Magazine Analysis 2

Magazine Analysis

General:

The second magazine that I have chosen to analyse is ‘NME’ magazine. ‘NME’ is a music magazine published and created by Theodore Smythson. It is a UK weekly pop/rock music journalism publication, published since March 1952. The circulation of the magazine is estimated at 23,924 as of July 2011. At first ‘NME’ was a music newspaper, and gradually moved towards a magazine during the 1980s and 1990s. ‘NME’ stands for ‘New Musical Express’ but the magazine is better known as the acronym ‘NME’. The use of the acronym makes the magazine easier to remember and it stands out more in shops up and down the country.

The company which publishes the magazine is IPC Media – Inspire. The founder of the magazine is Theodore Smythson and the current editor is Mike Williams (June 2012 – present). Theodore Smythson felt that they needed a magazine which can appeal to all age groups and so each weekly edition they have a band or artist that will appeal to a particular generation.  Therefore the target audience for ‘NME’ is any specific age group as each week they have a different band from a different decade representing the magazine enticing all age groups to buy the magazine. ‘NME’ is fairly cheap in price, which makes it more likely to be bought, and more sales will be made increasing yearly income. The magazine itself features all music genres so it is well suited to all music lovers and has a mass audience because of this.

The Cover:

The main cover line of the magazine is 'MIA'. This signifies that 'MIA' the artists, is the main talking point of the magazine. We are told that there will be an article in the magazine about 'MIA' and we understand this through the use of this cover line.

The masthead for 'NME' is similar to that of 'Q magazine' with the large white letters of 'NME' and the red background. This takes up a large amount of the page on the magazine making it stand out as the name of the magazine. The colours used are bold and they stand out amongst everything els eon the cover. The masthead takes up a substantial part of the page and it is eye-catching to the audience.

The strap-line for this edition of the magazine is 'You just can't take her anywhere can you?'. This combines with the main story of the magazine which is an interview with ;MIA' and it is signifying that 'MIA' has done something wrong. This leaves the audience curious as to what she has done and so it entices the reader to buy the magazine. We are left wondering why you can't take her anywhere and for this reason we would buy the magazine in order to find out what has happened and therefore gaining 'NME' more sales of the product. 

The main image is of 'MIA' the artsist/rapper and it is a close up of her across the front page. She is seen with her middle finger raised to the camera and this has been pix-elated. She is gazing directly at the camera in a suspicious way and she has a substantially large gold ring with a red diamond inside it. Firstly, the fact that she is swearing illustrates to us as the reader that she is trying to give off a 'bad girl' image. She is coming across as quite arrogant to the viewer, further enhancing our interest to her. We want to know why she is giving this image across to the public and so we are more likely to buy the magazine in order to find out why she is publicising herself in this way. The way in which she is gazing into the camera comes across as quite mysterious and this adds an unexpected feel to her, we are now interested to find out what kind of person she is and so will read the magazine to discover her identity. The large ring on her finger highlights her materialistic nature and it may imply that she is spoilt and she wants to show off what she has. The shiny gold top that she is wearing further enhances this point. Coming back to the middle finger pose she is portraying, it has been pix-lated in order for the magazine to be shown on the shelves. This front cover image is the only image present on the cover outlining its importance within the magazine.

Along with the large image of 'MIA' there is also the word 'MIA' going vertically down the page and is shown as a headline. All the letters are in large white writing but the 'M' is surrounded by a green background, the 'I' a purple background and the 'A' an orange background. These letters stand out especially well on the cover, perfectly showing the audience that the girl shown on the cover is called 'MIA'. The use of different colours surrounding each letter of he rname is particularly effective as it is more appealing to the buyer but also, it combines quite well with the image of 'MIA' herself as she is showing various different colours through her clothing, jewellery and the make up she is wearing. 

Beside the masthead 'NME' there are a few cover-lines present. These read, 'Eminem, television, Brandon Flowers and Savages.' All of these cover-lines are in the same font, colour etc. as the masthead for 'NME' itself. It is situated right beside the masthead as shown. These cover-lines allow the reader to be aware of what else there is to read about in the magazine, it conveys that there isn't just an interview of 'MIA' and there is also more information available. This opens the magazine out to all music genres not only the genre that 'MIA' represents which is a mixture of electronic, dance, alternative, hip-hop and world music but she is in fact a rapper. 

