INITIAL AUDIENCE RESEARCH

Anisha, Matilda, Melissa, Saehir A2 Media 2014

When conducting our research we asked our target market what they like and dislike in order to find out what their needs and demands are, so that we can apply the audiences requirements to our products in order for our bands music video and their ancillary products to be successful in the marketplace and popular amongst the audiences. We used a variety of methods to conduct our audience research, and these methods include:

An interview with a member of our target audience

An online survey

A focus groups

o As a group we conducted initial audience demographic research for our music video, Digi-pak, and website homepage. By conducting this research we aimed to identify our specific target audiences for our band 10th Concession in order to produce products which suit to them. In this slide share we will be presenting the detailed audience research we conducted using various methods. We will also be presenting our evaluation of the research we conducted alongside the application of audience theories to our evaluation. Furthermore, we will also be discussing how this audience research will impact on our planning for our products.

Here is the link to the survey we produced using an online program called SurveyMonkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SQY8V8Z

After creating this online survey, we posted it to our target audience through the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Here are print screens showing our group posting the link of the survey to our target audience:

We chose to send our survey through this method as our target audience is young, and they are in the online age where they are consumed by new media technologies, therefore we thought we would receive a higher response rate as Web 2.0 is very accessible in this modern era, and plus it is at the convenience of audiences, so it would be appropriate to post it online. We believe that our method was effective, as when our target audiences were asked in our survey 'What are your hobbies' 72.4% of our target audience answered surfing the internet.

The primary target audience demographic for our band is older teenage females between the ages of 15-21. We believe that our primary target audience is females as the survey we produced was completed by 62.1% females and only 37.9% of males which shows connotes that young females are into indie music more than males are.

Despite our primary target audience being females, we also have a secondary target audience of males between the ages of 15-21.

Our target audiences are likely to be in some form of education, whether it be full-time of part-time.

They may also have a part-time job in popular and trendy stores such as Topshop, River Island and Starbucks. However, a proportion of our target audiences may also be in a full-time employment, therefore the majority of our target audiences will have some sort of disposable income which allows them to participate in activities related to the indie music genre, such as going to festivals and live music events.

Our target audiences are most likely to be Caucasian, which reflects on the fact that most of the artists and bands within the indie music genre are also Caucasian.

However, there may be a niche proportion which are from a different ethnic background, therefore this shows that the indie target audiences are very broad as there are a number of individuals from different backgrounds, whether it be religious, ethnic etc.

Furthermore, our target audiences are most likely to be from the middle class; upper middle class, middle-middle class, and lower middle class. Our target audiences also have a unique sense of style in terms of fashion. They appear to dress in a 'trendy' way, as this enables them to look individualistic and different, which therefore makes them stand out.

Although they keep up-to-date with trends and styles, they tend to add their own quirky spin on the things they wear as this gives them a sense of independence which reflects on the indie music genre which is independent and unique as well, even though some indie music artists such as Ed Sheeran and Jake Bugg have managed to break into the mainstream music industry.

The target audiences demographic have a range of interests and hobbies which include going to festivals, as evident in our survey when 51.7% ticked this choice box for the question 'What are your hobbies'.

Other interests and hobbies of our target audience include playing an instrument, which connotes that they are very much into music. Also, they enjoy reading which connotes that despite our target audience being young, they are intellectual, which again connotes that they are in some sort of education.

Furthermore, our target audience are very sociable. This is evident in the interview we conducted, in which a member of our target audience states how they go out every evening to spend time with their friends, and to have a little drink to relax. Below is the interview we conducted with an individual from our indie target audience: https://archive.org/details/00015_201309

Our target audiences prefer a mixture of a performance based narrative and a storyline based narrative as they believe that this mixture makes a music video more interesting and appealing as there a variety of things going on at the same time.

This is evident in the fact that 72.4% of our target audience ticked the 'both' box for the question 'Do you watch music videos, or do you listen to the song'.

This shows that although they watch music videos just for the sake of listening to the actual song, they also enjoy watching the music videos as they help to visually illustrate the lyrics, and the music videos help to make the song more appealing to the target audience by creating a memorable music video, therefore they prefer a combination of both types of narratives.

Furthermore, when asked the question 'What do you find appealing in a music video' 75.9% of the audience answered 'the narrative/performance' and the same percentage answered 'the music'. This shows that the narrative and performance element of a music video plays an key part in making a music video appealing and interesting. Furthermore, it is important to make the visuals link with the lyrics of the song, as this makes the music video more interesting.

This preference was also evident when we conducted a focus group of individuals from our primary and secondary target audience.

When shown the music video for the Arctic Monkeys song 'Leave before the lights come on' the target audiences really liked the narrative of the music video, as it was very interesting, therefore it was successful in capturing and maintaining their attention and focus.

