Thomas McEnaney is a candidate for an OCR diploma in media studies. He discusses his plans to create a new magazine focused on indie/rock music. The magazine will aim to promote upcoming artists and help them gain exposure. It will start in London and hopes to expand its audience to Scotland within a year. The magazine takes inspiration from other publications like NME and Q that also cover indie rock genres and bands. McEnaney discusses the niche audience of indie rock fans and how his magazine can promote lesser known artists. He proposes a name and strapline for the magazine and discusses its potential content, dimensions, distribution and readership.

1. Candidate Name: Thomas McEnaney
Candidate Number: 4096
Center: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
OCR –
Level 3 Cambridge Introductory Diploma in Media
Unit 13: LO1
UK Media Publishing

2. Inspiration & Content of NME
 The inspiration behind my new magazine I am going to produce is
an Indie/rock upcoming artist and bands and I have gained
inspiration from reading magazines such as Q and NME. I have
chosen this genre of music because I have a strong passion about
finding new and upcoming bands in the indie rock genre.
 By creating this magazine I hope to gain their band identity and
help find and expose them to new potential listeners who may not
know who they are before reading my magazine.
 I want to help these indie rock bands grow because I know just how
hard it can be to get media attention to help them make new records
and albums.
 For year one I am going o start in London and by issue 12 of 2015 I
hope to have target audience reaching Scotland and in the next
three years improving on the sales each month and become a
market leader in the indie/rock monthly music magazine.

3. Genre
 Bands such as the Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian all
started with out any help apart from the support of
online videos and magazine coverage.
 The genre of Indie rock connotes extremely diverse, with
sub-genres that include indie pop, jangle pop and lo-fi,
among others.
 Because Indie rock is a very niche genre and market to
promote it can be very competitive with other magazines
such as NME and Q but with my magazine. I will not be
focusing on the mainstream indie rock bands and more
about those who are just finding their feet in the
business.

4. Strapline
 ‘New music discovered’
 The denotation of my strapline is ‘new music
discovered’ connotes that we have a passion for
“Discovering” new indie music in the U.K. by having
this strapline it grab the attention of the readers and
potential buyers looking to buy a magazine
illustrates what my magazine is about. Therefore
this will hopefully increase sales and brand
popularity of my new music magazine.

5. Content
 On the left is the contents page
and along the right hand side of
the page is the NME band list in
which it shows any news or
stories about the artists or band.
They use this so that fans of the
band can quickly see where they
are featured in the magazine.
NME do not have many
interviews within their magazine
and have articles and opinions
about bands and artists about
what they should do and how
they can improve. Please see
next side for evidence

6. Content Evidence NME

7. On November 28, 1922 founders Henry Luce and Britton Hadden created Time Inc.
Their mission statement in 1922, Time magazine co-founders Henry Luce and
Briton Hadden acknowledged that no magazine had yet adapted to the needs of
the busy reader who wanted to stay informed. Staying true to their mission, Time
Inc. continue to adapt and innovate, making sure the products are relevant and
appealing to the busy consumer who needs to know but also wants to be inspired
by what’s going on in the world.
There UK based publisher competitor is the Bauer media group and they own
brands such as: Q and Mojo magazines are in the same genre of music as NME.
They do not just own NME they also own other magazines which are also world
popular such as:

8. Making contact with
I decided to make contact with NME directly by emailing them a few questions I
needed help with as the information on the internet and magazine was not sufficient
enough to carry out my research in the detail needed it to be.
Unfortunately the email I sent was not to the right member of staff, however I have
been put in contact with the right member of staff who will be able to help me with
my research and hopefully any other information they are available to give me.

9.  The first issue was published on the 7th March 1952 Source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pgqdx
 The magazine has recently changed its publisher from IPC Media to Time
INC. as it was wholly bought out by Time INC.
 Time Inc. is one of the largest media companies in the world connecting to
more than 130 million customers each month across multiple platforms
through influential brands such as Time, People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle,
Real Simple, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Wallpaper and NME.
 Time Inc. UK is Britain’s leading publisher of print and digital magazine
content. (Source http://www.timeinc.com/about/company-profile/)
 Similar products to NME include Kerrang, Q and Mojo. these
magazines are all similar because they share the same sub genre of music to
one another.
 The sub genre of my magazine is music and therefore when it is being sold
in stores it is going to be in the music section so anyone who does not know
about NME can quickly establish what it is about.

10. Advertising Pricing in an Issue of
 To advertise in an issue of NME can vary in price
depending on what size advertisement is and where
in the magazine it will be published. The reason that
NME are charging a high price for their
advertisement spaces is because they have a large
weekly readership audience.
 For example to have an advertisement for the outside
back cover will costs £8,085. See example below.

