NME Case Study

                               

                 NME Case Study

NME Magazine was first published on the 7^th March 1952 after being brought by a London producer and relaunched as ‘New Musical Express’ to which has become iconic within the music magazine genre with thousands of readers every week. Later that year, they started the first UK Singles Chart which the 12 musicians with the highest sales that week would feature and has lead on to the rise in interest surrounding singles and album charts.

Although NME’s total circulation is only around 24,000, in the 1960 and 70’s NME sales peaked at almost 300,000 copies every week although in 1972, the magazine was almost closed by IPC Media after losing to its rivals ‘Melody Maker’ who stopped publishing in 2000 and merged with NME.

Through over 60 years of music history, NME has been at the centre of many music trends and phases. The 1960’s NME focused mainly on emerging British bands, which ones featured such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones became icons of the 60’s music history. Later in the 60’s, psychedelia became popular as rock music began to overtake pop in the charts and in popularity with the mainstream audience which leaked in the early 1970’s. In the 1980’s however, NME went through an identity crisis as the magazine was split between reporting on the rise of hip-hop as other music magazines had started to do or continue the NME tradition of continuing to report on rock and alternative music.  After a change in management, the magazine continued with its alternative routes and continued to report on acts such as The Smiths and Joy Division. The 1990’s were seen as the most iconic years of the NME as the start of the era, ‘Madchester’ became a popular music scene with the rise of The Stone Roses, New Order and The Happy Mondays but this only lasted for around a year as acts from the US became more well-known and ‘Grunge’ found its way to the UK. In 1994, Grunge started to become less popular, which the death of Kurt Cobain was seen to contribute to, so Britpop began to rise to the mainstream charts. The two most iconic bands of this era, Blur and Oasis continued to battle in the charts for number one but after the next few years, Britpop had begun to decline in popularity and NME faced its biggest challenge again of being a music-directionless magazine as its readers wanted for them to concentrate on its alternative roots while dance music was the main genre of the late 90's to the early 2000's. Lately the magazine has reverted back to its alternative roots by reporting on indie and rock music, both in the mainstream and some that are unheard of to many people but they do report on other news as well as famous pop acts to reach a bigger market as the sales of NME have declined dramatically in the past 5 years. 

The magazine content

NME prides itself on being the best for new music and up-and-coming artists so these heavily feature within the magazine to offer its readership what they want to read about and are interested in. This reputation is helped by their weekly ‘Radar’ article which includes quotes from an interview with the specific band or artist it is reporting on and a ‘Need to Know’ section with short facts and figures about them. The magazine also includes a main feature article known as ‘Upfront’, a review on a live gig or concert and an in-depth interview titled ‘Does Rock’N’Roll Kill Braincells’ which have all become weekly staples of the magazine. It also contains small sections on smaller news and highlights from NME Video. The music genre of the magazine is mainly indie and rock, although it does feature many aspects of pop and other sub-genres to suit its varied fanbase and to appeal to as many of his readership as possible.

The magazine publisher

The magazine’s publisher, IPC Media was founded in 1968, five years after its official company IPC Ltd was formed and manages over 65 magazine titles, such as; Marie Claire, Ideal Home, Cycling Weekly and Uncut by selling over 350 million copies of its magazines every year. Formally known as the ‘International Publishing Corporation’, is owned by Times Inc., the publishing sector of parent company Times Warne. Times Warne are highly successful and highly regarded global media company with many operations in television, publishing and film who had revenue of $28.974 billion in 2011. Being the UK’s leading consumer magazine publisher, IPC Media is split under 3 different categories to manage its titles more effectively for their main customer bracket, which are; ‘Connect’ for mass market women, ‘Southbank’ for upmarket women and ‘Inspire’ for men which NME is under as it is aimed at mainly a male market. In 2001, Times Inc. brought the company from Cinven who had financed the management buyout three years prior. Although NME doesn’t have a very large circulation compared to other magazines, it highly contributes to the £45.5 million made my IPC Media last year by their website, sponsors and advertisers.

