The New Musical Express

The New Musical Express (NME for short) is a music magazine in the United Kingdom. It has been published weekly since March 1952. It stated as a newspaper but moved towards the magazine format in the 1980s. In the 1970s it became the best selling British music newspaper.

NME contains primarily music news and reviews; ‘NME.COM brings you the latest music news and reviews, music videos and gossip, as well as providing the hottest concert tickets and band memorabilia.’

NME is published by IPC Media, they produce over 60 media brands including: Country Life, Horse & Hound, Rugby World, Decanter,Look, Now, Chat and Woman. They target a fairly wide range of audiences. According to there website they have 3 core audiences: men, mass-market women and upmarket women.  

According to the NME reader profile ‘going out and spending is all part of the new music scene’. Additionally, the average reader will: go to gigs and live events; spend £532 on clothing per year and £1229 on audio equipment. The total readership buys ‘1.3 million DVDs per year’ and spends ‘£18 million on DVDs’. 71% Of NME readers agree that it is important to look well dressed. Also 92% agree it is important to be well informed about things. 69% of readers are male; with an average age of 24 and 52% work full time. 

NME uses the instantly recognizable bold red font for the title. The masthead is often obscured by other images on the cover as it is so well known. NME does not use a conventional contents page. Instead it uses an ‘Inside this week’ page. This is comprised mainly of photographs of bands with corresponding page numbers along with quotes from the band which anchor the image. In addition to this the page also contains a ‘plus’ section which is more like a conventional contents page with page numbers and titles for sections of the magazine.

NME feels more like a newspaper than other music magazines (which makes sense as it used to be one). This is mainly due to the headlines and columns. Also, the pages literally feel like newspaper pages, aside from the cover and back page. This is very different from the usual glossy feeling pages found in most magazines.

Overall I would say NME successfully reflects the views of its audience. The NME reader profile states ‘NME readers agree that it is important to be well informed about things’. NME reflect this view by publishing weekly as opposed to monthly like many music magazines and including up to date articles on things the average reader is interested in; concerts, festivals, new and upcoming artists.