Class Analysis of Music Magazine 1- NME

NME DIZZEE RASCAL EDITION, SEPT 2009

Audience• The audience of NME are males from 17-30 years old, all with an

educated understanding of new music and bands and they are people who have a passion for reading about music and fashion. The majority of the readers are in education or work and most are in the ABC1 social grade. Their audience are people who spend the majority of their disposable income on music.

• The NME attracts their target audience by writing about current artists and affairs to do with music that is full of depth and information that their audience will find interesting. They use bands and artists with great reputation in the music industry and advertise those artists albums and music so that they show that the magazine is up to date with popular music.

Elements that connect the 3 parts of the magazine

• All of the pages seem to use the same colours- each has some form of red on it whether it is the text or Dizzee’s clothing.

• The front cover and contents page contain the NME logo on the left hand side of the page.

• All of the text on the three pages is written quite informally, the language is quite relaxed and it is as if the writers are talking to the audience like they are friends.

History of NME

• NME was launched in 1952 and is now known as one of the most influential music magazines of this time. NME (New Musical Express) was created to give informative information on new and upcoming music and artists. They are responsible for breaking some of the biggest artists of this time. NME was first written as a newspaper, hence the informative nature of the text, however in 2000 it transferred to being printed as a magazine.

Front CoverThe masthead has been placed in the top left corner so that when it is presented on the shelves we can easily see it as it takes up ½ of the width of the page. It is typed in a bright red font as it links to the idea of this being an informative music magazine as news papers have mastheads in a red font. The red indicates that this is a vibrant, energetic music magazine that is new and in fashion. The masthead is placed in the main C of the image, where all of the important information is placed.

Masthead

This has been used to emphasise the ‘News’ and it almost appears as if it has been stamped on the page. It is bright red as it fits in with the colour scheme of the magazine, and the red also makes it stand out and appear as if it is important.

Flash

Main ImageThis main image of Dizzee Rascal takes over the majority of the page. His arms are stretched out, almost as if he is welcoming people to read the magazine and it also emphasises the cover line as he is holding his hands out to the world. He has a massive grin on his face which suggests that this magazine is fun and is full of personality. His clothing is also quite simple which shows that this magazine is quite laid back. The background is of graffiti which further emphasises that the magazine is laid back and fun but it also links to his background and his type of music.

The left third of the image contains the majority of the text, it has all of the important text: masthead, cover line, anchor, flash and even Dizzee’s face is in the left third of the image because it is important to the magazine.

Left Third

This footer uses a + sign which suggests that this magazine is packed full of information. Not only does it contain the articles shown on the cover line and flash as well as the header it also contains a long list of other information that it has within it to show that this is the magazine with masses of information.

Footer

This text has been placed at the top of the cover because it is one of the pieces of information that will draw people in to picking this magazine up off of the shelf. The word ‘special’ suggests that you can only get this information in this specific magazine, as if you will miss out by not buying this magazine because you won’t be able to read this special article.

The main cover line for the image is one of the largest pieces of text on the cover because it is the artist that will draw in his fans to read this particular magazine.

Header

Main Cover Line

Pull Quote

Date/ BarcodeThis Barcode is tiny in comparison to everything else on the page which suggests that customers will purchase the magazine in spite of the cost. It is also not in the left side of the magazine which shows that it isn’t important to the customers as it isn’t in the main C of the image either.

The pull quote on this magazine “I’m spreading joy around the world, man!” Seems to fit in with the general relaxed feeling to the magazine. The language was relaxed and fits with Dizzee’s personality. His facial expression is obviously excited and his body posture is suggesting like he is opening his arms to the world and spreading the joy which he feels.

Contents PageThis Masthead has been placed to show that it is apart of the NME magazine by using the magazine’s title. ‘Content’ is the largest text on the page so that is stands out around the rest and it is clear what is on the page.

Contents Headings/ Subheadings

All of the titles for the content is written in capitol letters to make sure that it stands out. The page numbers are in red so that it is obvious where you can find each article throughout the magazine. The information about the articles is all written in lower case letters so that it doesn’t draw more attention compared to the headings of the content pages.

The subscription box is different to the rest because it is the first place which uses yellow text and this is to make it stand out compared to the black, white and red that is used throughout the rest of the magazine. The text is small but because of the yellow it draws your attention and this is the perfect way to make money for the magazine.

The band index takes up the entire length of the page and this shows us that they are well educated in all different bands that exist, and that they have information on so many bands that it has to take up one side of the page.

The main image and Editorial has been placed in the shape of an one the side case which links to the Main Image of an artists standing by a tour bus. The artists is dressed in alternative clothing and links to the indie genre of the magazine.Drop Cap

The Drop Cap is simply a large letter at the start of an article. In this case the letter is speckled and seems to fit in with the relaxed feeling of the magazine, as well as the indie genre. The Drop Cap in this image is 4 lines deep.

The Editoral is the informative part of the contents page as it tells everyone what the magazine will be talking about in a short paragraph. The start of this editorial ‘Thank God’ captures the informal nature of the magazine in only 2 words and suggests that they writers are talking to friends.

Double Page SpreadMain Image

The image on this double page spread takes up ½ of the page so that our attention is immediately drawn to the artist to make sure that he is the focus of the article. It makes it very clear what the article will be on as well.The background of graffiti links to the header- it is suggesting that Dizzee went from being on the streets and crime to wearing leather jackets and designer jeans because of his music.Along the bottom there are beer bottles and a music player which suggests something about the type of music that Dizzee creates- possibly rap since it is quite relaxed and often linked to things like having fun. The radio tells us that a lot of Dizzee’s life has music in all shapes and forms and that he always carries music with him wherever he goes, even a photoshoot.

Header

The header for this image is the large of all the text we have seen before, it draws attention to it immediately. The words used are also quite informal, like the rest of the magazine. ‘Tags’ and ‘Riches’ are more relaxed ways of saying from poor to rich and they’re words that people who listen to Dizzee’s type of music will know the meaning of, so it helps connect with the target audience and Dizzee’s fans.

By LineThe by line is the piece of text that tells you who wrote the article and who took the images, in this case it is just above the Header so that some attention is given to it and it is easily spotted, however the text is rather small as it isn’t too important.Drop Cap

In this case the drop cap is black, and is also speckled like the one on the contents page as this font fits in with the indie theme of the magazine and is quite relaxed.

Structure

This magazine fits the common elements of a magazine by using 4 columns for the text. A magazine often uses either 3 or 4 columns in an article.