ASMediaScottMoore: October 2014

Media Language

The red, stencil typography is an effective piece of media language. Its DIY style reflects the punk lifestyle the main feature is trying to represent; this stencil typography is very reminiscent of The Clash’s own front style (an infamous first wave punk group, like on the album cover of 'Combat Rock'). It reflects the sentiment of the main feature, that Skrillex’s culture is ‘DIY’ and NME are linking this to the Punk Rock movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s.
The NME’s masthead title piece is instantly recognisable and is seen as a well-respected brand, the typography of the logo hasn’t changed for decades and is part of the iconography of this magazine.
The main feature being on the top, left of the cover is a common convention of a magazine cover and connotes a sense of professionalism, which is also added to by the red, white and black house-style.
The only features that don’t abide to this colour scheme are the teasers and smaller features. This is to make them more prominent on the page and command the audience’s attention; this is to entice the audience to buy the magazine for all of the features that aren’t shared too much on the cover.
The graphic design for the smaller features in the top, right-hand corner of the magazine also connote as sense of ‘DIY culture’ with the rips in the paper. This adds to whole continuous theme of ‘DIY’ in the magazine. Above the barcode and price, there’s a part of the main feature which reads: ‘The NME Interview’. This implies that this is an exclusive, you will only find in NME. This further entices the audience, to read this exclusive feature. The main image is related to the artist in the main features: Skrillex.

The contents page shares the same house style, which creates consistency and therefore adds to the cohesion and professionalism of the publication.
The information regarding the feature on Skrillex is the first you read which also creates cohesion in the piece. The Rolling Stones' feature's information is below Skrillex's which again creates cohesion. the teasers '20 essential tacks', '11 pages of reviews' and '25 new bands' shows, very simplistically and clearly, what this magazine has to offer. The enumerator followed by a typical convention of the features of the NME creates a pattern and, therefore, cohesion.
There's also a pattern created in the central column in the contents page with every feature being advertised by a rhetorical question, like 'what's rattled Nicky Wire's cage now?' and 'does divorce make good art'. Again this creates constancy but it also engages the audience and entices them with thought-provoking interrogatives.

In the main feature (on Skrillex) cohesion is created betweenn the image of Skrillex and the masthead. The colouring of the masthead matches the graffiti behind Skrillex. On this page, another interrogative is used to engage and interest the audience. The black and orange house style used in the first double page becomes the house style and in consistent throughout the main feature.

Institution.

The Institution who publish the NME are called Time Inc. UK, who are owned by Time Inc. Time Inc are a New York-based, American publishing company, founded in 1912.
They publish ninety magazines like its namesake Time but others like Sports Illustrated, Travel + Leisure, Instyle and many more.
They also own the rights to 'LIFE', which is an iconic magazine. Time Inc. currently owns and runs LIFE's online format.
Time Inc. UK (formerly known as ICP Media) are a British Magazine House and publish, as well as the NME, Maire Claire, What's on TV and InStyle, amoungst sixty others.
It was founded in 1968 and the Publishing Division that produces the NME is Inspire (who's target market is men). They also publish Rugby World, the Shooting Times, Horse and Hound as well as t
others.
Time Inc. UK engages with almost half of all the adults in the UK and their websites reach over 25 billions global users every month. Consumers interact with Time Inc. UK's brands in excess of a quarter of a billion times a year which equates to ten interactions every second.

Ideology.

The Ideology of the NME is, simply, a belief that independent music is better than any other genre of music. The genre it represents commands the content and style of the magazine.

The NME also sets and predicts trends and doesn’t feature artists that are already charting. The NME generally represents artists that are signed to an independent record label or are unsigned, it also represents artists that have been in that situation.

The NME is usually very loyal to artists they find at the grass roots and follows them up.

More recently, the NME has become more than a magazine: it has become a brand. The NME now has an awards ceremony and a radio station; the NME is sponsored by Shockwaves. This shows that, although the still NME represents unknown artists, it has become more commercialised and mainstream.
The NME has spanned more areas, than just producing magazine,it has an awards evening and a radio station. It is also international as it has founded an internet presence called NME India.

Audience.

The NME’s target audience is men from the age of 17-30. This is a mass audience and the NME has a readership of 411,000.

The amount of female readers if 27% compared to 73% of male readers (I will attempt to address this injustice in Feminist Punk Rock magazine and prove women can enjoy underground music too whilst filling a gap in the market by constructing a magazine of that ilk aimed at women).

60% of the NME's readership are students, which shows that the audience of the magazine is young and is why the NME source contemporary, new bands and artists.

79% of the NME’s readership enjoy listening to new bands, the NME are catering to that in their front cover as they’re featuring a contemporary artist from a ‘DIY’ culture. However, the front cover also features a smaller feature on ‘The Rolling Stones’ which caters to a large amount of the readership whom appreciate older bands.
More-so than being students, 52% of the readership are interested or are taking a music course/qualification showing the audience know a fair amount on the topic of music and are not novices. They play music as well as listening to it, as you can see by the statistic that 36% percent of the audience are planning to buy a musical instrument within the next year.
59% of the readership agree that they enjoy to follow new technologies, this shows that they would be willing to receive the publication digitally and will follow the NME on social media sites. I would expect this considering they have a very young readership. Although, there has been a revival in 'old' technologies as retro items, like cassette and record players.
67% of NME's audience are planning to go to a festival this year and over half concur that 'you can't beat the atmosphere of a live performance'. This shows that the readership enjoy live music and 41% find it preferable to watching a band on the TV. This infers that they're very active and dedicated to their favorite bands by going to see them in concert.
Bands that are very popular with the NME's readship at the moment are: the Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian and The Black Keys. However, the audience also appreciates older, definitive bands annd artists, most notably: The Beatles, David Bowie, Oasis, The Smiths and The Stone Roses.
As well as stereotypical listening habits, there is also a stereotypical fashion associated with the NME readership. The high-street retailer Urban Outfitters is synonymous with the 'indie look' and tends to follow the trends set by those who shop in vintage stores; they're infamous for their 'Urban Renewal' clothing lines.