There is very little writing on the front cover of this particular edition however this simplistic way of presenting the magazine has a positive effect. The very little writing on the cover is all in white and in the same font and all the writing is surrounded by a different coloured background which brings out the writing more stopping it from becoming over looked by the image which takes up nearly three quarters of the page. The mast head for 'NME' and the colours used are present throughout the magazine representing a consistent house style and an effective colour scheme is utilised throughout. As mentioned above, the use of the different coloured background on each letter of the word 'MIA' adds to the colour scheme used by 'NME'.

There are very little language devices used on the cover, however there is one device that is used and this is a question on the cover. This is the strap-line mentioned above and it reads, 'You just can't take her anywhere can you?' It could be seen as a rhetorical question, enticing the audience to buy the magazine because as previously mentioned, it leaves the audience curious as to what she has done and so it entices the reader to buy the magazine to find out what she has done wrong for the magazine to write this as their strap-line. The question is a particularly good device and for this reason it is likely to gain more sales of the product.

'NME' has a very unique layout as it's front cover. It is very different top various other music magazines like 'Q' and 'Kerrang'. These magazines front covers are filled with information giving the buyers an opportunity to know a lot or if not everything that is in that edition for the magazine. 'NME' however take a slightly different approach, they put very little on the front page which leaved the audience curious as to what is in the magazine giving them the chance to buy it to see what the magazine is all about. Obviously the main image and the various cover lines give information but this is substantially less compared to other magazines and this makes it stand out more to those buying the magazine.

The Inside:
The magazine has 66 pages and there are 9 pages of advertisements and all the advertisements advertise different types of products.

Clothes and Fashion:
River Island
Marketplace (different clothing)
Food and Drink:
Carling (Beer)
Jack Daniels
Music Advertisement:
Bombay Bicycle Club (concert dates)
Phoenix, Palma Violets, Reverend & The Makers and Peace (concert dates)
Manic Street Preachers (concert dates)
XFM advertising
BOSE speakers



There are many different article types within a magazine. 'NME' being a music magazine mainly has articles to do with different artists and albums etc.

• Introducing new tracks
• Recent events, what has occurred in the music industry over the last week
• Interviewing bands
• Introducing new upcoming artists/bands
• Reviews of albums/artists/ bands/singles
• Looking back on old bands and how they've changed

There are 23 double page spreads:

1. Track of the week (top 20)
2. The week x4 (interviews of various bands)
3. More new music x2 (introducing new songs and bands)
4. Reviews x3
5. Image of the band 'Savages' but in particular the lead singer 'Jehnny Beth'
6. Advertisements x3
7. NME guide x2
8. MIA interview x3
9. Image of the groups Waxahatchee and Swearin'
10. Interview for Waxahatchee and Swearin' x2
11. Image and interview (Nirvana)

There are very few advertorials in the magazine, one of which is concert dates for various bands/artists. This is planted near the middle of the magazine and 'NME' have bunched a few double page spreads advertising bands/artists concert dates so that it gives the people reading the magazine the opportunity to take down the dates where bands/artists are performing and so they can book tickets to go. There is also an advertorial for the group the 'Savages' which in particular shows the lead singer 'Jehnny Beth' singing on stage with various fans reaching to haul her on the stage. This has a small piece of writing beside the image, however there is not enough writing for this to be an article within the magazine making it an advertorial.

House Style:

'NME' has a very unique house style. The masthead is 'NME' in huge white writing with a red border and this is present on a few pages of the magazine and so the house style for this magazine consists of this similar design. The contents page follows a similar layout to that of the rest of the magazine however it is very different to the front page with the red background and the white writing at the top with the 'NME' written at the top of the screen. This similar colour scheme is present throughout the magazine especially when there is an article particularly involving 'NME' themselves such as the reviews they do, the new track of the week, the NME guide etc.

One particular layout element they implement into the magazine is using three columns within articles. They often use three columns and this is present throughout the magazine presenting a consistent house style. Also something 'NME' like to implement into their magazine is taking up many pages with reviews and interviews etc. This is something that all magazines seem to do however it is particularly noticeable in 'NME' and so this gives a unified house style to them.

The colour scheme used by 'NME' makes them stand out from other music magazines. Although their masthead is similar to that of 'Q' magazine, they use variations of colours on the front cover and within the magazine which strongly appeal to any age generation which is their main target audience. Also the use of this colour scheme or in fact not having a fixed colour scheme and using various different colours, it allow the magazine to be more eye catching, enticing more people to buy the magazine strongly increasing their income.

As you can see from the two images here the masthead is extremely similar. However 'NME' take son a more colourful approach to the cover making it more appealing and eye catching on the shelf compared to 'Q' which have very few colours on the cover. These differences give each magazine a specific house style.