The typical reader profile

The average NME reader is a 24 year old male who is working full time.  96% of the readership is male which is why NME tends to focus on rock and alternative genres of music with a lot of emphasis on new bands and artists, appealing the to the young audience. According to a survey done with the magazine, their readers spend an average of £152 on footwear and £532 on clothes a year, along with £1229 on technology as NME’s adverts suggest as they concentrate highly on technology and music advertising within their magazine. 52% of them own a digital camera and spend an average of £170 on cameras every year. As well as being into music, NME readers are also interested in other technology such as DVD’s and games to which they spent £66 and £108 a year on, as well as £197 on consoles in the past year. Being a younger than other music magazine readers, they spend a lot of their time on the Internet, with 94% of them using the it for and at an average of 2.4 hours a day which would explain NME’s raise in online coverage which achieved over 7 million monthly unique users in 2011 and launching a sister site, NMEVideo.com and apps for smartphones and iPads. The average reader is also interested in fashion and their appearance, with 45% agreeing that they spent a lot of money on clothes and 71% agreeing that is important to be well dressed, which does correlate with some of NME’s sponsors such as ShockWaves, Boxfresh and Topman, as well as others including 02, HMV and Redbull.

Layout trademarks of the magazine

NME does have a clear layout for its magazine which it uses continually for every issue without much change in-between. Its signature NME logo on the front is always kept in the same position to keep to its house style and to attract its audience as it is a well respected name in the music magazine industry. Inside the magazine, it features a contents page with around 6 to 7 pictures of the people reported on within the magazine as well as simple, black bold writing to make it easy to read. Features included every week are an 'On Repeat' section where NME tell its readers what they have listening to this week as well as an NME Chart countdown in which they list the most popular indie and rock songs this week. The magazine features many interviews such as the 'Pieces of Me' section and 'Does Rock'n'Roll kill Braincells' page.They bring exclusives of new music under their 'Radar' category which is then followed by a 3 or 4 page feature article. The magazine heavily features reviews of albums, singles and live performances as this is what their audience are interested in knowing about. Other features included are a gig guide, puzzles page and letters section in which the readers can get in touch with the magazine to share their views. When flicking through a copy of NME, it becomes apparent on how much they rely on adverts of bands up and coming gigs around the country as well as products such as alcohol and technology. NME use a very similar palette of colours such as red and blue to cohere with its male dominated audience and often use simple layouts by filling the page with high quality photos. This is because many readers are interested in seeing whats going on as well as reading about it and the magazine uses black lines throughout to make the columns easier to read while making the white page seem more decorative ad interesting.

Fonts Moodboard

Fonts Moodboard

For the fonts I will use in my magazine, I downloaded a range that would fit in my magazine from DaFont.com.

They all would bring a unique feel to magazine as most of them are quite decorative and original however I feel the first 4 would work best. they wouldn't take up too much space on the page but aren't used in other magazines so it would contribute to the house style that I am trying to achieve.

Target Audience Moodboard

Target Audience Moodboard

The target audience for Amps is mainly males although it will appeal to females with interest in the alternative/indie genre of music however most of the advertising and products featured int he magazine will be aimed at males. They are likely to be in full time education/ university or working, with a small number in school or unemployed but with the magazine being average priced, its not going to eradicate a full band of people out of its market.

Advertisers Moodboard

Audience Moodboard

The advertisers moodboard shows what kind of products that the target market for my music magazine is likely to buy and what they might be interested in buying. With Amps being aimed at young males from a working class to lower middle class, the products I have included reflect on what they would spend most of their money on and what products they are using.

The products I have featured range from clothing labels and high street stores such as H&M, Office,Topman and HMV as well as technology like cameras, smartphones and consoles which are aimed at mainly male audience  Young males are also interested in looking good so hair products and colognes such as Toni&Guy and designer scents are popular. Leisure activities such as festivals like Reading & Leeds and social networking sites are extremely popular in this generation so advertising them in my magazine will let the reader know that the magazine is run and made by people who understand what they want and what they want to buy.

Colour Moodboard

The magazine I intend to make is aimed at mostly male, although it will also be suitable for both sexes and for young adults from the ages of around 16 to 25. It will also be aimed at the working class, although it will incorporate aspects and styles from magazines which are aimed at the middle class to make it more independent and stylish. The main look of the magazine will be heavily influenced by NME, with pieces from Dazed and Confused Magazine that will make it look more interesting as well as my own designs.  

