Investigation into music genres and targeting audiences

Many genres of music are not appreciated or represented by the media very well, such as Grime and alternative. More recently, magazines have tried to incorporate these genres as we can see on the front of the typically rock-based magazine, NME, Dizzee Rascal's music genre, grime is presented well and with distinction. Also, inside Q magazine they advertise gig tickets to a range of artists, from pop/electronic music such as frankmusik to alternative artist, regina spektor. However, it is well known that the music most celebrated by the media is Rock music. Rock bands such as The Prodigy and Green Day often grace the cover of NME and Q. Although there are magazines for all genres, for example, XXL Worldwide for hip-hop and rap however the most famous and successful music magazines are definitely directed towards Rock music.

Audiences are targeted using the same techniques for most magazines. The audience for NME differs greatly from the audience of XXL Worldwide. the "Rolling Stones" magazine seems to create a newer wide audience. The original audience would have been much more specific however now, Lady Gaga and Eminem are the artists featuring in June the 11th 2009. This is completely varied compared to August, 1980 where Keith Richards and Mick Jagger graced the cover.

NME's audience has been growing narrower and narrower as time goes on, Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian criticised the magazine's lack of diversity, saying:

"NME bands" fall within very narrow parameters. In the 80s, the paper prided itself on its coverage of hip hop, R&B and the emerging dance scene which it took seriously and featured prominently - alongside the usual Peel-endorsed indie fare. Now, though, its range of approved bands has dramatically shrunk to a strand embodied by the [Arctic] Monkeys, Babyshambles and Muse - bands who you don't need specialist knowledge to write about and who are just "indie" enough to make readers feel they're part of a club. Like everything else in publishing, this particular direction must be in response to reader demand, but it doesn't half make for a self-limiting magazine."
However, much more recently, the magazine has been trying to broaden the audience with features on Jay-Z, Dizzee Rascal and Lily Allen which are drastically different from the usual Artic Monkeys and Muse. This shows that the magazine is probably suffering.
This leads on to the point of the death of the magazine. As people can look up whatever they want online, the sales of magazines seems to be plummeting, Music magazines seem to be particularly struggling, this is because other magazines can incorporate music into their magazine, attracting more and more readers away from magazines that solely provide music news.

Overall, music magazines used to be much more direct at a narrow audience however we now see magazines such as NME and Q broadening the audience using covering artists such as Lady GaGa and Dizzee Rascal. This shows that music magazine buyers are reducing and the audience needs to be increased for more sales and opportunities.

Semiotic Analysis

The front cover of NME magazine displays Dizzee Rascal smiling ecstatically. In extremely large letters it says his name and a quote by him, this suggests the main article in the magazine will be on Dizzee Rascal and him "spreading joy around the world". They create an extremely positive image of Dizzee Rascal. This could have been done to show that grime music is not a threat. Juxtaposed to this, Dizzee Rascal is wearing a chain and has trainers on, there is also graffiti as the background, this implies that maybe his music isn't as inviting and friendly as portrayed by the quote. This is because the chain and grafitti are assosiated with urban living in east london, danger and fights. On the other hand, it could be showing that this image should be publicly accepted.

Furthermore, the title of the magazine is almost unnoticeable, this suggests that the reader is a regular reader and the magazine is so successful it does not need to advertise its self. This may narrow down their target audience as it is just regulars. Next to the title it says "starring, Kasiabian, Maximo Park, Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Muse & More", this suggests that the magazine is extremely varied and eclectic.

As music tastes broaden, NME's audience broadens. IPC, the publishers of NME say, "Every week it gives its readers the most exciting, most authoritative coverage of the very best in contemporary music.". Music such as Grime, hip hop and rap would not have been as focused on as a few years ago. A variety of music is now appreciated on the front cover, such as Dizzee Rascal, Yeah, yeah, yeah's and Jay-z. All with extremely different styles from different genres. Also, the music promoted throughout the magazine suggests the unity of race and class, this is because music from all over the world, from celebrities to small bands are recognised in the magazine. Also, artists from all different races are also recognised showing the development of society.

To conclude, the front cover of NME in September's issue subverts to the norm in many ways, the fact that they use the typical, black, white and red colour theme shows that they want to stick to their old values however the genres represented are extremely modern and vary showing that although the magazine desires to keep their old, traditional audience they are attempting to broaden it to the new generations.