Task 1 (NME and TOTP's)

Media

Lacey Dyke

Music magazines are popular because:

·         The articles with musicians

I think that the articles with musicians are a crucial part of the magazine being popular. In the music magazine NME the articles are very serious and seem to get to the point, however TOPT’s magazine is very cheesy and staged- this proves how different the target market is for the two magazines. NME featured Jake Bugg, his interview was talking constantly about his music and telling the NME audience what they want to hear such as ‘I'm keeping that X Factor s*** off the top spot'- Jake Bugg is talking just as he would to a friend, including swear words etc. Highlighting he does not care what people think of him he just want to get on with his music however TOTP’s magazine likes to make their guests seem very innocent. TOTP’s stared Little Mix, they were not asking anything about the girl music which was ironic due to it being a music magazine?! They talked about the girls make up tips and party ethics so it all seems very rehearsed.

It seems that the pictures shots are a big influence on the way that they are, in the NME magazine Jake was wearing his tracksuit jumper and signing into a microphone with his eyes closed whilst holding a guitar, as soon as his NME followers see this shot they would know how legit he is, he looks almost ‘lost in music’. I also like the fact that he has not bothered dressing up or trying too hard to impress anyone because it proves he does not feels as if anyone is there to see him, they only want to listen to his music. Whereas Little Mix are trying to look perfect, they are standing in a line posing to the camera looking very fake, this proves how TOTP’s wants to make their guests impress their readers and talk about irrelevant things to keep it very interesting- Little Mix won the X factor so they don’t have the best story to talk about their music carers which is why their interview is very simple whereas Jake Bugg was a self made artist who slates the X factor so his interview is much more interesting, this proves how versatile the audiences of the different magazines are- the TOTP’s readers want to know about the artists life whereas the NME readers want to know about the artist music.

I think that if I was to buy a magazine I would want to buy the magazine that talks about the star’s career not their life habits such as make up tips, therefore I would have bought the NME magazine, it is more legit and it seems to get more to the artist points such as their musical likes and dislikes.

Overall, NME is much more popular with an older audience (ignoring the swearing) it gets all of the information people really care about!