Audience Case StudyBy Lucy Grubb

The Cave – Mumford and Sons

• Formed in 2007, Mumford and Sons are an English folk/ alternative rock band

• "The Cave" was their third single released in 2010 from their debut album "sigh no more"

• The song featured in the 2010 ITV World Cup coverage in England and the first episode of the fourth series in the teen drama Skins

• The song, having featured in Skins, opened up a mass younger audience appeal to the bands music

Primary Audience Demographic

AGE• This music video appeals to a predominantly

young adult audience, aged between 16-26• The genre is niche, but the use of media

platforms such as Facebook and YouTube helps to promote their music to a mass audience, in particular young people who engage in social networking more frequently

In relation to my music video

AGE• Similarly to The Cave music video, An Acquired Taste

is predominantly aimed at young adults aged 16-24• This is because the protagonist is a young female,

and therefore the audience watching can relate to her character and storyline

• The narrative explores themes of escapism from reality and growing up, a topic which our younger audience can identify with

Primary Audience Demographic

GENDER• The music video isn’t bias towards either gender, although

the band consist of males and therefore a young male audience may be able to identify with their image

• However, there is research to suggest that there is an equal amount of female audience interested, based on Facebook likes and YouTube comments. This suggests that the genre of music is unisex and therefore their music videos consist of an audience who are purely interested in their music

In relation to my music video

GENDER• Similarly to The Cave, An Acquired Taste isn’t

bias towards either gender, although the strong female protagonist may suggest a reason as to why my feedback consisted of a predominantly female audience. This is because they can relate and identify with her character

Media interests

• In relation to my music video, a member of the audience may be interested in social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing them to stay updated with upcoming gigs and events.

• They would also use independent music sites such as soundcloud and reverbnation, in order to find local and unsigned bands

Reception Theory

• Reception theory is a version of reader response (a literary theory) that focuses on the reader/audience’s interpretation of meaning within a text.

• Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist, suggests that the audience do not passively accept a text. They interpret the text based on their life experiences and cultural background.

Gratification TheoryFar from being passive, audiences are made up of individuals who activelyconsume texts for different reasons and in different ways.Lasswell (1984) suggested that media texts have the following functions:• For surveillance • For correlation• For entertainment• For cultural transmission • In 1974, blulmer and Katz revised and expanded a list of their own reasons asto why individuals may use a text: • Diversion (escape from the everyday)• Personal relationships (substituting soap operas for family life)• Identity (learning behaviours and relating yourself to texts)• Surveillance (information necessary for living e.g. news, weather reports)

In relation to my music video

• My music video emphasises Lasswell’s idea of media texts having a function, and my music video functions for the purpose of entertainment.

• My music video also relates to Blulmer and Katz’s idea of identity, where the audience can learn these behaviours and relate themselves to the characters found in the texts (the audience can relate to the young female protagonist, and her desire to escape from reality/growing up)

In relation to my music video

• The audience can also interpret their own meaning of my music video, based on their own life experiences and cultural backgrounds (Stuart Hall)

• My music video will mainly target young white females, as the protagonist in our video is of the same ethnicity which makes it easier for the audience to relate to the themes being presented