New Musical Express (known as NME) is a British music publication, which is published weekly since its first ever issue on the 7th March 1952. Originally, NME was published in newspaper format, however, during the 1980's it gradually changed towards a more magazine style. During the 1970's it became the best selling newspaper and the first British magazine to include a UK Singles Chart. NME currently has a website, which has gained popularity of the years with a traffic of 5 millions users each month. The magazine describes itself as "the world's most recognised and iconic music magazine", published to give a "truthful, honest, informed account of what's going down in music".
Typical Content
A typical issue of New Musical Express has around about 70 pages and concentrates on the majority of guitar and rock music. In NME, you would usually expect to find interviews with a variety of band members such as Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, Kasabian, The Rolling Stones and in this case The Maccabees, who has previously featured on the front cover of the magazine. Generally, the magazine begins with a section on "News", which contains articles and other information including the recent goings on in the music world. This is usually followed on with interviews, events, letters from readers, NME Chart, track by track album guides etc. Additionally, there is a section in the magazine dedicated to music review, revealing concert, single and album updates of the week. Furthermore, NME normally always have a few posters near the centre of the magazine. Near the end of the magazine, the pages are filled with adverts for upcoming tours and gigs, as well as competitions, fan mail and "the legendary NME crossword".
According to the National Readership Survey website, 253,000 15-44 year old read this magazine. However, the average age this magazine is aimed at, is around 24-25 year old. I think that the magazine's target genre is Indie Rock, as it is evident from the front cover, with the bands/models included in the magazine. By aiming it at a niche market, the seem to concentrate more on the genre of music itself, instead of the commercial sales. The front cover presents the magazine as looking to interest people who are more in the "background" of the music industry. Usually, the target market the magazine is aimed at, would approximately spend around 19 hours a week on the internet and go to concerts in their spare time.
What is this magazine's house style?
NME Magazine follows a certain house style every issue, displaying the Mast Head in bold, upper case lettering on the top left hand side of the front cover. Generally, the text is positioned around the main image to look like a frame, to ensure the picture stands out to the reader (like the picture above). Furthermore, at least one person on the front cover, is giving Direct Mode of Address, to engage the reader in buying the magazine. The language used of this magazine is normally chatty and informal to sound as though they are talking to the audience. The majority of the headlines on the front cover are written sans serif, to stand out o the magazine to attract their audience.The contents page, usually has the title 'Inside This Week' in large, capital font with the date below, instead of the typical "contents page". Normally, there is a big image included central of the page, with a caption about the feature below the image. Due to the fact, NME was a newspaper, it still follows a similar style of newspaper article throughout. This is apparent as most of the test are black on a black background, as well as most of the articles written in column. Additionally, it has the feel of a newspaper and is doesn't have a shiny finish to it like a typical magazine would have.
Who produces and distributes your magazine?
NME Magazine is currently produced and distributed by the UK leading publisher of consumer magazine and website, IPC Media (Time Inc). Over 26 million adults read an IPC Media Magazine and over 350 million copies are sold each year. some of the other brands they produce are Look, Women and Marie Claire.
Here is the IPC Media Website: http://www.ipcmedia.com/
How are social groups represented in NME Magazine?
By having an Indie Rock band on the front cover, presents the social groups which NME are aimed at. The front cover represents the niche market to show the small and limited social groups compared to other music magazines. NME manages to match its audience’s values by providing a magazine with up to date articles, photos and information based on the typical music related interests of the reader – live concerts, reports from the music industry and new up and coming artists. Overall, I believe that the produces on this magazine took into consideration that the variety of people who read their publication spend a lotof time browsing on the Internet, and therefore, by creating a website for their target market, they can read up on any issues they have missed and more publicity that way too.
Anything interesting about your observations?
The thing that I found most interesting about the NME magazine is that they converted it from a newspaper to a magazine style.
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