The NME has been published weekly since March 1952, beginning as a music newspaper but moved to a magazine format, changing from news print in 1988. It was British best selling music newspaper in 1970s. The first issue was published on 7th March 1952. In May 2008 the magazine had a re-design and was aimed at an older relationship and less poppy. Circulation of the magazine has fallen since 2003, this could once more be again due to the internet and most information being easier to get from there and other appliances such as iPods.
TITLE
The title of the magazine is obviously NME, it stands for 'new musical express'. After purchasing the magazine i found that it features different genres of music not just indie rock, these genres include; punk,metal and hiphop. I realise now that it is called NME because if features new music and a regular basis. 'Express' has connotations of a newspaper which links to the kind of paper used within the magazine as it is similar to that of a paper.
READERSHIP
I think that the target audience of this magazine is teens and young adults, perhaps even older as it feature's music from the past. This kind of magazine would definately not be aimed at an audience of a younger generation then that i have mentioned, this is because music within this genre often includes explicit lyrics such as; swearing, sex and drugs. As parents pay for this age ranges disposable income, they would not allow for their young child to read a magazine that features these things. I think that they would be more likely to pay for a less offensive pop magazine that features role models. I know that it is targeted at an older audience because of the serious expression on the artists face, the colour scheme features colours like black. Artists included in the 'anchor' (The red and white text at the bottom of the page) have names such as 'eagles of death metal' this name has negative connotations, something a parent wouldn't allow a child to read. Readers will firstly 'interact' with the magazine through features in the front cover as it will be the first thing they will see. Features within the magazine that the reader can interact with include, a letters page, competitions page and through the advertising.
THE COVER
The front cover includes three images of music artists. The main one is a picture of Lily Allen with choppy black hair and a grungy oversized tartan shirt. The Tartan shirt was a common type of clothing worn by 'punks' in the 1970's, she's also wearing chains and has sullen looking eyes. Which reinforces the meme of punk fashion portrayed in the cover. I noticed that Lily's face has been edited so that she looks pale & has no colour or small features shown. This also contributes to the punk image. In addition Lily is looking straight at the camera, meaning that it looks like she's looking out to the reader, this is used as a form of direct mode of address. The white and black 'splash' beside her has been deliberately written in the font it is shown in. This is because it was used by the punk band 'The Sex Pistols' back in 1977, this could show that the magazine is trying to bring back the trope of punk fashion. Intertextuality has been used by doing this, the sub-editor has mixed punk fashion with indie music. After researching the magazine i think the editor has done this in an attempt to attract a wider ranger of readers, perhaps adults that once read the magazine back in the 70's or people who listen to punk now.
THE PRESENTATIONThis magazines presentation has been done extremely well. It still maintains a professional feel whilst appearing random and almost skatty. Inside, Articles can relate to the style of a newspaper, i think that this works well for the indie rock genre. The colours and layout are much more plain and 'tidy' inside than the cover again i feel tis works well as it indicates that the magazine is serving a purpose rather than being filled with images like othermagazines.
The layout kind of reminds me of blog posts.
THE MODE OF ADDRESSI'dsay that the language used throughout the magazine is informal,upbeat and friendly. The text used welcomes the reader and isnt intimidating to read. Do to the friendly approach you could say that the writer aims to build trust and almost make a relationship with the reader. Readers are encouraged to interact with the magazine and share their opinions through the fan page, twitter and facebook. This is a simple and effective way for the editor of the magazine to show readers that the magazine is 'for' them, they're opinions matter and will be taken into account.
ADVERTISINGAdvertisments within the magazine are obviously aimed at the magazines target audience and reflect the themes in the magazine. Advertising in magazines is a quick and effective way of sending out messages to the reader. For example, an advertisment commonly found in a music magazine is one for gigs, the gig will be the type of music genre that will appeal to the reader as they have brought a music magazine thats subject is the same as the gig.. Its effective because they are directly contacting the type of people who would be interested in watching the gig.
PUBLICATIONThe magazine has been being published for over 50 years. It was first released by IPC media in 1952. Its circulation from january to june 2010 was over 30,000. This could be due to the magazines effective use of publication 'platforms' such as facebook and twitter.
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