Audience Profiling

Audience Profiling

Any artist in the music industry, needs to concern themselves with who their target audience are. Once they have established this, they can promote themselves in a specific way that will attract the desired audience. Normally, an artist will segment their audience in order to make finding the right audience easier. This can be done demographically and psychographically.

DEMOGRAPHIC:

This is when an audience is segmented in relation to social criteria, such as gender, class, race and sexuality. The best demographic approach to audience involves the JICNARS scale.

PSYCHOGRAPHICALLY:

This is when the audience is divided based on their lifestyle and their psychological profile. The numerous attitudes, values, lifestyle choices and beliefs can be categorised so that an artist can predict consumption. The Values Attitudes and Lifestyles (VALS) classification system, is the best psychographic profiling system.



Research into the Music Industry

Research into the Music Industry

http://www.bpi.co.uk/default.aspx

The British Phonographic Industry (bpi) represents the UK's music industry. It acts as a trade body between over 300 record labels, including Britain's leading companies; Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music. All these members of the BPI account for 85% of all them music sold within the UK. BPI works with large and small companies alike, and as the industry has changed so has BPI. It is one of the leading driving forces for the Digital Economy Act, which is preventing widespread illegal downloads. This shows how the music industry has changed as technology has advanced and how British companies have had to react to this problem. Currently, BPI are part of the leading court action against The Pirate Bay which will help to limit illegal downloads.

In order to understand the music industry, BPI has undergone extensive research into the trends of certain music genres. This allows them to understand the British public as audience members, and thus means that they can see how the British public may react to a new artist or genre. This means that their members can segment their audiences into specific categories which will benefit audience profiling therefore ultimately helping the promotional package of an artist or band.

Here is some information on the most popular genre's of 2013.


Rock: 33.8
Pop: 31.0
Dance: 8.3
MOR/Easy: 8.1
R&B: 5.7
Hip Hop: 3.6
Classical: 3.2
Country: 1.7


 Using this chart, record labels can adjust their artists, and sign new ones, in order to increase their chance of success. The music industry is a business, thus market research is key to making profit.



Further Research into Pop Promo Idea: 3

Further Research into Pop Promo Idea: 3

My third idea, is a song by Tiny Tiny called "Take the Time". Tiny Tiny, whose real name is Boone Williams is an up and coming musician, thus this is his only song. It is quirky and has a lot of remixes, which is a good way of promoting himself as an artist. 

A similar up and coming band is Crew Cardinal, whose music is of the same genre and the style the artists use is similar. As the artists are trying to establish themselves in the music industry, they need to promote themselves as well as they can. The easiest way to do this, is through social media, such a facebook and twitter as well as having engaging music videos. 

Both artists use bright colours in order to attract audiences, and the name of their image is in the biggest/boldest lettering. This is to ensure the audiences remember their name and therefore promote them through word of mouth marketing. 

Social Media sites are an ideal place for new artists to launch advertising campaigns, as they can reach a wide range of potential audience members, as well as it being cheap. 

https://www.facebook.com/tinytinymusic

https://www.facebook.com/CrewCardinalOfficial

Both sites have photos which promote the artists star image, as they are trying to engage new audience members. By having a range of images the star image is made more concrete and you can see patterns and links between all aspects of the artists work. 

The music videos for both artists, have similar elements. The exposure is quite bright, thus heightens the outgoing theme of the genre of music. The artists focus on using a narrative element in their videos, as it expresses the song well and draws in their target audience. The genre of music is mainly liked by teenagers (14-18) and therefore the storyline element captivates their imagination and makes the song even more relatable. 

Further Research into Pop Promo Idea: 2

Further Research into Pop Promo Idea: 2

My second idea for my pop promo, is a song by Ron Pope, named 'Fireflies'. It is quite a mellow song, which concentrates firmly on the cinematic lyrics. This is the same for the majority of Ron Pope songs, and thus the image he has created centres on soft muted tones. His music videos often have heart wrenching narrative themes which coincide with the lyrics of that particular song. 

An artist similar to this, in Ed Sheeran, as his music centres solely around his lyrics and his music videos have a strong narrative element as well. Moreover, Ed Sheeran's appearance is not exaggerated and is often, like Ron Pope, seen is simple clothes in soft colours.

The two artists look extraordinarily similar, and the use of black and white gives their image a more authentic feel and echoes their type of music genre. Their star image is centred upon the music, and especially the lyrics of their songs, thus their appearance and style is muted so that the music is the key focus of the fans. 

Moreover, the artists album covers are minimal as well, as their star image is all about softness and pureness. The bright colours attract customers, and by putting the artists on the front it promotes them as well. However, the tone of the album covers is calm which implies that their music will be more sensual and emotive. The name of the album is not exaggerated either, which implies that it is the artist that will be recognisable to the fans not the new album. 

Both artists webpages are similar as well, as they again show the simpleness of their star image. The plain white background, with black lettering emphasises what needs to be said, but the main focus is on the music and the upcoming albums. This again re-iterates the star image, as both artists are not concerned with grand appearances or loud evocative designs. 

http://www.edsheeran.com/home.htm?force=show

http://ronpopemusic.com/

Additionally, the artists use narrative elements in their music videos to visually express the lyrics of their songs. This draws attention to the lyrics of the songs, and thus in turn boosts the star image of the artists. It is an effective way to draw attention to the skill of the singer songwriters and this therefore displays their talent on a wider scale. As well as this, the artists use purely performance videos  to display the rawness of their music and therefore forcing the audience to focus entirely on the lyrics. Both artists try not to distract the audience from them music, therefore keep it simple and pure. The lightening used is often minimal as well, and black and white is used to great effect as well.

