NME – NME (New Musical Express) is a weekly music magazine which has been published in the UK since March 1952. The magazine is made by ICP Media (Time Inc.) and has a total circulation of 56,284 (Jan – Jun 08). NME was the first music magazine to feature the singles chart which appeared in the 14th November 1952 edition. NME is one of the most successful music magazines of all time and was the best selling music magazine in the 1970s.
NME mainly focuses on different types of rock such as Classic Rock, Glam Rock, Punk Rock etc. It also features a lot of Indie artists too. In fact over its lifetime it has covered many genres, it has been criticized a lot for doing that as many readers will go off the magazine if it has genres they don’t like in it. Bands of interest are: Oasis, Blur, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Nirvana, Manic Street Preachers, The White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, Hear’say and Destiny’s Child.
Title – NME is simply an abbreviation of New Musical Express. This is a fairly simple name and it’s straight to the point. Basically it covers new music and delivers the news quickly, regularly and conveniently as if it were an express train or something similar. I don’t think much of the name, it fits its purpose but I don’t think it’s imaginative enough. However since it has been around for over 50 years now, people have got used to the name so it would be silly to change it.
Font – The font used for NME’s main logo is very bold and brass. The effects used on the logo make it stand out superbly; it has a lot of emphasis on red and white unlike Kerrang!’s black and white effect. The fonts used are all sans-serif which makes them stand out more and less sophisticated looking. Just like Kerrang! I think the fonts make the magazine look less intimidating to read and it won’t be as text heavy like newspapers which tend to use serif fonts. The vocabulary will likely be similar to Kerrang! although maybe not as much swearing. The logo looks very mature and powerful; it stands tightly together and in huge block capitals. There is an indent effect and some shadowing which makes it look more 3D, the black outline also helps to make the logo stand out. I think the logo definitely suits the magazine; it’s hard to know why but I think it’s because the logo looks bold and powerful and the red really helps promote the rock genre of music. The effects used have been well implements and the placement is suitable.
Colour – Since this is more of a rock magazine then anything else, the main colours used are black and white, however it uses a variety of other colours such as red and brown quite frequently, this is so that people will know that it’s not just about hardcore rock like Kerrang! is. On the front cover, there are at least 5 different colours, each part has a different coloured background and different coloured text to go with it. It actually works quite well, they have done it so that it stands out, and the colours used suggest that they are aiming for a more sophisticated rebellious style then Kerrang! What I mean by this, is that rather then having messy pictures of people looking insane and wanting to kill you, they instead have matured people but with an intimidating look on their face.
Use of Language – Again just like Kerrang!, there were no signs of any puns, alliteration or numbers, however there are probably quite a few through out the rest of the magazine. It also uses informal language as it is aimed at a young audience (unlike The Independent newspaper for example). Therefore there will be a lot of slang and swear words in the magazine, however Kerrang! will likely have more as it is a more rebellious magazine which focuses on heavy rock and heavy metal. There are a few abbreviations scattered around (the logo is one them), and one quote, however apart from that there is not much else to same about the use of language. The language used is straight to the point but it isn’t assertive unlike in Kerrang!. The bands featured are all similar in their style of music, this suggests that NME know their subject area well.
Target Audience – Now I’ve analyzed most of the NME front cover, I can come to a conclusion about who the target audience is. I believe that this magazine is aimed at late teens and young adults (between 17 and 25 perhaps). This is because the magazine is still rather rebellious, however it has a hint of sophistication in it too since it covers some classic rock etc. I think the magazine does very well in reaching out to its audience, rock and indie artists are very popular in this age range, so they have made the overall style just right. The dress sense, lyrics and attitude of the artists are also slightly more sophisticated then in Kerrang!, however they still manage to look rebellious at the same time. Most of the artists are similar ages to the audience too, some are slightly older. The sex appeal is still there but it is much more subtle, NME prefers to focus on the style of its magazine and how “hip” and “cool” it looks. The front cover features a band made up of four people, one of which is a girl which shows that the magazine is aimed at both genders. The main guy is wearing sunglasses while the others stare seriously into the camera. This makes them look cool and tough. Their clothes are very casual and make the band seem rather laid back. Like I mentioned before, the magazine isn’t gender specific as the music can be enjoyed by anyone. Nationality doesn’t really come into it, however since it’s a British Music Magazine, it mainly features British artists, yet it does features other artists from around the world. As for class types it will most likely be the middle class (C1 & C2) however since it’s a weekly magazine, classes D & E may be able to afford it.
Image – As I said before, the band featured looked laid back due to their casual clothing, they also look cool and tough due to their poses. This is definitely a posed shot because all of the members are looking straight into the camera, they probably posed like this to appeal to younger audiences, the clothing they wear makes them look younger then they actually are. The band mostly consists of men, however there is one woman, so sexuality doesn’t really come into this. I haven’t heard of the band before, but it does say “Britain’s best-loved band” which could suggest that it’s British, however the band name is LasVegas (I think) which is an American city, so therefore it could be an American band. The headline used suggests that the feature is about the band and their history.
Main Sells – Just like in Kerrang!, there aren’t the usual main sells that you would find on other magazines (mostly kids magazines). There are no mentions about competitions, freebies, posters etc, instead it just has many different headlines relating to different bands, and these all read well and are probably the biggest sellers on the front cover. The quote from the band called The Stokes also helps a lot, people love to hear from the band directly, so this will make readers want to buy the magazine. Other than the headlines the only thing that sells it is the list of bands it features in the magazine, so if you like a band mentioned then you are likely to buy it. I don’t think it advertises freebies or competitions because they probably feel that it is too gimmicky (just like Kerrang! feels like) and that there is more important stuff they must feature on the cover. Also NME is aiming for a bit of sophistication so it probably doesn’t want to be cluttered up with things that seem to be inconvenient.
Other Information – Again all the main bits of information such as the barcode, price of the magazine and the issue number/date are all present. This may not be too noticeable on the cover, but it is all vital information for the buyer and the seller. How else would we know we’re up to date with our music? (Well ok admittedly you can use the internet now, but in the past you couldn’t).
How Many Pages – I’m unsure as to how many pages there are, but I would imagine that there would be around the same amount as Kerrang! as they are both published weekly. This would be approximately 70 A4 pages.
Main Flash Story – The main flash for this issue is about a band presumably called LasVegas. The headline given suggests that it is about the history of the band as it mentions the “tears” and “triumphs” of the band (so the highs and lows of the band’s career). It also mentions that it’s “Britain’s best-loved band” (which is total rubbish if you ask me because I’ve never heard of them, however they say this to get readers more interested. They will be thinking that this band must be good and will want to read up on them and listen to their music etc). But seeing as it’s “ Britain’s best-loved band” it means that the band must be very popular so lots of people will be interested in reading about them. All of it works very well.
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