Analysis of magazine covers-NME

NME is a weekly magazine published by IPC media (International Publication Company Ltd.) IPC media company publish many magazines which can be split into five divisions; Connect (women's weeklies such as Now), Inspire (leisure and specialist), Ignite! (men's lifestyle and entertainment), SouthBank (women's lifestyle and home interest) and TX (portfolio of television titles.) The title NME stands for New Musical Express, which shows NME passions for new music. NME is currently priced at £2.20 and is widely availbale in newsagents and supermarkets. The NME brand also has a website (www.nme.com), a music channel, a radio station, a tour and even its own awards ceremony where the winners are voted for by readers. 

 NME covers quite a wide range of music, mainly focusing on indie and rock. Some of the music included is quite mainstream, but NME prides itself on championing new bands and helping them make it big. Indeed NME almost looks down on some mainstream artists, especially those in the pop or RnB style, however it does deem some artists 'credible' enough to include in their magazine for example Lady GaGa and N-Dubz. In the early 2000s NME did try to cover more pop music, even including some pop stars such as Hear'say and Beyonce on the cover. However, this did not please its readers and consequently any pop bands featured now would rarely be put on the cover.  NME also includes features on bands fromt he oast, that still make have an influence on music today. For example Joy Division, The Clash and The Beatles. The cover shown features Morrissey. NME would have followed Morrissey's career right from when he started off in The Smiths in the 1980s and throughout his solo career. Therefore this particular issue may attract people who were fans of The Smiths in their heyday and are now interested in Morrissey's solo work. It may also attract a younger audience who are aware of The Smiths through possibly their parents, or people who have only heard Morrissey's solo work. The other bands mentioned on the cover are more mainstream such as Arctic Monkeys and Panic! At The Disco. The cover shows the range of articles the magazine includes, it mentions live reports and festivals.   Like Kerrang! NME has the scrap-book feel to it, possibly imitating the style of homemade fanzines. It does however, still look professional and is a lot glossier from the older versions of NME which were more like newspapers than magazines.  NME sometimes include a tiny lyric on the cover of their magazine, it can be seen just above the bar code on this cover. It is often a lyric form the artist on the cover (for example the one on this particular cover is a line from Morrissey's song 'You Have Killed Me.') This is often only really spotted by avid NME readers.

The pictures on the cover of NME are all amle and NME has a mainly male fanbase and writers. However, it does not only include male bands and often includes articles about female artists such as Lily Allen. NME does have a tendency to champion a band when they are unknown, but change their opinion on them when they become more mainstream. However, this is not a hard and fast rule. NME does put a lot of emphasise on discovering new music. 

NME's popularity can be attributed to its emphasis on new music. It introduces people to not only new bands, but it can also introduce its younger audience to bands from the past that they may never have heard of before. Its inclusion of older bands also attracts an older audience,which some of the more mainstream magazines wouldn't. NME is such a big institution that many people have been being it for years; since they were a teenager up to adulthood.