NME research

The New Music Express or NME is known globally and is considered one of the most influential music magazines in the world. They named the magazine this purely because they bring us new music and it wants to make that point very clear, the word 'express' at the end suggests that NME is an almost like an incredibly fast train that is only bringing you the best up and coming acts as well as covering the hottest acts in the world. They have been publishing since 1952 and have covered a lot of storied including

• The Break-Up of The Beatles
• The Death of Elvis Presley
• The Death of Kurt Cobain

However they have also;

• Created The First UK Singles Chart
• They were the first magazine to cover Punk in the 80's
• Being the first in the world to cover acts such as, Nirvana, Oasis, Jimi Hendrix and that is just a few of them.

Target Audience.
NME often present their target audience with brand new bands which is most likely appealing to 15-20 year old males, as they want to hear about the new up and coming bands as well as what their most liked bands have been doing. However, they can also attract other age ranges because it includes older bands, with details about them what they are doing now ect. and other people besides young males are going to find this interesting. This magazine attracts different people in different ways and this is because it covers a varied rang of music within the magazine. Another thing I noticed is that most of the people that appear on the front of the magazine are of a young age, take the issue that I have analysed late on in this post for example, both Kane and Turner are 22 years old and this is going to make the magazine appealing to people that age because they have something I’m common with the people on the front cover.

However one of the main reasons I have chosen to look at NME is because it has some of the most individual photography I have ever seen.

Both these pictures are what I meant when I said individual photography, because you wouldn't find images like this on many other music magazine out there. On both these issues the text is very bold and visible although there is not a lot of it with out including the title and the barcode. The layout is very basic and very similar on both issues with the photo on one side and that being the main focus with pictures like this you don't want to cover them up, you want people to see them and for your readers to be interested just by this.

April 2010

March 2008 Issue.

Front Covers.
The front covers of NME are a lot more visually interesting than text focused. In some cases this can attract readers as pictures say a lot more than words and people can know more by looking at an image than reading a large amount of text, but this can also turn away people because they think that there is not a lot of content within the magazine its self. Another thing I noticed about this magazine is that the date of issue is featured next the barcode and it is incredibly small which can make it hard for some readers to find out which issue it is and when the information given in the magazine is dated to.
Mast Head.

This is the NME logo, it is always the boldest piece of text on the front cover, the bright red letters are eye catching but then it is outlined with white and placed on a black background which is adding layers to the title as well as all of these colours together are creating contrast on the cover of the magazine. On NME, the title is always in a fixed position it is always at the top of the left third, the font and size also remains the same for every issue and this has helped developed a brand identity for this magazine. On this issue the title is obscured by the head of Alex Turner. This is showing the brand identity that I just mentioned, it establishes their prominent reputation.

Left Third.All of the main stories are mentioned on the left third of the magazine and this is to attract peoples attention. For example the 'Tom Clark Vs Faris Rotter' they have made the text different from the rest by making it bold and have done it is a style that makes it seam although it is a real fight. The brightness of the text and the bold style makes everything on that front cover seam important and it makes the reader want to know everything they can about it.

Main Image.
The band in the main image of the magazine is 'The Last Shadow Puppets', in the image it is almost like they are being defined as genius and the positioning of them in the image is deliberate as it insures that their faces are fully visible and bold, their eyes are wide and it gives the reader the almost instantaneous feeling that they are involved with the magazine this interests the reader from the word go basically. Both Turner and Kane are dressed very similarly and this signifies the fact that they are in the same band, the fact that they are wearing black against a white background makes them stand out more and the red from the title also adds contrast to the colour scheme of the cover.

Cover Lines.The cover lines are meant to inform the reader that is why they must stand out the way that they do, the main article of the magazine is shown by the cover line 'First Major Interview As The Last Shadow Puppets'. The fact they put 'First Major Interview' on the front cover is trying to suggest that they have the scoop or new story to attract the readers. The text is surrounded by an image of the band and it reinforces the story even more. Another appealing cover line is 'SXSW Special - 12 Brilliant New Bands We've Found For You'. Like I said at the beginning of this post NME are famous for covering up and coming artist before they hit the big time and all the readers of this magazine will like this fact, music is almost a trend and you need to know whats hot now and all the up and coming artists. It is almost like the target audience have to know about the new bands and they use this to fulfil their demographics as people will buy the magazine just to find this out.

Call Out. This magazine features a small extract from an inside article on the front cover and it is a very good idea, it is almost teasing the potential reader of the magazine to buy it so they know what is going on. It is again to fulfil their demographics because people want to know what it going on with this new band, and how they got together.


Colour Scheme.
The colour scheme for this magazine is very simple, there are only 3 main colours used on the front of every issues of NME and they are Red, Black and White,(on special issues the colour scheme does change slightly) this is how the magazine has manages to develop the identity that it has used the same colours and similar layout for a long time but they change it slightly each time and this is why people find the magazine so easy to recognise. Contents Analysis.

- NME have developed a identity with there contents page as they have the same house colours as the contents page Red, White and Black which has now instantly become recognisable as NME.
- Each week the layout of the contents is the same, which is the same as the cover. The NME logo is situated at the top of the page in exactly the same place and all of the above is why NME is a prestigious magazine and it appears so professional.
- However the yellow text that they have put in the subscription box is a very clever idea, it is outside the usual colour scheme for this magazine and the readers are going to be instantly attracted to what it has to say, the fact that it is also placed in a black box makes it seam separated from the rest of the text, the images of front covers they have inserted in there have some of the hottest musical acts in the world on them and this is what the readers of the magazine are interested in.