The 'New Musical Express, mainly known as 'NME' is a popular music publication within the United Kingdom

and has been published weekly since March 1952. Although it started as a music newspaper, it has

gradually moved towards a magazine format from the 1980s onwards. NME decided to launch their own

website for their music magazine called 'NME.COM' in 1996, and is now the world's ‘biggest standalone music

site with other 7 million users per month’. NME is published by IPC Media which is a company that

circulate a range of different magazine brands. The following image shows some examples of which brands

IPC broadcast, as well as NME itself.

http://www.ipcadvertising.com/

NME is priced at £2.20 with a circulation of 56,284. This is a suitable price for the

magazine due to the target market of men aged between 17 and 30, with the average

age being 25. As they are young, it is important that the magazine is not over

priced as they would lose their audience and viewer ratings. To the right is an image of the official NME Reader Profile. The brand have created this profile so that they are

aware who they are aiming their product at. This is important and an effective idea as it would ensure that the magazine contains

the necessary and appropriate information in order to maintain the audiences

gratiphication, as well as relate with their target market.

The masthead of the magazine is „NME‟. The popularity of the brand is evident as it appears as well known enough to

abbreviate the actual title of „New Music Express‟ to „NME‟ . However, through this particular cover the popularity is highly

emphasised as the model is digitally placed over the final letter of the title. This highlights the magazines success as it implies that readers of the magazine do not need to see the full masthead in

order to be aware of which brand they are purchasing. Nevertheless , below the title, the strap line states the full name

of „New Musical Express‟. This could be for verification for new viewers of their magazine and therefore possibly secondary

audiences.

The image within the cover shows a provocative picture of the world-

wide musician, Lady Gaga. Due to the seductive pose and body

language of the model, the cover would appeal to the target

audience of young male adults. The use of direct mode of address

and the dominant colours being her purple hair and pale skin make the

cover eye catching and able to stand out against other competitor products. Mode of address is also

the covers way of connecting with the audience.

By using a public icon as the main image, NME would be

attracting a secondary audience as fans of Lady Gaga would feel

inclined to purchase the magazine.

The main cover line is „LADY GAGA unzipped‟. The words „Lady Gaga‟ are written in a large, bright blue

font due to her success and fame, therefore NME would want to emphasise her feature within the

magazine. By using the word „unzipped‟, they are creating a pun as Lady Gaga appears to be

unzipping her clothes within the main image, however it contains a double meaning that

she will be telling all within her article.

Plugs within the magazine contain the names of other famous artists to brief the viewers on

features within the magazine. It also highlights the music genre of the magazine, which in this

case is mainstream due to the use of mainstream/festival artists such as Katy B and

The Friendly Fires.

Pull quotes are used within the cover to give the viewers more of an in-depth knowledge of what features within the magazine may contain. For

example within the plug explaining „The Libertines: The Movie‟, a quote states “making this

has been like therapy”. This gives the audience knowledge that this feature will contain

opinions, thoughts of the artists and possibly interviews. Another quote which appears on the

left says „I‟m not full of s*** are you?‟. This indicates that the magazine contains strong language features and is not be suitable for

children.

The overall presentation of the cover is striking and eye catching. Although this is mainly down to the image within the cover, other factors of the cover also add to the overall look. For example, the colour scheme of yellow, white and blue is effective as they are bright colours which would therefore stand out, making it more aesthetically pleasing. This could also be due to the seasonality as the magazine was published in April.