NME: Weekly Magazine Covers (Weeklies)

Throughout lessons this week the class were given various weekly music magazines to analyse; by looking at different magazine covers has enabled me to get a better idea of how i'm going to be creating my music magazine for my course work.

NME is a music magazine which stands for "New Musical Express" it is priced at £2.30 and is sold weekly. The title connotes that using the letters in the masthead as opposed to the full word itself indicates that the publication gets straight to the point, also with having letters instead of words makes it easier for the reader to remember and is easily recognisable in further issues that the company publishes.

The main image which is placed on the cover is of band member from The Courteeners, it takes up a majority of the page showing the significance the image has with the content. The fact that the image is of a male musician could indicate that a majority of the audience for this publication would generally be male. The image of the person is looking directly to the reader which initially draws their attention and making that person the main focus point which could then link with the main story in the content of the magazine. There are no secondary images used on the cover which could show that the main image is the main focus and the publisher could want that image to be recognised as being the main story.

The important words on the cover are placed in the left third making it more attractive to the reader as it will be one of the first things they see when purchasing the magazine. As well as the text being placed in the left third it is also placed on the top and bottom of the cover which is a break down of what bands will be discussed in the magazine itself. The text in the left third is an indication of the important stories the reader will come across in the publication, if a shop is selling a magazine the way it is placed will mean that the left third is the first thing that the reader will notice. This means that if this column includes the coverlines it will attract the reader to purchase the publication as they will be intrigued about what the stories are about. There is only one image on the cover which is of a musician which is placed on the right hand side but taking up a majority of the cover showing that there isn't an overlap with the text and images showing that it's a well presented magazine cover and that it's layed out sufficiently.

The main colours used are red, black and white and there are many connotations for the colour red which could portray a sense of anger linking in with the heavy rock music genre in the magazine. This could then link in with the audience mainly being male as they could be stereotyped to have an interest into this type of music genre. Another connotation for the colour red could show a sense of passion and love, by using this colour it could portray the audience's passion for rock music. Also red could suggest alertness as it's a bright colour to recognise the magazine easily and the writing would draw the reader's attention. The image of the young man links with the text as he is wearing a red t shirt with a black jacket showing the contrast between both the text and image which suggests a sense of consistency throughout the publication.

There are many messages that NME are trying put across to the audience through the use of fonts, they are mainly varied on the cover but the coverlines are printed in a much bolder text showing the significance they have with the weekly issue. The most important words are printed bigger, use different colours and are also in capitals. The different use of fonts enable the reader to gain a better understanding of what stories are more important in the magazine compared to others. The main coverline being "The Courteeners" is printed bigger in comparison with the rest of the text and is bolded with a red colour font, showing that it's the main story.

The assumptions I make of the magazine is that it would mainly have a male audience due to the various bands mentioned on the cover, I would also assume that a younger audience would be interested in the stories published and the main image used would portray a more masculine image. As the audience would be young it would indicate that the content is very modern and it is published weekly showing that the magazine is extremely up to date with the news that they inform the readers.

I feel that the language, images and fonts used on the cover of the NME magazine link to the type of genre produced in a variety of ways. The main image of the man links in with the genre of the music being rock/indie because he is wearing a leather jacket which makes the reader stereotype the type of music group he is apart of. The text links in with the genre as they are printed big and bold which suggests loudness linking with the type of music.

NME music magazine attract their audience through the use of the front cover by including a variety of techiniques which they feel will be of interest to their targetted readers. The use of various bands advertised on cover helps the reader gain an insight of what the content will include, they use rock/indie bands which shows they've taken into consideration the audience they are trying to attract and draw attention to. The publishers will make sure that their audience is informed of the latest information of the bands they take an interest into and by printing the names of the famous bands on the covers will make them want to purchase it more. The coverline "New Festival Ticket Scam" would be another way the reader would become attracted to this magazine because a majority of them having an interest into music will most likely attend festivals, gigs, concerts, etc. This means that the coverline will attract the audience as they'd feel buying the publication will enable them to feel at ease with not being scammed by tickets companies.