Title
The title of the magazine is 'NME', this stands for 'New Musical Express'. The magazine obviously introduces the reader to new musical prefrences in the genre, however, this title is quite long if you say the whole thing, hence why it has been abrievated - it fits the genre better as it sounds less informal.
Readership
The type of reader the magazine is targetting is obviously an individual who is intrested in the music industry and particular the genre indie rock because this is its main focus. The indie rock genre is usually a genre that dominates music festivals as I stated earlier on. These are people with enough disposable income partically late teens. People specifically look in magazines for festival information which the magazine focuses on, as is seen on this cover.
The advertisments throughout show upcoming gigs, festivals and concerts, for example, lists of dates and venues on set pages. This is due to the wide fan base that read the magazine and this is a common intrest in the target audience. Specifically in this issue, its main content is '100 great albums you've never heard', targetting the audience intrested in the genre as the genre is based on smaller musical talents that have made it individually. This conent is a good example to analyse because it gives them information on music they may or may not have heard, due to the artists being limited to mainstream audiences.
Readers interact with the magazine by 'fanmail' featured in the magazine. The slogan below says 'You get in touch, we respond, things get out of hand', contrasting with the attitude of the target audience, as sometimes music festivals get out of hand. The magazine also uses social networking sites, for example, facebook, twitter and blogs. This manages to hit a vast range of people and readers quickly due to the majority of the target audiences being intrested in these sites as well.
The Cover
Unlike most of the NME magazines I have analysed recently, this one shows a slightly different aspect when looking at the front cover. In this edition of the magazine the main image on the front cover is not a person or influential musician. Due to the issue being about the greatest albums people have never heard, the main image is of a 'old skool' record, showing the 'side B' text, showing that most people often hear one side of the record but don't pay attention to the talent of the side B. The black background enables the yellow and white on top of the record to stand out. The simple concept draws attention to the audience, out of curiousity.
By using a record as the main image it could indicate that the audience may also be interested in records along with other forms of music. A majority of people still continue to perfer the old type of playback in records as they think it sounds far better and looks better as they can physically see it, unlike downloads from iTunes. The target audience could possibly be in this band of people that perfer listening to records.
The front cover also shows the audience what the main features in the magazine will be. For example, Pulp annnounce a special return. Many people may be interested in this. If people can see the main articles in the magazine and are attracted to the front cover, they are more inclinded to pick up and buy the magazine.
Free Cult Heroes posters are also shown on the cover. If the audience see that there are free items or posters in the magazine they are more likely to buy it if they want the posters. The magazine show a smaller version of the posters avaliable. To also persuade people to buy the magazine, it shows the oppotuinity to win VIP tickets to the NME awards.
The colours used are important when looking at the cover due to it being a main aspect of what people look at when looking at magazines and which magazine to pick, for example, they magazine must stand out to the audience. This is shown well by NME. They have used black, white, yellow and grey. These obviously stand out well and also demonstrate, personally to myself a 'danger' aspect, especially with the yellow and black stripes. This danger aspect can possibly represent the rocky element of the genre. The graphic image of the record is important because it goes against the convention of having a person as the main image and also adds to the rocky element and attitudes of the audiences.
Due to the image used on this front cover, it differs slightly from different magazine covers due to the main image being this. However, other conventions of the magazines remain. For example, free posters and the mast head is the same as the usual NME covers in the same place and the basic layout is the same as other magazines. The main headline is also bold and stands out and the majority of text is also like this. Overall, other than the image differing, the main elements of the magazine cover remains the same and in my opinion is successful, due to the colours used.
Presentation
The magazines presentation looks good and expensive, rather than cheap. It looks like its done well and professional. Looking at information and history of the magazine it indicates that the magazine used to be a newspaper. This is noticable by the style and layout of the magazine as it is more newspaper like. The pages are more paper like rather than glossy. However, this works well with the indie rock genre and the target audience.
The colour used differs from that of the SmashHits! magazine I analysed earlier on as its far more 'mature' than pink that is used. It also relates to the rocky, more edgy side of the indie rock genre. Mode Of Address
The language used throughout the magazine is quite informal and chatty and addresses them as if their friends. Due to this issue being about albums they've never heard, it is giving the audience advice about what to listen to and what's good. This means that the reader will possibly have to gain a 'relationship' with the writer to trust what they're saying and trust their judgement.
The main article is about the '100 greatest albums you've never heard' which I stated earlier. People will be interested in this article because it allows them to gain far more knowledge and be introduced to music and albums they probably won't have heard before. This article takes up alot of the magazine, but other articles include interviews with a range of different artists. These include artists that don't really fall into the indie rock genre, showing a slight range in what the magazine offers.
Advertising
Advertisting is a key aspect of magazines and media because it's a vital and quick way of getting information out to alot of people quickly. For example, there will be many people buying the magazine so the advertisments will reach these people.
However, due to the magazine being a music magazine, based on a certain genre, its vital for the advertisments to be the correct ones when basing it on the target audience. For example, to work they will have to be attractive to them. An example of an advertisment in this magazine are gigs. The gig advertisments shown are the ones of the genre the magazine focuses on. For example, artists such as two door cinema club and green day. The tour posters are shown throughout the magazine. There is quite a large amount of gig advertisments throughout due to the target audience being those of people that like going to gigs and festivals so there will be a big chance people will go. Gig and festival tickets range depending on the popularity, although the majority of people in the indie rock genre have a limited appeal to mainstream so are often cheaper and smaller gigs. Although, some could be quite expensive, however, the people that are intrested, the majority of them have more disposable income to spend on tickets.
Publication
The magazine is published by IPC Media and is published every week and has been since 1952. It has also had a publication of a UK Singles Chart which improves its lateral intergration. Its circulation from Janurary to June 2010 was 33,875. The magazine uses publication 'platforms' such as website and twitter, blogspot or facebook. This means people can use the internet as a tool. However, although this can advertise the magazine and increase sales, it can also have the opposite. Due to the information being on the website and online, people may possibly not feel the need to read or buy the magazine due to it being online. This could be one of the reasons many magazines have stopped circulation.
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