NME Case Study

3. The NME music magazine is owned by the multi-national institution Time Inc
which was previously known as IPC. Time Inc is a successful publishing company
that owns and publishes over 100 magazines.
NME’s first issue was published on the 7th March 1952 and since then has gained
411,000 loyal readers.
NME is distributed weekly for free. Not making the public charge for the magazine
results in little income for Time Inc however the magazine contains lots of adverts
which aids the funding of the magazine and makes a profit for the institution.
NME can be found in newsagents and each weekly issue is handed out to the
public on the London underground.
WHO OWNS AND PRODUCES NME?

4. TARGET AUDIENCE
From viewing the NME media pack I have collected the following information about NME’s target audience
• The median age of the readership is 25
• 68% of NME readers between the ages of 16-24 state that adverts for bands and new music releases influence how they
discover new music. This shows the authority NME have over influencing people’s thoughts and opinions.
• NME have 63% male and 37% female so they target males more than females although their magazine is unisex.
• 47% of the readership are within the category ABC1 which is the middle class market
• A third download music at least once a week
• 75% read about music online at least once a week
• 26% of the readership are students
Target Audience Demographics
Age: 25
Gender: male
Race: white
Employment: Higher managerial and
professional, middle management, office
worker or student (ABC1)
Geographics: lives in the UK

5. The target audience of NME are within the age bracket of 16-25 and so will live a busy lifestyle. Due to their
enthusiasm in music they will attend gigs and festivals regularly and are informed of these events through reading
NME.
NME’s target audience will enjoy energy and fizzy drinks such as Coca Cola, Sprite, Monster and Redbull.
Furthermore, the people within the age bracket over 18 will enjoy drinking alcohol and will be used to consuming
these drinks at parties and festivals.
TARGET AUDIENCE PSYCHOGRAPHICS
Additionally, due to the target audience having a busy lifestyle they
will occasionally eat fast food and takeaways. Moreover, the NME
target audience enjoy watching horror movies and comedies due to
their interest in indie-rock music.
The target audience will have a very adventurous, outgoing
personality and will enjoy listening to music in their spare time. Due
to the target audience being fairly young they will have experience
with modern gadgets such as mobiles, tablets and computers and so
will be recognised as quite tech savvy. Due to their understanding of
technology they will regularly download music from spotify or apple
music.

7. NME music genres include:
Indie
Rock
Alternative
Punk rock
NME media platforms:
Print (NME magazine)
Youtube videos
Social media (facebook, instagram, twitter,
snapchat)
TV (no longer running)
Radio (no longer running)

8. Front page is promoting the
‘Brent Is Back’ movie
Now TV
Sky Broadband
Vodafone
Muller (food)
Bulmers (drink)
Moon Hooch
LUNA
Promoting NME app
The Smyths concert
Bestival
Dr.Martens
ADVERTISEMENT IN NME
Apple Iphone 6s
Three
Amazon
Budweiser (drink)
Promoting Gigs and bands
KOKO (club)

9. WHY I AM USING NME AS INSPIRATION FOR MY
MUSIC MAGAZINE
I am using NME as inspiration for my magazine largely because they focus on indie-
rock music and this is the music genre that I will also be focusing on. I really like the
appearance of NME and its contents appeal to me as I enjoy listening to indie-rock
music.
From analysing the NME front covers, contents pages and double page spreads I have
seen many conventions that I am interested in using in the presentation of my music
magazine. Furthermore, conventions of the NME magazines such as the colour scheme
is another aspect that I have been inspired to use.
Overall, NME magazines have given me a greater understanding of the conventions of
a music magazine and the features and articles that should be included. I will use this
as inspiration for my own music magazine.