usefulness, entertainment and quality, [editor Paul] Rees said.

Apparently, people who buy Q want "luxury":

"Monthly magazines have tried to be weeklies and distilled all the editorial down and forgotten that the reason people buy monthlies is to luxuriate in them. That's what you need to do — make it luxurious."

He added: "You have to not be instant. Trying to dive in there straight away with a band like the Arctic Monkeys — you can't stand out by trying to capitalise on that. You have to do things in a more considered way."

We think this means "a bit more Mojo-ey", in other words. Rees doesn't suggest how long he'd expect the Arctic Monkeys to be going before the new Q would mention them - in the meantime, it's going to be back to McCartney covers every other month, we suppose.

music q