Representation

It is a medium close up framed to the left and his Non-Verbal Communication implies either he’s raving (which his synonymous within his genre of EDM) or he’s giving a peace symbol. The peace symbol is related to the hippy movement, with their bohemian/commune lifestyle this is also adding to the theme of ‘DIY’ in this cover.
His costume is a black T-Shirt with ‘San Fran Psycho’ printed on it in a hip font, this shows that the NME aren’t just trend-setters in terms of music but in terms of fashion also. He has bands on his wrists that imply he’s been to festivals recently; said bands are also very fashionable at the moment.
On the contents page there is a band dressed all in black, looking very stern. This shows that they are a serious band that wants to be taken seriously; they are the antithesis of pop bands. Below that feature, there is an image of a singer shouting into a microphone. This again shows that the independent bands feature in the NME aren’t there to have fun, they are there to make a serious statement.
The image below that depicts a musician with long, hair and a beard. This encapsulates the indie-rock look the NME often feature. The contributors are also dressed in ‘indie’ looking clothing. Especially the male with long hair and sunglasses who is wearing the ‘hipster’ look that is popular right now. The representation of the Skrillex in the main feature is also very stereotypical of the indie subculture.
He is against a wall of graphitti showing he lives in an urban area of the city, these bohemian areas are associated with indie music. On the second double page, he is skateboarding which is also associated with the indie subculture and zeitgeist.
The background of this shot is the financial/inner-city area of the city, the fact he’s not in the inner-city but in the urban sprawl connotes that he’s less conventional than those who work in the city. His casual costume also suggests the same.
Skrillex is skating on the road which infers he’s a maverick and rebellious (which is what the NME is all about).
The other image on the bottom left of the page shows him with a personalised, leather jacket. This feeds into the entire ‘DIY’ theme. Leather jackets connote rebelliousness and rock.
The third double page spread features an image of a huge concert/rave. This shows that Skrillex is unconventional as the stage props are very unusual, this matches his style of music. The whole image depicts an event that is ground-breaking and exciting.
There is also an image of Skrillex in the bottom left with ‘hipster glasses’ on. These glasses are a classic sign that someone is a fan of independent music, he is wearing a leather jacket (as previously dicussed).
He also has piercing which are an outward sign he enjoys rock/independent music, his long hair also connotes this.

The main image is a medium group shot of the lead singers of the artists featuring in the main feature. The graphic of the tingle connecting all the artists in the image shows that the editors of this image are professionals. The non-verbal communication of the three artists is very stern; they are not smiling. This shows that they are not pop groups; they are serious musicians who want to be taken seriously. The main feature headline (‘The Unholy Trinity’) links to the triangle in the main image. This reference to the belief in the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity implies that the musicians are like the Anti-Christ. They are not safe, they do not have good morals, they are dangerous and edgy. This is what the audience of the NME wants. The masthead ‘NME’ is also effective as it is an anachronism for ‘The New Musical Express’, the company has built a build around this and ‘NME’ is easily recognisable. There is also a graphic image of the logo of ‘Leeds Reading Festival’. This is effective as the audience will buy this from the brand of the festival as well as the brand of NME. The colour theme is very vivid (bright red, yellow and blue), this would make this magazine more prominent amongst other (more mundane) magazines. I think the NME’s DIY/punk aesthetic will be something I incorporate into my magazine, especially since many Riot Grrrl groups are already featured in the NME.

The main image is a medium close up of the main feature’s artist. Her costume is all black to match the background which is effective as it draws focus to the text and the artist’s face, which are of lighter colouring. The masthead title piece is placed behind the artist’s head which shows the magazine is professional and reassures the audience that the content will match the standard of the colour. The colour scheme is black, white and red. The only feature that doesn’t match this aesthetic is the offer blurb which gives it more prominence on the front cover. I have used this front cover as a source of inspiration as the magazine’s main feature and main image (which shows consistency throughout the design of the magazine) is a Feminist Punk Rock artist. P!nk being depicted in such an eloquent way shows that Riot Grrrl doesn’t have to have a fanzine aesthetic to work effectively.

The main feature relates to the main image, which is in a close up. The decision to make the colour scheme of the cover the same as the free CD included creates an air of professionalism. The skyline with the accompanying image is also very skilfully done and works with the Siouxsie Sioux-centric cover. The use of teaser quotes from interviews is a main convention of this magazine and I will be sure to include these in my magazine as they entice people in and are a very useful tool. I have chosen to use this magazine as a muse as it features on of the first women in Punk Rock: Siouxsie Sioux. It just goes to show that women in rock need their own magazine to be celebrated, there is a niche market for this and would prove popular as Mojo (amongst others) regularly feature female artists. Her band, Siouxsie and the Banshees, sang feminist songs like ‘Peepshow’, this illustrates that a Feminist Punk Rock magazine would be a viable endeavour as some of the acclaimed bands of the latter half of the last century sang songs from that genre. This cover also encapsulates the revival in said genre.