Analysis of a Music Magazine (NME)

This is NME. This is an alternative music publication which promotes such genres like Indie and Math rock.
This cover tells you what type of articles will be inside the magazine because of all the graphic images and the buzz words.

The target audience for this magazine is 14-24. This is because this music publication deals with alternative music and other complicated genres like Dream Pop or Space Rock. Readers who are usually interested in this type of music have a different style of dressing and acting. They wear colourful tops and jeans, preferably with a tight fit otherwise know as skinny jeans.

The mode of address NME are using is to show how their central image, Muse, are taking over the world as well as the cover page. They have used a low angle shot to portray their rising power. They have also made sure that the lighting is facing up on them from their face. Their cover image is almost God like. They are portraying themselves to us that they are a modern day God's.

This magazine tells us that they are so great that they are taking over the alternative music industry. The magazine is also trying to tell us throught persuasion, that they are a good magazine and only deal with the best and up and coming musicians that are on the market today.

NME has put the Muse on the front cover of the magazine to tell the audience that they are so good they are going to take over the world as well as the magazine cover.

The anchorage text on the page says “Apocalypse Wow” and “Matt: The Aliens Are Coming to Get You”. This means that they are trying to be ironic that not only are they taking over the world they are going to take over the universe with their music.

This use of anchorage text must mean that the band are super confident of themselves that they will succeed in practically anything that they do, all because they are the main topic on the cover of the alternative music magazine.

The alternative music crowd are just one big group. Unlike Kerrang!, who shows us that there are cults/groups like Emos and Goths (who dont really like to socialise with each other); there are not big sub genre cults/groups within the altenative music industry; they all act the same and dont usually have problems with other people who prefer different sub-genres. So this alternative music publication does not really show you that there are really cults/groups, just a huge fan base.

There is only one buzz word on the page which says “World’s first review” which is telling us that no other music magazine will have this topic in their music publication. This draws the reader’s attention to that specific part of the page if they know and like the band the magazine is talking about.

The design block for the title is quite bold and colourful. It is quite plain compared to the Kerrang! title but it is quite attractive and easy to spot when looking for the magazine in shops.

The title block tells us that the reader likes to know about the new alternative music scene. NME actually stands for New Music Express. This also tells us that the reader wants to know about new music that has just come off the press immediately.
The style of the title is very big and bold. This is so the reader, who is looking for this magazine, will find it quite easily. They also use red as it is very bold and attractive.
The image which has been used tries to emphasises the title as the image of the band are wearing suits of black and white.

The puffs suggest that the readers what to know about gossip in the alternative music industry. It helps draw reader’s attention to the sweep spot, the left hand side of the page, because that is where we start to read from.

NME doesn’t really have a slogan, just the title of the magazine and the name underneath it which says “New Musical Express”. This means that this niche magazine only talks about new music and gives it straight to you.

NME uses a number of different colours such as red, yellow and blue. These are colours attract the readers and others people that don’t read this type of music publication. The fonts that have been used are very clear and bold like the title. This is so you can see what will appear inside the magazine from a distance.

The music publication, NME, put in free CD’s once or twice a year. This is a very clever strategy as the next time a reader will get a CD made by NME; the quality of the music will be very good and worth the wait. This will also increase sales if the readers know that they will get their copy of the so called "free CD".