NME Practice Questions

1. What major changes has the NME undergone? Has it shown flexibility in changing times?
NME Magazine began in the late 50s and contained information on rock and roll music and famous stars such as Elvis Presley. In the 60s when The Beatles became famous, the NME was a huge and successful market. However by the early 70s NME started to loose readers as a new genre of punk music was coming into fashion. The music scene had changed but NME had not adapted with it and was starting to fall behind. A new editor and new writers were hired and it soon became successful again, as they were now adapting with the changing music scene. Into the 80s, electro and new romantic music such as Duran Duran, The Human League and Elton John became introduced to the music industry and became more popular than punk. Once again NME adapted to this and was able to sustain their readership. As the popular genre has changed over the years, NME have now kept up and change with the music scene to keep up with the current generation. It is constantly adapting and this is why it is the oldest music magazine that is still hugely successful today.

2. By looking at a front cover of your chosen magazine, what would you say are the significant methods of attracting an audience?

 One of the methods the NME uses is the use of bold colours to attract an audience. On this cover the main picture is black and white and the masthead is in bold red or bright green. This makes it stand out amongst the rest of the magazines that would be alongside it in the shop on the shelf. At the top of the cover, there is a banner that says "Jane's Addiction reunited" in bold white capitals that stand out against the red background. This band that was popular in the late 80's and early 2000's had split up in 2004. The banner at the top then extends down the right side of the page with a picture of them and the announcement of the first NME awards in the USA, where the band are reforming. If you were a big fan of this band, when you see the name at the top you are automatically attracted to pick up the magazine to find out more about them. Also, when on the shelf, you would be able to see "NME awards 2008". The NME awards is a big event which a lot of people get involved in. This would attract people to the magazine because they might be interested in who is hosting, playing or who is nominated for an award at the event. Another big event that is advertised and sure to attract an audience is the Reading and Leeds festivals. On the cover, it says that 46 more bands that have been announced are inside the magazine on page 6. As thousands of people go to these festivals each year, most people would be interested in who's playing and would therefore want to pick up the magazine and find out more information. Another method the magazine uses is using a hugely successful and popular band on the front cover, and having that take up the majority of it.  The words "Green Day" are spread right across the front cover, in luminous green, and the rest of the headline colours any important words such as "live" and "Tracks" in the same colour. This interests the reader, especially with popular bands that most readers of the magazine will like, and persuades them to buy it.


3. How are some magazines more than just magazines and more like brands?
NME started as the New Musical Express magazine in 1952. The first NME awards show was held in 1953. Since then it has grown and become a brand of its own. In 1996 the website NME.com was started up, where free mp3's of singles were given out. In 2007 NME.com was launched in the USA where the site now provides news, photos, video, blogs, reviews, gig listings and videos as well as featuring downloads, merchandising and message boards. In 2010 NME.COM launched NME Breakthrough, a new music community for artists, bands and fans. In 2002 the NME started publishing a series of themed magazines reprinting vintage articles, interviews and reviews from the NME archives. The magazine special editions were called NME Originals. Notable issues so far have featured Radiohead, The Beatles, Punk rock, Gothic rock, Britpop, The Rolling Stones and Mod.