Music Magazine Research

1
Music Magazine Research

• This is some research I have done on NME so that
  I have more knowledge when started my music
  magazine.

2
NME Main information

• NME music magazine mainly focuses on rock, indie
  and alternative music.
• Usually, it uses the colours black and white and
  sometimes uses red also
• NME has been published since March 1952 which
  started as a music newspaper and slowly developed
  towards a magazine format during the 80's and
  90's changing from newsprint in 1998. An online
  version of NME, NME.com, was launched in 1996 and
  is now the leading standalone music site with
  over 7 million  users per month.

3
NME Editors

• When starting NMEs first editor was Andy Gray,
  who was editor for 15 years (1957 1972), with a
  figure of 306,881 for the period from January to
  June 1964.
• They then made Alan Smith editor and Nick Logan
  assistant editor.
• In mid 1973 Smith made Logan editor and in this
  time the paper was selling around 300,000 copies
  per week and was outstripping its other rivals,
  Melody Maker, Disc, Record Mirror and
  Sounds
• In 1978 Logan moved on and his deputy Neil
  Spencer was made editor.
• 8 years later and Ian Pye was now editor for NME.
  

4
NME Editors

• In the summer and autumn of 1987, three senior
  editorial staff were sacked, including Pye, media
  editor Stuart Cosgrove and art editor Joe Ewart.
• Former Sounds editor Alan Lewis was brought in
  to rescue the paper.
• By the end of this decade Danny Kelly had
  replaced Alan Lewis as editor and in 1992 Steve
  Sutherland, previously assistant editor of
  Melody Maker was brought in to replace Danny
  Kelly.
• In 2000 Steve Sutherland left to become Brand
  Editor for NME and 26 year old Melody Maker
  writer Ben Knowles replaced him.
• Then 2 years later in 2002 Conor McNicholas was
  appointed editor.
• In 10 years time Mike Williams took over from
  McNicholas and is currently still the editor for
  NME and the websites editor is Greg Cochrane

5
NMEs history

• NME, since starting in 1952 has been a weekly
  magazine.
•  After this in the 1960's the Beatles and the
  Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the
  cover.
• NME was also in a tense rivalry with its fellow
  weekly music paper Melody Maker
•  In 1972 the paper found itself on the verge of
  closure by IPC.
•  Then in 1976 punk rock arrived and NME gave the
  Sex Pistols their first music-press in a live
  review of their performance at the Marquee in
  February that year, but overall were slow to
  cover this new phenomenon in comparison to
  'Sounds' and 'Melody Maker'. 
• In the 80's the sales started to drop and faced
  closure once again. However, they brought in new
  writers to give the magazine a stronger identity
  and sense of direction.

6
NMEs history

•  In 1990 the Madchester scene was in the thick
  and NME started covering British Indie Rock
  Bands, but, as the 90's came to an end and the
  Madchester scene was dying off they had to rely
  on US Indie Bands.
•  From the issue of 21 March 1998 the paper was no
  longer printed on newsprint and had shifted to
  tabloid size with glossy, colour covers.
•  They then found new British bands and in October
  2006 they launched an Irish version of the
  magazine called NME Ireland. 
• In May 2008 the magazine received a redesign
  aimed at an older readership with a less poppy,
  more authoritative tone.
•  In the second half of 2013 the magazines
  circulation was 19,491, down from a 2003 figure
  of 72,442.

7
NMEs Statistics

• The total of adults who bought NME was 198,000
  with 148,000 men and 50,000 women buying this
  magazine.
• Therefore, there were more men than women buying
  this magazine.
• I thought that more women would buy this magazine
  as to me it looks more feminine as the images and
  layout are more appealing to the female sector.

8
NME sample images

• This cover is from December 8th 1980.
• It has quite a basic layout but fits well with
  the feature article photo as it is mostly in
  black and white. Apart from this there is only
  tiny amounts of red on this cover page.
• The day the music died could be reinforced in
  colour as usually black is associated with
  funerals.
• The barcode is in the left hand corner when
  usually its in the right. This is because they
  have put the menu strip along the right side.

9
NME sample images

• This NME cover is from August 1995.
• It has a basic layout and is much simpler than
  the current magazine covers.
• The text looks all the same and doesn't look very
  professional. However this was when the magazine
  was still on newsprint and it was popular during
  1995 as the population had never seen anything
  better and thought it was a very good magazine.
• These images, the left being Damon Albarn looking
  arrogant and the right, Liam Gallagher looking
  combative illustrate the headline.
• Here the colour scheme of red, white and black is
  used.

10
NME sample images

• This NME magazine is from July 14th 2012.
• The colours and layout have developed more as the
  quality of the feature article photo. This is
  probably because in 1998 the magazine changed
  from newsprint to glossy, colour covers.
• The magazine has less blank space than the last
  one and it shows how the editors have developed
  the magazine over 17 years.
• The masthead has developed as the colouring has
  changed but also the actual design as on the last
  cover the masthead had New Musical Express

11
NME sample covers

• This is the most recent copy of the NME magazine,
  from October 11th this year.
• The masthead has again changed however only in 2
  years.
• Also the layout has changed as there is again
  more white space but this adds to the effect of
  the long table being portrayed in the feature
  article photo.
• The black and white theme is back, however, there
  is some red and a mixed colour underlining the
  headline.