Stuart Williams, publishing director of Q and Mojo - which dropped 16.8% and 5.3% respectively year on year - and Kerrang!, admitted that results were "mixed" for Emap's music magazine portfolio. "There were two reasons for the decline at Q," he said. "We suffered some of the ills afflicting the men's market and we made a decision to take covermounted CDs off. The drop reflected the removal of the CDs."
Dan Pimm, head of press at Universal McCann, put Q's drop down to a paucity of controversial bands. "It relies on heavyweight, controversial bands to help sell its issues," he said "Unfortunately, there is a dearth of those around at the moment."
Nevertheless, the rock sector achieved modest overall growth of 0.4% year on year. Kerrang! notched up its highest-ever sales with a circulation of 85,377 - a rise of 12% year on year.
Future celebrated success for both its titles in the sector, with Classic Rock reporting a massive upswing of 25.3% year on year and Metal Hammer up 11.2% year on year.
Meanwhile, films fared less well. Emap's Empire remained the UK's number one film title, but posted a 7.6% drop year on year.
