LIIAR Analysis of NME

Language: The first thing I noticed on the front cover of this copy is the band members directly in the middle of the page, with the name of the band in the middle of the shot in large yellow  font. This has been done to capture the audience's attention, and also to establish that it is an indie magazine as it is conventional for indie magazines for the band to be the main focus on the front cover. Everything else on the front cover is placed around the shot of the bands, which shows that the article about the band is the main focus of the magazine. The font colour also stands out as it is bright yellow, which is done to capture the audience's attention however could also be representing that people who like the indie genre are people who like to stand out. I have noticed that along the top and bottom where the titles for the articles are placed there is a red background around the articles, which matches the font colour of the masthead.

Institutions: NME is published by IPC Media, which also produces magazines such as Look and Marie Claire. The audience can tell it is produced by IPC because the website for NME is advertised below the bar code, and the link to the website for IPC can be found at the bottom of the homepage. NME is also the only Indie music magazine produced by IPC, and it has little competition as other Indie magazines such as Q have slightly different target audiences.

Ideology: The ideology means the ideas behind what is advertised on the front cover. I noticed that the articles featured on the front cover revolve mainly around new music such as it advertising My Chemical Romance's new album and the come back of Babyshambles. This means the magazine is trying to promote the idea that it is important to keep up to date with new music, and this is also what the target audience are likely to do as they are likely to regularly go to gigs and download new music.

Audience:  The target audience for NME is young affluent people between the ages of 16-24. NME is specifically aimed at those who keep up with the latest music, as NME stands for New musical express. The target audience are people that regularly go to indie gigs, and are likely to want to hear about new up and coming bands as well as the bands that are already well established. They are people that regularly download music and research the latest indie music news.

Representation: The front cover represents NME in a positive way because the main band featured on the page appear smiling, and are also posing in a way which reflects a rebellious nature, which is often associated with the indie genre. The magazine is also represented positively with the article New Album: The Ultimate Review which indicates to the audience that NME provides reliable and in depth reviews. As the main photograph of the band is a medium shot which takes up the majority of the front cover it represents the magazine as being exciting and up to date.