history of NME.

brief history.

The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved towards a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, in the 14 November 1952 edition. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. 

typical content.

The typical content of NME involves interesting articles about artists. During research I have noticed that on the front covers of NME there is a general phrase that is 'unusual'. Like the cover above 'I'm a psycho', it is an unusual quote that had come from the artist, this however draws the readers attention to buy the magazine as it adds interest. The magazine offers interviews from artists that are associated with the genre of the magazine. The colour schemes of NME are not conventional, they noticeably vary. The colour scheme above originates from the artists nail varnish, i think this is really clever and original. It emphasises that the design is important and they always consider the artist that they are promoting to tie in with the design. NME often advertises something free with the magazine, when the magazine was re designed NME offered a free coldplay vinyl, this highlights the fact that offering free things draws attention to the reader to purchase the magazine.

typical reader.

research from www.nrs.co.uk

total £253,000 copies brought weekly.

15 - 44 - this is not such a specific target audience £218,000 copies brought

45+ -  34,000 copies.

These figures shocked me slightly as i thought that the target audience for NME would be quite young, £34,000 copies brought by 45+ adults is a lot, this emphasises that NME is targets for a massive age range.

men - £167,000

women - £86,000

This shows that NME attracts more males to purchase the magazine rather than females.

magazine's housestyle.

The masthead 'NME' is always located on the top left of the magazine, it is always in the same font; which is bold and large so it is recognisable. A different image of the artist is placed on the front of the magazine with a quote from their interview, this interests the reader to purchase the magazine and read the interview. The cover is very busy, it offers names of different artists which are included in the content of the magazine and the colour scheme differs.