media

1. CASE STUDY

2.  It’s a British music magazine
 Its headquarters are in Southwark, England
 Editor in chief – Mike Williams, who replaced Krissi Murison in 2012
 Published in 1952
 The first British paper to include a singles chart for the issue of 14
November 1952
 1972-1976 – it was associated with gonzo journalism
 Gradually moved to a magazine format in the 80’s and 90’s
 An online version was launched in 1996 – it had over 17 million users
each month
 Circulation for the first half of 2014 was 15,830
 Relaunched in September 2015 as a nationally distributed free
publication
 Circulation in February 2016 – 307,217. This was the highest in its history,
even beating its previous circulation of 306,881 in 1964, at the height of
the Beatles fame.

3. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were
frequently featured in NME
In the mid 60’s, it was primarily focused on
pop music
Other competing titles were Record Mirror –
a music magazine about rhythm and blues.
Sections of pop began to be designated as
rock
Tense rivalry with Melody Maker
Healthy circulation – 200,000 issues sold per
week
1960s

4.  In the early 70s, NME failed to keep up with the rise of rock
music
 Sales plummeted to 60,000
 1972 – NME almost got discontinued by IPC
 Alan Smith was made editor in 1972 and it became the gateway
to a ‘more rebellious world’
 Glam-rock became popular and then punk
 1977 – it was the place to find the best new music
 Regular cover stars included Sex Pistols, X-ray Spex and
Generation X
 The paper was selling 300,000 copies per week
 It was the best music paper in Britain by 1074
 By mid-80s NME hit a rough patch and almost closed again
 They were torn between hip-hop and rock
 There was a rise of gothic rock bands
70s and 80s

5.  By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene died off
 Grunge was introduced, making Nirvana and Pearl Jam popular
 The paper was dominated by American bands and artists – however,
British bands were not ignored
 1992 – British bands began to take the stage. Suede became popular
 1994 – Kurt Kobain died and Britpop became popular
 Blur and Oasis became the most popular bands and sales rised for NME
 The paper and sales reached a low point by the end of the 90s.
90s

6. NME was no longer printed on newspaper
They attempted to gain a wider audience by
including the hip-hop and R&B genre. The
likes of Destiny’s Child and Hear’say were
featured – they were soon dropped
 2002 – focused on British bands like
Kaiser Chiefs, introducing indie music.
Arctic Monkeys became popular
2000s

7. KEY STATS
MALE – 63%
WOMAN – 37%
MEDIAN AGE – 25
STUDENT – 26%
ABC1 – 47%
CIRCULATION – 20,011
READERSHIP – 261,000

8. ONLINE
FACEBOOK – 229,000 LIKES
TWITTER – 434,000 FOLLOWERS
MOBILE UU – 936,703