11. Magazine Dimensions
 This is the magazine dimensions that NME use for
there front cover and double page spread.
 The reason I will be using these dimensions for my
magazine is because they have used this size of
magazine since there first issue in 1952 and has since
been adopted by many other music magazines
including Kerrang and Q who are market leaders in
their genre of music.

12. Advertisements
 Google Play
The reason for google play launching a big advertisement campaign on their website is
because it is a new platform for streaming the latest music on the go or at home
 Dr. Martens has been a fashion statement for any heavy rock fans as early as the
50s. Back in the 1950s, when the first generation of teenagers fired up a youth
revolution, their goal was to look and behave differently to their parents. Before,
young people had been formal carbon copies of their parents. But with the advent of
first-generation rock 'n' roll, a generational split open that would never again be
reduced shut. By advertising the latest styles of Dr. Martens it will entice the rock n
roll generation o purchase them.
 Viagogo advertise their ticket selling scheme for the latest music festivals and gigs
for those that cannot go. The reason they will target NME for advertisement is that
they have 81 on million users each year and being the most popular music magazine
they will get more attention and noticed by the readers and therefore gives viagogo
more chance of selling the tickets they have.

13. Subscription for
 Benefits of subscribing now via magazines direct
 You are guaranteed to get every issue on the day of
release
 Save 39% over the year when you subscribe via
magazines direct
 However it shows that printing cost are high and now
with new technology NME re available to sell their
magazine through tablets
and phones but for a cheaper
price of £5 which is a
big saving over a year

14. Video content Promotion
 However the YouTube page is different compared to
the other versions this is because unlike the other
sites YouTube allows NME to put up exclusive
interviews with bands and artists back stage before a
gig or from a interview which is in the hardback copy
of the magazine.

15. Socio economic needs
 In recent years there has been an increase of adults
who fall into the A,B and C1 Socio economic group
which means that the spending power of a growing
audience is getting larger meaning that potentially
my magazine is going to grow faster than first
anticipated with this research. This means that the
bands artists and readers are having more personal
identity with the stories and songs they are making.

16. Readership
 http://www.mediauk.com:8080/magazines/36168/
nme/readership-figures

17. NME Frequency
From research at
http://www.mediauk.com:8080/magazines/36168/nme/readership-figures
it shows me that 93.1% of the readers are from the age of 15 to 34 with a
weekly reading audience of 269000 compared to the 35+ weekly audience
of 20,000 6.9%. By having a young audience the magazine could attract
them with bright colours and images to entice them from looking at the
front colour. In contrast to this the 35+ age group may not be attracted to
NME because the music is “Too young” for them.
Furthermore this can also relate to `Katz's Uses and Gratifications` as the
reader can have `personal identification` with the issues they may be being
interviewed about. This could be because they share a similar age and are in
a similar situation either between your friends or workplace.

18. Stereotypical lifestyle of the reader
 A stereotypical reader according to the NRS figures is that
they will:
 Over 60% o readers are from the ABC1 band of
demographic and are unlikely to be blue collar workers
compared to the 37% of readers who are
 70% Of the readers are aged 15 to 34 which shows how it is
aimed at young music fans who are into more indie rock
compared to those who are over the ag of 35 and unlikely to
listen or read about the latest news in
that music genre
 Surprisingly 69% of the readers are male.
By having a more male dominated
audience the advertisers are more likely
going to be products aimed at men like
Topman and right guard men's deodorant.

19. Mind Map
Colour
Scheme
Price
£1
£1.50£1.75
£2.50
£3.00
Medium
Close up
Weekly-The
magazine will be
produced and
distributed all in one
week with the latest
news and gigs
Monthly- A larger magazine
with information and articles
from the previous month and
upcoming months
gigs/festivals

20. Relationship Between distributer, retailer and
consumer
 Distributor
 NME distributor is Time Inc. as well as being their publisher which means
that they are able to save money and cost of hiring staff who are able to take
more than one job role within the business and can have full control of the
magazine. A way they advertise is by using self promotion in other
magazines and television shows they own which is cheap and effective to
reaching an already established audience.
 Retailer
 The main retailers who sell NME are major supermarkets such as Tesco
Sainsbury's and Waitrose. Although they are also sold in local smaller news
agents and post offices.
 Consumer
 The consumer for the magazine is mainly 70% Of the readers are aged 15 to
34 which shows how it is aimed at young music fans who are into more
indie rock compared to those who are over the ag of 35 and unlikely to
listen or read about the latest news in
that music genre

21. Conclusion
 From researching further into my magazine of
inspiration NME I now believe that I have a greater
understanding of how they run the company from
their photoshoots to targeting advertisements and
interviews specifically for their target social grade
audience A-C1. Furthermore by researching into
NME a similar magazine I will be looking to cerate it
gives me a greater understanding into the content
that I should include such as interviews competitions
and advertisements.