1. NME target audience research
The paper‟s first issue was published on 7 March 1952 after the Musical Express and Accordion
Weekly was purchased by London music promoter Maurice Kinn, 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 charts. The first of these were, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by
the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK. The first number one was
“Here in my heart” by Al Martino. This then ran onto the 1960s, During the 1960s the paper
championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The Beatles and The Rolling
Stones were frequently featured on the front cover of NME. These and other artists also
appeared at the NME Poll Winners Concert, an awards event that featured artists voted as
most popular by the paper‟s readers. The concert also featured an awards ceremony where
the poll winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners Concerts took place
between 1960 and 1966. They were filmed, edited and then transmitted on British television a
few weeks after they had taken place.
The latter part of the 1960s saw the paper chart the rise of psychedelia and the continued
dominance of British groups of that time period. During this era some sections of pop music
began to be designated as Rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry
with its fellow weekly music paper Melody Maker; however, 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.
NME.com
In 1996 under the stewardship of NME editor Steve Sutherland and then NME publisher Robert
Tame, the NME started its website NME.com. Its first editor was Brendan Fitzgerald. Later
Anthony Thornton redesigned the site, focusing on music news. The website was awarded
Online Magazine of the Year in 1999 and 2001; Anthony Thornton was awarded Website
Editor of the Year on three occasions – 2001 and 2002.In 2004, Ben Perreau joined
NME.COM as the website‟s third editor. He relaunched and redeveloped the title in September
2005 and the focus was migrated towards video, audio and the wider music community. It
was awarded „Best Music Website‟ at the record of the day awards in October 2005. In 2006
NME.COM celebrated with a party at London‟s KOKO featuring Leicester band Kasabian and
was subsequently awarded the BT Digital Music Award for Best Music Magazine and the first
„Chairman‟s Award‟ from the Association of Online Publishers awarded by the Chairman,
Simon Waldman in recognition of its pioneering role in its ten-year history.