NME

To look in more detail at magazine styles and typical readers I am also going to analyse two magazines of other styles starting here with NME.

NME stands for New Music Express and it has been published weekly since March 1952. It was always printed on newsprint until 1998 when the cover became a glossy mag, full with colour. It covers all new music. So since 1952 it has covered up-coming styles like punk rock and hip-hop whereas now it is majority about indie bands and indie music.

According to the National Readership Survey, it is considerably more popular in men than women, which judging from the style, it is evident why. It is thought that 0.9% of men read NME every issue whereas only 0.3% of females do. It is priced at £2.30 per issue and is available from several countries as well as on subscription.

The language used is very informal with the odd rude word meaning that this magazine is aimed at mid-teenage+. Being extremely stereotypical I would imagine the readers of NME to like to be up-to-date, always in the know, maybe to impress but they maybe don't know all the bands included in the magazine. I would think them to be individual and a bit 'out-there' as NME seems to conform to this image.

To the right is the front cover of the 19th February issue and to the left is the contents page. As you can see, neither are very simple, both busy and 'loud'.

Everything on the front cover is printed in capital letters and the pink is so bright it's hard to miss the cover! Even though it is all in capitals there are still things which stand out more than others due to side and position. For example, 'The Strokes' immediately grabs your attention as it is positioned across the centre in very large font. This particular band name is placed there as they are the main feature of this issue. I do like the layout as it is very modern however I would have to experiment this sort of style with musical theatre. Not sure it would work?! I think that it is clever that the background is made up of a picture of the band and that the text is printed over this. However the picture is layered on top of the logo, concealing some of it. This is because the magazine is so established people will know what it is from the layout.

The contents page, at first glance, doesn't appear to be very organised at all. And at a closer look...well, it isn't really. The page numbers are spread out and the main numbers are actually in descending order. In some ways the layout of the contents page works as it makes all the main features stand out. For this particular magazine it works, but I can't see it conforming to the expectations of a Musical Theatre magazine.