2. The 'New Musical Express, mainly known as 'NME' is a
popular music publication within the United Kingdom
and has been published weekly since March 1952.
Although it started as a music newspaper, it has
gradually moved towards a magazine format from the
1980s onwards. NME decided to launch their own
website for their music magazine called 'NME.COM' in
1996, and is now the world's ‘biggest standalone music
site with other 7 million users per month’. NME is
published by IPC Media which is a company that
circulate a range of different magazine brands. The
following image shows some examples of which brands
IPC broadcast, as well as NME itself.
4. NME is priced at £2.20 with a circulation of
56,284. This is a suitable price for the
magazine due to the target market of men
aged between 17 and 30, with the average
age being 25. As they are young, it is
important that the magazine is not over
priced as they would lose their audience and
viewer ratings. To the right is an image of
the official NME Reader Profile. The brand
have created this profile so that they are
aware who they are aiming their product at.
This is important and an effective idea as it
would ensure that the magazine contains
the necessary and appropriate information
in order to maintain the audiences
gratiphication, as well as relate with their
target market.
5.
6. The masthead of the magazine is „NME‟. The popularity of the
brand is evident as it appears as well known enough to
abbreviate the actual title of „New Music Express‟ to „NME‟ .
However, through this particular cover the popularity is highly
emphasised as the model is digitally placed over the final letter of
the title. This highlights the magazines success as it implies that
readers of the magazine do not need to see the full masthead in
order to be aware of which brand they are purchasing.
Nevertheless , below the title, the strap line states the full name
of „New Musical Express‟. This could be for verification for new
viewers of their magazine and therefore possibly secondary
audiences.
7. The image within the cover shows a
provocative picture of the world-
wide musician, Lady Gaga. Due to
the seductive pose and body
language of the model, the cover
would appeal to the target
audience of young male adults.
The use of direct mode of address
and the dominant colours being her
purple hair and pale skin make the
cover eye catching and able to
stand out against other competitor
products. Mode of address is also
the covers way of connecting with
the audience.
By using a public icon as the
main image, NME would be
attracting a secondary audience as
fans of Lady Gaga would feel
inclined to purchase the magazine.
8. The main cover line is „LADY GAGA unzipped‟. The
words „Lady Gaga‟ are written in a large, bright blue
font due to her success and fame, therefore NME
would want to emphasise her feature within the
magazine. By using the word „unzipped‟, they are
creating a pun as Lady Gaga appears to be
unzipping her clothes within the main
image, however it contains a double meaning that
she will be telling all within her article.
9. Plugs within the magazine contain the names of
other famous artists to brief the viewers on
features within the magazine. It also highlights
the music genre of the magazine, which in this
case is mainstream due to the use of
mainstream/festival artists such as Katy B and
The Friendly Fires.
10. Pull quotes are used within the cover to give the
viewers more of an in-depth knowledge of what
features within the magazine may contain. For
example within the plug explaining „The
Libertines: The Movie‟, a quote states “making this
has been like therapy”. This gives the audience
knowledge that this feature will contain
opinions, thoughts of the artists and possibly
interviews. Another quote which appears on the
left says „I‟m not full of s*** are you?‟. This
indicates that the magazine contains strong
language features and is not be suitable for
children.
11. The overall presentation of the
cover is striking and eye
catching. Although this is
mainly down to the image
within the cover, other factors
of the cover also add to the
overall look. For example, the
colour scheme of
yellow, white and blue is
effective as they are bright
colours which would
therefore stand out, making it
more aesthetically pleasing.
This could also be due to the
seasonality as the magazine
was published in April.
