Full Analysis Of Magazine

                                                           Analysis of NME magazine

Introduction:

NME magazine has been published weekly since march 1952, it was originally printed in tabloid newspaper form. Following the lead of US publication ‘Billboard’, NME created the UK’s first printed singles chart. NME has always championed new music, usually of an alternative style. NME is known these days as a brand itself, this is due to having a radio station, magazine, website and TV channel. NME are convergent across media platforms making them easily accessible to the consumer, this also keeps their profits up. This money has allowed NME to fund its our tours, the ‘NME awards tour’ for established alternative music and ‘NME radar tour’ for breakthrough new music. It is because of this media empire NME has created that their fans trust the opinions broadcast so much. A single NME review now has the power to make or break an act, this is furthered by the ‘NME awards show’ where music is both championed and put down annually. NME is famous for being opinionated, and sometimes pretentious and even turning against bands they have previously bloated about – this has meant frequent feuds with artists that they will normally feature in the magazine. 

The Magazine Content:

The content within NME mixes humor, critical musical comments and news. Every week there is a feature on a band or musical icon (new or established) and they will usually be the cover artist. Other regulars include: a letter section – for people to write in their opinions for NME to print and respond to, a reviews section – where NME gives honest (usually controversial) opinions on new releases, gig list – all recommended gigs are listed for each are of the UK, advert section – albums and tours are advertised here and ‘Radar’ – this is perhaps what NME is known for, here they broadcast brand new, sometimes unsigned bands and get them heard. This sort of platform allows bands to get signed, tour and become successful. Non-regular features include posters, festival specials, album specials and comeback specials.

NME has developed over the years to keep up competition with other music publications; it has reinvented itself a few times but stayed true to its original ideology. Perhaps the biggest development was the move from newspaper to glossy colour, this gave the magazine a level of authority and sophistication. Their logo has always stayed the same concept but has been altered slightly to keep modern.

Gigs and albums of an indie/rock/folk/punk/alternative genre are likely to advertise in NME. Other advertisers are linked to the demographic, so alcohol (usually beer), phones, clothes, festivals and special reunion tours. All of NME’s advertisements are musical or clothes etc. to help the reader embrace that lifestyle.

The Publisher Of The Magazine: IPC Media

IPC Media markets itself as the UK’s leading consumer magazine and digital publisher. They have many of the best-known magazine titles, including NME. They also publish NME’s website. They are a large mainstream publisher and so not publish any magazines that could compete with NME as this would impact their sales badly.

The Typical Reader Profile:

The typical reader of NME is a student on a low salary that has an interest in alternative new music, they would probably own a flat and go to university or work, enjoy gigs and festivals also. Their target audience would be males aged 17-25.

There are many exceptions however as recently NME has become more popular and older generations have started buying it. NME caters to their target audience by providing them with the news they want to know and not holding back. They also use language that the audience would use, for example slang and swearing. This is to connote friendship and positions the audience to trust NME’s opinion.

Layout Trademarks Of The Magazine (House Style):

The most famous trademark of NME is their logo, bold initials usually in red. Red connotes stop and makes it stand out to the reader when on a shelf. The cover artist will be musical and their name will be the biggest font on the page, followed by the NME logo. The cover usually consists of 3 main colours, true to mainstream magazine conventions. The feature article will be in the middle, making it easy to locate and the page look nicest and the questions from the interviewer will be bold – responses will be normal. The framework of each page will be similar in each issue to build their house style and familiarize the reader with it, the continuing of a theme will stay in the consumers mind and also become known, and therefore unique, to NME.

Does The Magazine Reflect The Values Of Its Audience?

NME is known for having the reader’s interests first, I believe that NME truly does want to broadcast new music to the people that need to hear it – they make music accessible. Without establishments like NME the UK music scene would suffer, this is because NME mainly focuses on new British music and fame them, this leads to festival slots etc. and a band can make it through one good review. NME also broadcast important issues, for example they ran a political feature about student loans – making it easy to understand for the readers that were mostly affected by it. For reasons such as this I think NME is a magazine for the people.