The New Musical Express (NME) is a popular British based magazine in the United Kingdom that has been published weekly since March 1952. Two magazines, ‘Musical Express’ and ‘Accordion Weekly’ were bought by music promoter Maurice Kinn and relaunched as the ‘New Musical Express’. This is how NME made it on the market. Its current editor is Krissi Murison who is the eleventh editor of the magazine and the first female editor for NME.
NME was the first British paper to include a singles chart following from American magazine ‘Billboard’, and they sourced the top twelve by researching sales in regional stores around the UK. It was also produced as a newsprint until 1998 when it was then printed onto a tabloid with glossy, coloured paper.
In the 1960’s, NME frequently had new British Rock groups on the front cover such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. This then resulted in NME becoming a rock genre and applying to the rock audience.
Towards the end of the 1960’s NME saw the chart rise of the psychedelic genre. The psychedelic genre is a wide range of music made to have the effect that a psychedelic drug would. NME however struggled to keep up with the psychedelic genre and even the progressive rock as of rival magazine ‘Melody Maker’. This then caused NME to think about whether they were going to make changes to the magazine or let it finish.
A new editor was bought in ‘Alan Smith’ after IPC had bought the failing magazine. This then meant a radical change had to happen to get the sales back up. NME was then made into a smarter, hipper, more cynical and funny magazine which made it stand out from competing magazines. This was a difference from NME’s previous existence which was an uncritical, reverential showbiz magazine.
In the 1970’s NME was struggling again to keep up with the newly found Punk genre so they advertised for two younger writers to become editors. This then led to the Punk genre making a stamp on NME’s genre and audience, which meant sales increased. Also, following with the Punk genre the paper became more involved with politics and youth orientated issues were used as main stories rather than music. NME took stances against several parties such as the National Front and also took a socialist stance against the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, which was shown through most of the following decade.
However, in the mid 1980’s NME was in a danger of closure again as of sales dropping and this was due to a newly found genre to the UK- hip hop. Arguments about whether NME should include hip hop or stick to the rock genre broke out and when people of the hip hop genre appeared on the magazines, sales would lower. This then lead to several articles in NME being unrelated to music, such as a computer crime article and an article about American troops in Britain. This therefore showed the desperation of the magazine.
A few years later though and NME got back into business with the newly found genre called ‘shoegazing’ which is an alternative to rock and the new British indie bands. NME also interviewed new bands from the US (mainly Seattle) such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. These were under the ‘Grunge’ genre and were an inspiration from hard core punk, heavy metal and indie rock.
In the 2000’s a failure of several music magazines meant that NME was thought to be next but it survived although, sales dropped when NME tried to broaden the range of genre of music they used. Destiny’s Child, Hear Say and Missy Elliot was a few of the names mentioned in the magazine but just as in the 1980’s this did not apply to NME’s audience.
In the mid 2000’s new British ‘Indie’ bands were appearing on the front covers such as Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and the Kaiser Chiefs. This then meant that the audience was widening and not falling as the indie genre and rock genre have similar links.
In 2008, NME received another make over this time with the way the language was used. NME wanted to reach the older audiences so used a more authoritive tone in the language. A free Oasis 7 inch vinyl record was also given with the new revamped issue in May 2008.
Q
Q is a music magazine which was first published in October 1986 and has been published monthly in the UK since. It was created by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth who wanted to reach an older generation of music buyers who were buying cd’s (which was still a new technology).
Q was different to other magazines on the market as of it being published monthly and having a higher standard of photography and printing. It was originally to be called ‘cue’ but as of not wanting confusion for a snooker magazine, it was changed to Q. In Q’s 200th edition it stated that they wanted a single letter as the masthead because ‘a single-letter title would be more prominent on newsstands’.
Q magazine has an extensive review section on things such as new music releases, film, live concerts, radio and television. It is also mainly filled with interviews with popular musical artists such as Madonna, U2 and Muse.
The magazine is well known for it’s lists such as ‘The 100 Greatest Albums’ or one of it’s most famous ones ‘50 band to see before you die’. It also has a ‘sister’ magazine-Mojo-and every other month these two magazines have a special edition which has been influenced by a musical time, artist or genre.
Q also tries to reach their audience by offering free gifts such as cd’s or books. This then is a promotion to the artists and writers as well as a promotion to the magazine.
Usual features of the magazine include ‘Cash for questions’ in which famous celebrities/bands answer questions that have been sent in by readers(the readers receive money if their question gets published), The Q50 where the magazine lists the top 50 tracks of the month and many more.
In 2008 Q had a new image with a smaller amount of text and an increased focus on subjects other than music such as charitable causes. Q also went dangerous in April 2010 with Lady Gaga posed topless in a shoot which was banned from the United States of the singer revealing too much. This gave Q a rebellious feel to the magazine and with several shoots before such as Lily Allen showing flesh Q is maybe trying to reach a wider audience such as men or ‘rebels’.
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