NME Notes

The paper's first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion Weekly was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kin, and relaunched as the New Musical Express. It was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint. On 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the U.S. magazine Billboard, it created the first UK Singles Chart.

1960s-  NME sales were healthy with the paper selling as many as 200,000 issues per week, making it one of the UK's biggest sellers.

1970s- By the early 1970s NME had lost ground to the Melody Maker as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with the development of rock music, particularly during the early years of psychedelia and progressive rock. In early 1972 the paper found itself on the verge of closure by its owners IPC (who had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963). According to Nick Kent (soon to play a prominent part in the paper's revival):
After sales had plummeted to 60,000 and a review of guitar instrumentalist Duanne Eddy had been printed which began with the immortal words 'On this, his 35th album, we find Duane in as good as voice as ever,' the NME had been told to rethink its policies or die on the vine.

1980s- Some commented at this time that the NME had become less intellectual in its writing style and less inventive musically. Initially, NME writers themselves were ill at ease with the new regime, with most signing a letter of no confidence in Alan Lewis shortly after he took over. However, this new direction for the NME proved to be a commercial success and the paper brought in new writers such as Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie, Mary Anne Hobbs and Steve Lamcq to give it a stronger identity and sense of direction.

1990s-Although the period from 1991 to 1993 was dominated by American bands like Nirvana, British bands were not ignored.In April 1994 Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was found dead, a story which affected not only his fans and readers of the NME, but would see a massive change in British music. Grunge was about to be replaced by Britpop,a new form of music influenced by British music of the 1960s and British culture. The phrase was coined by NME after the band Blur released their album Parklife in the same month of Cobain's death. Britpop began to fill the musical and cultural void left after Cobain's death, and Blur's success, along with the rise of a new group from Manchester called Oasis saw Britpop explode for the rest of 1994.

20000s- From the issue of 21 March 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsIn October 2006 NME launched an Irish version of the magazine called NME Ireland. This coincided with the launch of Club NME in Dublin. Dublin-based band Humanzi were the first to appear on the cover of NME Ireland. Poor sales in the Republic of Ireland resulted from competition from market leader Hot Press and free music magazines Analogue Magazine, Mongrel Magazine and State Magazine. This resulted in the magazine's demise in November 2006.print, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colour covers.

What does the NME website offer its audience?
It offers music facts, gossip, the latest information on current bands, reviews etc. It is an online aswell as material magazine, tv station and mobile news report, hence it being 'First for music news'. You are more than likely to find everything you want to be informed about, music wise, with this company.

How does the NME website address its audience?
It address it's audience through it's style of design e.g. bright colours and large, bold italics, animation. Catches most peoples attention through this, but is mainly aimed at youths who take an interest in music e.g. attend concerts or take part in musical activities. The access to post comments on polls allows viewers to feel more involved and offer opinions on various subjects.