Q Magazine to Close After 34 Years

Q magazine, the stalwart British music monthly, has published its final issue. The title failed to attract a buyer after parent company Bauer Media listed it for sale in May due to pandemic restructuring. The magazine, to which I and other Pitchfork writers have contributed, was founded in 1986, with a focus on rock, pop, and alternative music, reported via intimately detailed features and an expansive reviews section. It had also held an annual awards show in London since 1990.

In his final Q editor’s letter, Ted Kessler says he implemented various survival measures “in an extremely challenging print market” since his appointment in 2017, before “COVID-19 wiped all that out.” He describes the closure as “an inevitability nobody could’ve predicted as recently as March.” The final issue compiles “greatest-hits” interviews with artists including David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, and Prince. “Hopefully, these final issues will provide inspiration for someone canny enough to fill that huge Q-shaped hole on the newstand,” Kessler writes.