L: The front of NME follows all of the main conventions of a music magazine; it has a masthead, close up image, quotes and headlines. The colours are limited to four, back, white, clue and red which connote British music, tying in with the artist featured on the front of the magazine as he is a British artist. The close up image is slightly blurred allowing the writing to stand out against the text and making the image look more natural. The large quote that headlines the main story and the cover artist is written in a font that looks like and writing suggesting a less professional theme compared to other magazines such as Q. The magazine uses names of popular artists in bold fonts to draw in the readers as, because it is a specialist magazine, the readers will buy it due to the artists featured so this synergy benefits both the magazine and the artists for which the magazine is bought.
I: NME appeals to a gap in the market as there isn’t another popular magazine that appeals to an indie audience of a teenage age range. Although other similar magazines do exist such as Q, NME has a slightly more light-hearted approach to music and allows more readers opinions on subjects and covers a lot more artists that aren’t aswell known as some of the artists Q interviews. The masthead NME is in bright red font which makes it obvious to the buyer what magazine it is and helps catch the readers eye, this will help sell the magazine to existing buyers as they will recognise the magazine immediately, however it will also help bring in new customers as anyone who is into that type of music will have heard of NME and know it appeals to their taste therefore they will also be able to recognise it and purchase it easily.
I: The use of a handwritten font on the front of the magazine shows that NME isn’t a completely serious magazine and has an element of fun to it. However the image of Carl Barat is a serious portrait with him not smiling and just staring at the camera, this connotes a more serious tone to the magazine and suggest that, although the artist does have an element of fun, he also wants to be viewed as a serious artist.
A: the audience for this magazine are very specific. They will recognise this magazine as one of the only ones that appeals to their type of music, (indie rock/folk) so will automatically go for this magazine above any others. However NME ensures they are top choice by advertising bands and artists names in bold font to catch the target audience’s eyes and, as these are names that they will recognise, entice them into buying the magazine. Also the quote ‘’i’ve got a right to tell my story’’ suggests to the audience that the interview will be exclusive as the artist is fighting for a right to tell his story so coverage may be scarce. The casual approach to music will also appeal to the target audience which is mainly teenagers as they are more interested in the live side of music and not their reputation; this is a major concept for NME which have coverage of lots of gigs and new music, all of which largely appeal to the target audience.
R: On the front cover of NME,Carl Barat is shown to be a major artists as he is the cover art on this issue; also the text for his interview that goes along with the picture takes up almost half of the magazine cover, representing him as a big artist; also the mention of his band The Libertines in the text helps sell his solo career as people will know him as ‘’the guy from The Libertines’’. All of the artists featured on the front of NME will get very positive coverage for the music they make, as NME is well known and this will help the bands and artists be viewed as a good, indie band/artist and widens there audience to the readers of NME aswell as the fans they have already.
Contents Page.
L: Some of the language used in the contents page is slightly tabboo. The phrase "Of course there's drama-its the fucking libertines!" suggests that the readers of the magazine will be aware of certain bands as they are very popular with the genre. The use od the word "fucking" connotes a laid back approach and that the magazine is friendly, opinionated and itsn't too bothered about being formal . Quotes are used in almost every advertisement of every page of the magazine; this shows that NME can afford to get interviews with the hottest bands of the moment, making the reader think that its the best value for money. Also the fact that the reader can see that there are a lot of interviews and not just reviews will entice the reader in as they can learn more about their favourite band and not just about their music.
I: see front page analysis
I: The contents page supports NME's idea of being like a newspaper. The format of the writing is serif which is similiar to a newspapers formatting. The use of big pictures is also similair to a newspaper style publishing as they are used as a header type enticement that encourages the reader to read the quote which goes with the picture then follow the page number which is printed in large bold font, to the article of their interest. The magazine also supports a libertine style life; interviewing bands that follow such lifestyles and advertising interviews with quotes such as "we are fucked up" show that NME support a carefree ideology which is something that is attractive to their audience.
A: As its audience is teens/early twenties using words such as "fucking" will be something that they can relate to and will make them feel more at ease with the magazine and less intimidated by the expert opinions on new music. THe magazine also appeals to its target market with the large advertisement that asks them if they "want to get NME for the best price possible?" this shows that the magazine recognises that the target market don't just have money to throw away and by offering them discounts it gives them an advantage on their competitors as price is taken into great consideration by their target market when choosing which magazine to purchase.
R: Through my contents page; my audience are shown to have similiar values to the artists featured. By advertising the artists bohemian lifestyle through quotes such as "my mums friends are on it" and "we are fucked up" it shows that the readers would be interested in finding out about the lifestyles of their favourite artists which are represented through a carefree lifestyle, rock star type lifestyle. The large advertisement to get NME at a cheaper price shows that the audience don't have a particularly large income therefore an offer like this largely appeals to them.
Double Page Spread.
L: The use of the pun in the title "one giant (dub) step for man" appeals to the humourous side of the audience who aren't very serious due to their age. The fact that (dub) has been added in gives us an idea to what kind of music the article is about, which is dubstep which is handy for the readers as dubstep is something that not all readers would be interested in so it makes it easy for them to decide wether to read the article or not. HOwever the readers may persuaded to read it due to the fact that NME is making a big deal out of the band; the fact that theyreffered to it as "giant" step for dubstep music shows that they may have something a bit different to them therefore the reader may decide it is worth reading the review. Also the fact that NME has used a quote that firstly described the landing of man on the moon shows that they see this band as a big deal as this quote wouldn't be used on someone they thought was only okay; showing the audience already that this band is to be taken seriously.
I: see front page analysis
I: The use of a black and white colour scheme on the double page spread is metallic and reflects the name of the group "Magnetic Man" as it has connotations of metal and coldness. The group members are also dressed in black and white which helps tie the piece together and shows that they live up to their name. This idea of coldness is also created with the way the photraph has been shot; two out of the three members of the band are looking away which could suggest that they are chanelling the cold, standoffish approach their name suggests.
A: It is made clear in the title of the article that the audience that would be interested in this would be those interested in Dubstep. The fact that the bands name is used in bold in the text underneath the headline shows that fans of the band would be able to immediatly recognise them by either their name or the large picture of them that takes up a whole page.
R: The audience of this article are shown to be into music that doesn't nessacarily have a personality behind it. The fact that there are no quotes from the band written in large or bold shows that the group have earnt there respect through their music and not their personalities. This is also reflected in the fact that NME has crowned them with the headline "one giant (dub) step for man" as this shows that they are a big deal and incorporating the genre of music they are into this shows that they have done a lot for dubstep.
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