By Anusha Gurung

RESEARCH INTO PRE-EXISTING

MAGAZINES

NME

NME BACKGROUND:

First published on March 1952 It started as a music newspaper, and gradually

moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. NME stands for “New Musical Express”

In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.

An online version of NME, NME.COM, was launched in 1996. It is now the world’s biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users

per month.

The name of the magazine is an acronym ‘NME’ suggests a more modern and no-nonsense take on a national institution.

The magazine had achieved variable success over the years with sales rising and falling.

It has intended to adapt to accommodate new sounds on the rock/metal scene. This has

helped to increase sales in dark times. However, it has also received some criticism

for this.

You can see that the authenticity of the NME masthead has been kept the same since its beginnings till this day. With minimal variations and alterations.

This is done in order to create a clear representation (signature) of what NME magazine is for its consumer’s brand recognition.

DEVELOPMENT

1995 NME Mag

2009 NME Mag

Issued weeklyCosts £2.20 per issue

Consists of approximately 73 A4 pages, produced on glossy, full colour paper.

Follows a standard magazine layout, combining full colour images with bite-size

snippets of text on some pages and full colour articles that combine image and text

on others.NME has its own website, TV channel and

radio channel.

NME TODAY

16-24 Year old80% male, 20% female

Active music enthusiast and purchaser

Interested in computer games, fi lm, TV and tattoosLoyal to their friends and favourite bands, passionate about music and individual who refuses to follow the crowd, youthful and fun.

Sees NME as an authority on rock music and an educator.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Content is entirely devoted to music with music//band news and articles, album

reviews, gig information and gig guides. Quizzes and Letter pages are present too.Bands that commonly feature are: Green

Day, Oasis, Kasabian, The Killers, The Kaiser Chiefs and many more.

The magazine offers free posters, reflecting the largely youth readership.

CONTENTS

The t it le ‘NME’ is written in big bold letters in the top left hand corner- the place the readers fi rst look at when seeing the page. It is put in the corner to remind the reader what the magazine company is .

The t it le’s of stories are mainly one word, so that it is easy to read and

catches the readers attention quickly. They are in capital letters, which make them stand out and the colours of them are black and white,

which contrast each other well , again making them stand out. The

central image on this contents page shows the band Oasis performing

l ive, i t is from a gig so suggests that the art ists in this magazine are al l

about the music and don’t care what they look l ike, they don’t need to

pose in a photo shoot.

PRE-EXISTING CONTENT PAGE ANALYSIS

The layout of this contents is split into sections of diff erent categories. For example: ‘features’ and ‘reviews’. These words are short and simple so draw in the readers attention quickly as they are quick to glance at. They are separated by black text boxes with a white font for the text to make it stand out against the background.

The content shown for this magazine includes mainly news on fresh new music. NME are known for uncovering new music so most of their magazines content is about new music.

The subscription of NME is also advertised on this contents page, this may help persuade the reader to buy every issue instead of just one.

CONTINUED . . .

NME STYLE

• The magazine is visual, some image-heavy and some text

heavy.

• The magazine features a lot of

uppercase text in a distressed font.

Red & black feature mostly in the

magazine.

• NME features a lot of iconography associated with indie/rock and the scene that surrounds it e.g. Tattoos,

amps, dark make-up, electronic guitars, stage, spotlights.

Casual, featuring informal words and phrases that the TA might use

MODE OF ADDRESS

• The tone of expression used by a young fan of indie/rock is established.

• Friendly and down-to-earth, suggesting a good, friend-to-friend relationship between reader and magazine.