They also found the narrative of the music video appealing as it highlighted the social issue of domestic abuse, and the narrative was realistic as well as it highlighted problems and emotions in a couples relationship, therefore the individuals in our focus group were able to understand the situation as they were able to relate to it.

FOCUS GROUP

However, what they didn't like about the music video was that there was no performance element to it, as they expected to see some footage of the band performing and singing, as they believed this was a convention for indie music videos to follow as they were so used to seeing a performance based narrative.

Therefore, it was clear to us that our target audience prefer a combined narrative as the storyline of the music video makes the music video visually more appealing as it tends to illustrate the lyrics by presenting a realistic situation which is engaging, and the performance aspect allows the audience to become familiar with the artist/band, and also makes the music video more engaging.

Also within our focus group, we presented our target audience with a few images of the Arctic Monkeys website in order to gain audience feedback about what they like about it, what they don't like about it, what they would improve, or any suggestions they have.

We thought this would be useful to do as this would allow us to gain some information and ideas for when we produce our own ancillary products for our band 10th Concession.

On presenting our focus group with images from Arctic Monkeys website, what particularly caught their eyes was that as you went onto their page, a music video came up in which as a viewer you are able to listen to their song and watch their music video.

They liked this feature as it enables the audience to get a taste and insight into their music and what it is like. It is also an effective technique into intriguing the target audience to purchasing their music as this demo teases them into firstly liking what they hear and then wanting to hear the whole track over and over again.

Our focus group also liked the layout and structure of the website. They found this appealing as the website had a clear structure and layout to it which made it very easy for the audience to navigate around in order to find what they are looking for.

They also liked this as it made the website look professional and sophisticated. The main thing that they really liked about the Arctic Monkeys website was there were many features to it, which enables the audience to be active, and also helped to make the website interactive which the focus group found appealing.

For example, the website included forums which allowed audiences to share their opinions and thoughts, and to also become part of a 'community' made up of individuals who are similar and who like the Arctic Monkeys. Other features include photos, videos and news which keeps the audiences up-to-date.

Our focus group found this very appealing as this made the website very interactive and appealing as it allowed the audiences to get involved and be active. It also kept the up-to-date with information such as tour dates through the website but also through signing up as a member of the website, which helps to make the audience feel closer to the artist/band.

However, our focus group did not like the colour scheme employed on the website as they felt it was dull, and made the entire website look bland, therefore they suggested that we should employ a more bold colour scheme made up of colours such as black and white.

They believe this would look more appealing as not only would it give the website a professional and sophisticated look, but it would also make it look edgy and interesting which would in turn make them want to use it more, as currently on 55.2% of the target audience visit their favourite artists and bands website pages.

Overall, our focus group liked most of the website we showed them as it was interactive by employing links to the social networking pages for the artists and websites which enables the audiences to follow them on these pages and interact with the artists themselves. They actually do this as 89.7% of our target audience answered yes to 'Do you follow your favourite artists and bands on social networking sites'; this employment of technological convergence is very effective as it helps to form a relationship between the artist or band and their target audiences.

After showing our focus group an indie bands website, we then showed them the indie band The Kooks 'Inside the inside out' Digi-pak. We did this as we thought it would be beneficial to us when it comes to planning our own Digi-pak for our band. Through doing this we would be able to gain audience feedback on the features they like and dislike, and the things they would like to see and improve on.

From conducting a survey we found out that 34.5% of our target audience never buy a Digi-pak. This is a significant percentage, and we would like to change this, therefore it is important for us to identify the weaknesses of Digi-paks that the audiences do not like, so that we can take this in mind and when we create our own, we apply these things to our own Digi-pak in order to make sure that it appeals to our target audiences so that they purchase it.

The focus group particularly liked the images employed on the Digi-pak despite them being simple, they still felt they were effective as they signified the closeness of all the band members, and the importance of their music.

Furthermore, as the images don't have a direct mode of address, they somewhat create an enigma in which they make the audience want to find out more about the band and their music as the band look 'mysterious', therefore they end up buying the Digi-pak. In the survey we conducted, 75.0% of our target audience believed that the images were the most appealing feature on Digi-paks, therefore it is very crucial to include appealing images which also create an enigma, which intrigue's the target audience.

The focus group also liked the colour scheme that is employed on the Digi-pak as it helps to make the Digi-pak stand out with the use of colours such as black, white and red. These colours are used effectively as they compliment one another, and they also reflect the indie look about the Digi-pak which helps the audiences to identify the Digi-pak as being from the indie music genre.

Our focus group suggested to us that we should make the Digi-pak for our band unique and different, by employing feature which aren't maybe conventional, or which help to make the Digi-pak stand out against other Digi-paks.

They suggested this as they believe that Digi-paks are boring, and not useful, therefore as a group we hope to create an ancillary product which is different and attracts the target audiences at one glance.