Case Study

NME

NME stands for New Musical Express.

The first issue of NME magazine was the 7th March, 1952.

The company for the magazine is IPC Media (time inc.)

The total circulation (ABC July – December 2011) is

23,924. This could be a guideline of how many they’ve

made and therefore expecting to sell.

The current editor of this magazine is Mike Williams.

It was a newspaper until 1998

History 60’s

During the 60’s, the paper championed the new British

groups emerging at the time.

The paper success was dependent on Andy Gray who was

editor at that time (1957-1972). He had a figure of 306,881

for the period January-June 1964. The Beatles and The

Rolling Stones were frequently on the front cover.

The paper became in tense rivalry with the fellow weekly

paper ‘Melody Maker’ but NME sales were still healthy with

it selling as many as 200,000 issue per week-one of the

UK’s biggest sellers.

History 70’s

In the 1970’s NME had lost to ‘Melody Maker’ as it failed to

keep up the pace with development of rock music. In the

early 1972 the paper found itself on the verge of closure by

its owners (IPC)

Alan Smith was made editor and was given a short time to

try and turn things around for the paper otherwise it would

face closure. Due to this, the paper changed radically; it

was smarter, hipper, more cynical and funnier than any

other mainstream paper. Smith and his assistant hired the

best writers. By the time Logan was made editor in mid

1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies a week,

outstripping other rivals.

History 80’s

In the 1980’s the paper had many good writers and

interviews, however sales were dropping and by the mid

80’s the paper went through a dry patch and faced possible

closure again. A lot of this was due to the new genre of hip-

hop becoming popular, some wanted to write about hip-hop

but others wanted to stick to rock music. The lack of

direction became apparent to readers. Staff was sacked

and replaced with top media and art editors. ‘Former

Sounds’ editor Alan Lewis was bought to the rescue,

mirroring Alan Smiths revival. The paper was saved, and by

the end of the century Danny Kelly replaced Alan Lewis as

editor.

History 90’s

In the 1990’s the paper started including new bands from

the US, forming a new movement called ‘Grunge’ and by

far the most popular bands such as Nirvana.

In 1992 Steve Sutherland, who was previously assistant

editor of ‘Melody Maker’ was made NME’s editor, replacing

many people. This caused a protest from people replaced,

they all joined other mainstream music papers. In April

1994 Grunge was being replaced by Britpop, a new form of

music. NME’s sale was increasing thanks to Britpop. In

1995 onwards, Sutherlands ideas were often criticised. By

1999 the papers sales dropped.

History 00’s From the issue 21st March 1998 onwards, NME was no longer printed on newsprint, more recently it has shifted to tabloid size. It has full, glossy, colour covers.

In the early 2000’s NME attempted to broaden its coverage again, including hip hop acts like Jay-Z and R&B groups like Destinys Child. These covers were soon dropped due to what happened in the 1980’s (magazine faced closure.) In 2002 Conor McNicholas was appointed editor, he focused on British band such as Artic Monkey and The libertines, this was a success for the magazine. In 2006 an Irish version of the magazine was made, NME Ireland. In 2008 the magazine received a redesign aimed at an older readership. Circulation of the magazine has fallen continuously since 2003. At the end of 2011 the magazines circulation was 23,924. This was 66% down on a 2003 figure of 72,442.

ConventionsNME has a continuous house style of red and white, unless

it is a special edition, but overall it is usually red and white.

Red and white house style

throughout magazine.

Link to a theory?I could link NME’s audience to the

mass market theory. This collage is

stuff a female reader of my target

audience may wear/be into. NME is

indie/rock music. So stereotypically it’ll

be ‘moshers’ and ‘indie kids’. These

clothes are conventional for female

‘moshers’ and ‘indies’. The interest of

audience affects NME as they will

expect certain things.

‘Moshers’/people who listen to or are

involved with rock music are often

associated with reckless things such

as drugs and alcohol, this may be due

to celebrities involved with the musics

behaviour, therefore a lot may expect

stories about celebrities and drugs,

advertising for nightclubs, etc.