Case Study:

magazine

About:
-

The magazine is published weekly (every Friday)

and is distributed to parts of England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland. Since the
magazine became free and included a wider
variety of music genres back in 2015, weekly sales
rose from 15,000 to 300,000 throughout the UK
and is still staggeringly high.

The NME magazine was

founded in 1949. Though back
then it was called the
Accordian Times and Musical
Express magazine.

Case Study:

magazine

Target Audience:
My initial thought about who would read this magazine would be teens and adults between the ages of 17-50. The audience would
take an interest in most likely indie/rock music genres because even though it includes some pop, there are other magazines such as
Billboard and Top of the Pops which would predominantly base their audience on pop fans. Men would be my assumption as to
what gender would probably read this magazine mostly because of the stereotype that men would be more interested in the
acoustic bands, guitars and rocky orientation. However, the website would be more mixed with the targeted gender because it
includes more topics including TV which females would pay an interest in. Because of the (free) price and music genres, I would predict
that these men would be of the working/lower class on the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).
My predictions were true for the targeted gender, as NME targets mainly men for their audience. Also, the SOC for NME magazine is
from the lower-middle class to the skilled working class, so I was just about correct. Because of the stereotypes of indie/rock fans it
makes sense an upper class person would stereotypically be more interested in classical or jazz music magazines. I was also generally
correct when it came to the targeted age. It starts from 17 though stops at around 30. Which is younger than I expected. I only thought
50 because the NME magazine has been around for at least 60 years, so would perhaps be an all-time-favourite for some older people
who are still into that genre. At retirement age, they would also typically have the time and money to read into something more
intellectual or just a different music genre.

Target audience of NME

magazine
Working full-time

22%

34%

working part-time
Full-time students
Not working

Target gender of NME

magazine

Men
Women

26%

18%

27%

73%

Case Study:

magazine

Codes, conventions and mode of address:

Masthead:

Image:

Strap-lines and headlines:

The masthead varies from colour on each

issue. The colour is predominantly red,
other times it can be other colours too.

The background image always

occupies all the space behind the
text. There is a conspicuous trend
that the band members or music
artists use a direct mode of address
and appear to be keeping a straight
face and presents a very moody
atmosphere. For example:

The overall layout of the NME front

cover is fairly colourful and busy.
There is a prominent use of red,
having a connotation of passion and
love but also blood and danger.

People who read NME may also be

interested in these magazines too:
It is always located in the top left corner of
the front cover and is very bold. This
appeals to the audience because it will
stand out on the shelf. Also because it is a
reputable, renowned magazine
constitution. The text used is sans serif
which would suit the younger audience
because it has a modern connotation.