NME magazine is edited by Mike Williams and was founded in March 1952. It was initially in a newspaper format then gradually changed into a magazine format.

The publishing house for NME is IPC media. In the 1970s it became the best-selling British music newspaper. It also has a website (nme.com) which is now the world's biggest standalone music site, with over 7 million users per month.

The genre of the music emphasises mostly on independent music that differs from mainstream music. It adheres to conventions by having multiple articles on new artists or bands and heavily features artists who break the conventions of mainstream music.

This magazine adheres an individualistic style in that it uses strong imagery and creatively styled fonts to appeal to readers looking for alternative music and also symbolises an edgy element which allows the magazine to succeed.

NME uses house style colours red, white and yellow to draw the readers in as these basic colours are used extravagantly to be eye catching for the readers. These colours are maintained throughout the magazine in order to create a sense of equilibrium for the reader and an house style that will be associated with NME.

The feature articles in NME are:

These features help enable an interaction between the readers and the magazine and may be a reason for high sales for this magazine.

• News

• Radar (new emerging artists)

• Live! (Gigs that are popular or must see)

• Features

The main image on the front cover usually features an artist or band every issue and is mostly conducted via a close up or mid shot. The name of the magazine is always presented on the left hand side of the page which subverts other magazines which is also what the genre is all about.

The tagline of every feature article mentions how the band or artist differ from the mainstream music so new readers can interpret what genre the magazine presents.

The main advertisements used in NME magazine adhere to the youth lifestyle enjoyed by most of the population of the readers.

In May 2008 the magazine received a redesign, aimed at an older readership with a less pop oriented theme and a more authoritative tone.

The paper also became more openly political during the time of Punk. Its cover would sometimes feature youth-oriented issues rather than a musical act. The paper took an editorial stance against political parties like the National Front. The election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 saw the paper take a broadly socialist stance for much of the following decade.