Research: Audience identification by Jemar

What are audiences?

Audiences are a group of people who are targeted to create a product in which to appeal to them. Audiences are often splint into different categories based on their occupation and class. This allows the process of creating a specific video for a specific target audience in mind easier. Categorizing audiences is essentially a way of targeting the specific audience for a music video.

How might some audiences be categorised?

Audiences are categorized by being segmented into different groups based on them and what they hold. Audiences can also be categorized based on their different ages or gender. For example, one direction targets young female teenagers as their product appeals to them the most. This is done as it allows the creation of a specific product able to target and appeal to the specific target audience.

Advantages of categorizing audiences?

• ·         Know who you are appealing to (Specific product)
• ·         Idea of the money to be made
• ·         Use information for advertising
• ·         Knowledge of audiences interest

Disadvantages of categorizing audiences?

• ·         People are all different despite similar jobs
• ·         Don’t consider peoples interest just income
• ·         Targets a niche market (specific audience)

Different genres have different audiences.

Different artist of different genres all have their own specific target audience in which they aim their products specifically to target.

 – One direction ‘’Live while we’re young’’

This one direction video is an example of how different genres target different audiences, they are from a pop genre of music. Firstly, one directions song name ‘’Live while we’re young’’ relates to a young audience as it is telling them to make the most of their young live. This is also reflected in the film as we see the boys having a lot of mucky fun such as driving a truck around a field and also partying.  In addition, the fast pace music along with the random teenage extras in the background is also an indication and reminder of who this video is targeted at and hopes to appeal to.

 – Adele ‘’Someone like you’’

Adele is British artist from a soul genre of music who creates deep, meaningful music as a product to appeal to her audience in hope they can relate to her. Adele targets more of an older target audience compared to one direction due to her age and life experiences. She sings about her life with meaning in hope to create a sympathetic response amongst the audience in order to form a relationship with them whilst appealing to them. The music used in her videos such as someone like you is slow hence the target audience compared to one of one direction videos which are all mostly fast and upbeat.

Furthermore, audience research is seen as highly important to all media institutions as research should be done at almost all stages of production and once produced, the audience will be continually monitored in order to see whether the product has appealed to them.

What do you need to know about your audience?

• ·         Income status
• ·         Age
• ·         Race
• ·         Gender
• ·         Location

Audiences all have different reactions to products given to them, this is how Audience reactions are measured.

• ·         Audience engagement – This is the description of how an audience interacts with different media text. Different people will tend to react in different ways to the same text.
• ·         Audience expectations – These are the expectations an audience may have on an audience and their music, For example audiences expect certain aspects in a music video to be met from different genres.
• ·         Audience Foreknowledge – This is the background information the audience know about the music artist and their song/video.
• ·         Audience identification – This is how an audience is able to relate to an artist.
• ·         Audience placement – This is how the media producers use a variety of different techniques in order to target a particular target audience and make them feel a sense of importance by making the music specially ‘for them’.

The Audiences reactions in relation to theorist and their Theory’s?

Hebdige’s Theory – Links with Audience engagement

·         Factors such as social background can lead to different readings of the same song by people which are not port of one ‘mass culture’

Dyer Theory – Links with Audience identification

·         Stars are manufactured by their record company to appeal to a specific genre of audience by manipulating them into thinking they are given true art but instead an artificial image produced to mark money.

Goodwin’s Theory – Audience expectations

·         Products are created and made to follow a conventional music product in order to appeal to a specific target audience.

Conclusion

This research post of audience identification has helped me be able to perform a more detailed and precise identification of my target audience based on the genre of my music and my star. Identifying the audience is seen as one of the most important stages in the music industry as targeting the wrong audience will lead to failure to appeal to them and a loss of sales.