The first board are the main colour scheme of the magazine, which are quite simple but bold colours that are going to keep to the style of the magazine and are going to suit the target audience as intended. Red and blue are often seen as male dominated colours, especially the darker tones which I am going to include. Red is seen as a colour with loads of energy and stimulating while blue is seen as reliable and calming which are all positive aspects to a magazine. White is viewed as equal and innocent while black is viewed as mystery and sophisticated so together will create a stylish palette for my magazine.

The other board are the secondary colours which are going to feature less in the magazine but may be used in things such as banners or outlines for pictures and are there to add more of a range of colour within the magazine so it’s more interesting and to create a more unique feel to the magazine.  Light blue is regarded as a sign for creativity and freedom while teal is regarded as a sign of inspiration and commitment. Dark green is a representation of wealth while jade green is a representation of wisdom and spirit. These are also important messages which can be reflected through the colours used.

Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis 2

This main feature article is took from NME Magazine which is mainly aimed at a young 14 to 25, working class, male audience which is reflected quite well within the look of article as well as the band used.

Using the traditional layout of the feature articles, it has quite a small body of text compared to the picture and is a very similar look to its contents pages which means NME tries to tie-in all of its features to create a good representation of a well-kept and managed magazine. The off-white background is quite normal for NME’s photographs as they want the reader’s attention to be on the band and for them to be the main centrepiece but the dark patches and smudges make it seem more textured and original than a block colour background. The band is wearing warm colours, such as yellow and browns to appear more unified and together while also standing out from the background.

The text and heading is quite simple in a bold style with an uncomplicated colour palette of black and shades of blue. The simple heading contrasts with the white background behind the text while the pull quote and name is in blue to stand out from the rest of the article. Although it doesn’t really capture your attention, the look ties in with the rest of NME and the front used is the same as their contents page and normally the rest of the magazine, with a few exceptions for headings of other features. The positioning of the text is quite close together but doesn’t look too cluttered because of the colours.

To make the article look more appealing, they’ve includes blue and grey shapes dotted around the article to make the page look more ascetically pleasing and to give the article more ‘life’ with colour. The positions of the band all looking at the camera makes the article look like their appealing to you to capture your attention. The frontman of the band is also positioned at the front of the photo as he’s the most recognizable and popular to represent the bands image, while the others stand behind him. Also, he is a lot lower down the drummer at the back and is more close to the centre, where normally your eyes are attracted to first while the drummer and guitarist are almost the same height behind him to make the page look more ordered and organised.

Magazine Double Page Spread Analysis 1

This double page spread is took from Mojo magazine, focusing on alternative and classic rock artists which appeals to its target audience of middle class males from a vary of ages. Although its highest percent of readership is 45 to 54 year olds, it also has a high younger readership with 15 to 24 year old making up almost a quarter of its audience.

It has a balanced spread of a image and text on both sides so your eyes are attracted to the whole article and not parts of the page. The colour scheme of black and white, with only colour for the heading and key words makes the article look quite classy and reflects the image of the magazine, with it being aimed at an older audience from a  definite middle class background. The use of a black background also makes the two band members contrast and makes them stand out from the rest of the article which would get your attention if the reader was just flicking through instead of studying and reading the pages.

The use of text is really what brings his article to life, with the heading being almost like a gradient colour effect while still managing to look bold with its block colours. Using white text is the obvious choice when its on top of a black background but the magazine have still made it look very interesting by using a black brick background instead of a non-textured surface which adds character to article and makes it look more unique to a standard solid colour look of most articles. The only problem the body of text has is that the white in between the brick may interfere with the white text and make some of the words not very clear to read but it has been positioned so this is only the case for a few sentences. The use of the orange text is cleverly done as it is only used for the names of the artists, band and the journalist and photographer for the article to make it be clearer from the article so the reader will more likely recognize and know the name while also tying in with the heading.

The use of the smeared hand print is an interesting aspect to the background as it could stand for a misrepresentation of the band or that they have an individuality with their music compared to other bands. The use  of black is often seen as modern and stylish which would slightly contrast with their main target audience but the readership also being quite young could mean they are also trying to cater for all the readers instead of one main demographic. The band is also aimed at a more younger age range than 45 to 54 year olds but Mojo have always used a range of artists to appeal to broad audience an to cater for both of its larger demographics.