Further Research into Pop Promo Idea: 1

Further Research into Pop Promo Idea: 1

The band in my first pop promo idea, are called Dirty Heads. The name would signify a rock band, but the majority of the bands music is indie pop with a lot of rap as well. The band have a unique image, as they are from an older generation, yet still dress in ripped jeans, t shirts and beanies. This links to the rap music they produce, as well as the soft chilled vibes their songs produce. 

This is an image of the band: 

You can see that they are older than is expected of a band from this genre, and they are in relaxed clothing. 

A band very similar to Dirty Heads is Slightly Stoopid, and they follow the same type of genre and style as Dirty Heads, except some of their music falls into the reggae genre. 

They are roughly around the same age, and they are wearing similar clothing. There is a rock and grunge aspect in both bands, and they show this in their clothing as well as their band logos. The logos each show a more grunge image than what the songs represent, but show the bands to be quirky and a bit different. There is strong drug themes in the both bands music, and this is shown in their images as well as the slightly strange logos. This is especially the case in Slightly Stoopid, who has numerous logos with the weed plant as a recurring image. This is all part of the bands promotional package, as it portrays them to be 'cool' and 'chilled guys' whose music reflects this vibe. 

The bands music videos, all show have partying, drugs and alcohol as a major theme, and this is all trying to attract a specific target audience. The desired audience is people who like to listen to chilled music which is also good to party too. Here, Dirty Heads is using footage that seems to have been filled as real live events, instead of constructed purely for the music video. This encaptures the idea of partying and links directly with the lyrics of the song. Slightly Stoopid do the exact same, in their video, 'No Cocaine'. Both videos combine a real performance element, along with footage that has been filmed live instead of constructed. The image is therefore not of the best quality, but this just adds to the grunge and slightly quirky image the band is trying to put forward. By switching from black and white to colour, the band seem timeless and emphasises the idea that their style is original.

Desert Island Review

Desert Island Review

This picture represents my journey from AS to A2 media studies. It shows my struggles and my high points and in the end my overall success in the final exam.

As I start my media syllabus the sun is shining, as I am interested by the topics we are studying. However, as the topics become harder, and the blogging entries become more intense and detailed, the sun turns into a storm with thunder, lightening and rain. My journey continues as I begin to progress further in media studies. The next image, is me thinking that I have won the treasure chest full of jewels, but instead a pirate blocks my way. This represents me trying to overcome the trouble I had with editing at the beginning of the year, and nearly, but not quite being able to do an entire edit with no help.


The next step is a symbolic representation of the obstacles I had to overcome whilst constructing and filming our AS Thriller Opening Sequence. The crocodile is the members in my group, as well as the planning and editing process. This was a large problem to overcome, but I managed to do it and I was extremely happy with our final product. This happiness is portrayed in me lying on a sunbed, being shaded by the coconut tree, which represents all the knowledge I gathered during our filming. The coconut falling on my head, is showing how exams hit me suddenly and the need for intense revision caught me by surprise.


However, this was overcome and the middle area represents Cloud 9, where I am having a party. This is after the exam, when I have found out my result, which turned out to be an A.

Initial Idea for Pop Promo : 3

Initial Idea for Pop Promo: 3

SONG: Take The Time by Tiny Tiny (Nick Coleman Remix) 

This song has a steady beat that builds throughout, whilst also having the narrative element of descriptive lyrics. By combining both the lyrics and the odd sounding beat, it allows me to be quite creative with the camera. 

My idea for this music video, is based around the idea of having a second chance with someone and getting back to the place where you can just simply have fun, without any other worries. There would be two teenagers, a girl and a boy, around the ages of 17-18. They would be slightly odd looking (to match the odd beat), and be quite weird in their actions and appearance. This would be exaggerated by jerky movements of the camera, extreme close ups, sharp cuts and changes from slow motion to normal speed. As the song starts the boy and girl are walking towards each other from across the field. The camera would cut together static shots of them until they were standing face to face. Each are carrying a box, and once they are face to face they put the box down and open the lids. They then should turn to each other, slap each other round the face and then turn to face each other - all the while their faces should hold no emotion. Facing the camera they pull out different items from the box. The items are their past relationship; a jumper, photos, letters, train tickets - any of the junk that forms a long relationship. They then go to burn, tear and trample all of this in a way of completely removing the past. The camera would cut between the boy and girls actions, as well as their faces which should remain blank the entire time. Once all the objects in the boxes have been destroyed, the two should turn to face each other again, and the camera should hold this shot, until the two slowly smile at each other. This is to imply the idea that now the past is gone, they can be friends, and even love each other again. 

As the song gains momentum, the camera will show the two moving forward happily, without the pressure of the past on their back. The camera shows the two playing, and acting like children but extremely content with this arrangement. They squirt each other with water guns, have a paint fight, share a bath with loads of bubbles, draw each other and lie in silence looking up at the sky. The camera would piece together all of these activities, and as the couple seem to grow more and more into children, the camera should become more smooth and the exposure softer. This is to indicate the idea that living in the present carefree, is better than living in the past - they have taken the time to get to know each other again.

In editing, in order to emphasise the idea of going back to a time when you are happier, the footage would be put in reverse and in slow motion. This would link to the narrative element whilst adding a quirky difference to the video.