AUDIENCE RESEARCH RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS

We carried out an online survey in order to collect data from audience online and as we are aged in the average audience age groups of indie artists our friends on social networks are essentially our desired audience therefore we shared the link to our survey on twitter, facebook and tumblr.

1. How old are you?

2. Do you listen to music from the indie genre?

3. Define what you think the indie genre is.

• independence
• a genre full of music which can't be described solely as rock for example
• chilled/arty
• a genre which chooses to be against the mainstream. They usually create music which is not altered by a computer and the sounds usually come straight from the instrument. 
• a diverse genre that combines aspects from rock, acoustic and country.
• music that is not part of the mainstream conventions
• experimental music

4. What do you expect to see in a indie music video?

• vintage
• nothing specific
• orange tints, an individual artist and conceptual imagery
• lots of 'indie' clothing, for example casual attire 
• the artist playing/performing
• acoustic instruments, big emphasis on guitars
• outside setting, either in a little town or at  the countryside/beach
• unique concepts
• give of a retro feel, look as if it was filmed back in the 60's on film reel

5. How do you get your music?

From looking at the results we have collected, it is clear that the optimum age is between 18-24 however there is still a high interest with 15-17 year old. This correlates with our artist demographics research. Therefore, this age range is our target audience. As we asked the audience what they thought expected to see in an indie music video, we wanted to find out what they believe the indie conventions in a music video are so we can cater our music video to their needs. The most popular way our audience get their music is from Itunes and CD's, therefore we will have to offer bonus features for our digipack to be a success. Doing this gave us an insight to our audience and what we have to do to meet their criteria.

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

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SIMILAR ARTIST DEMOGRAPHICS

Artists similar to our chosen songs artists genre and sound are Ben Howard, Paolo Nutini, Ed Sheeran, Jack Johnson, Bobby Long, Damien Rice, Jake Bugg, John Mayer, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and Jason Mraz. To have a look at  the different audiences that listen to artists similar I've looked at YouTube videos and Facebook pages in order to see the ages and sex of online audiences.

Ben Howard

I decided to look at the statistics of his song Keep Your Head Up which has nearly 5 million views, with the most popular places of viewing are in the  UK, Netherlands and Jersey with females aged between 13 to 24 years old being at the top of the demographics and also males aged between 18 and 24. Most of his views are referred from other videos of his or from his facebook page.  I think that he appeals to these age ranges especially because of the content of his songs, about relationships, break ups and tough times.

To back up these demographics I looked at his facebook like page on which the most popular age group was 18-24 which links in well with the top demographics from his   youtube songs.

He has well over 260 thousand likes on facebook with lots of people talking about him and people are able to keep up to date with gigs, new releases and any personal updates. A lot of the younger generations use these social networks so it makes a lot of sense to use them to stay in touch with the audience.

I also had a quick look at his twitter followers with near 170 thousand he doesn't have as many followers as likes on facebook but I think that is because the majority of his audience are aged between 18-24 so they are more likely to use facebook to keep updated about his music. There is also a clear mixture of males and females within his followers which shows he appeals to a mixed audience.

Damien Rice

Damien Rice, a slightly more established indie acoustic artist who sings and writes his own songs. Some of his most known songs are Cannonball, Blower's Daughter and Delicate each with over 2 million views.  

Damien Rice's video for Delicate on YouTube which has over 2 million views. His music is popular within the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland with the top demographics showing that females aged between 13-24 and males aged between 25-34 view him and his songs the most. To confirm this research statistics, we looked at Damien's Facebook like page where he has received 938,269 likes with the most popular age group being 18-24 years old.

Benjamin Francis Leftwich

The next artist we decided to research into the demographics of is Benjamin Francis Leftwich who is an indie acoustic artist as well. However he is less established and well known then Damien Rice yet this makes more similar to Lewis Watson, our chosen artist and fit in with the indie scene better.

Benjamin's YouTube video on the left for his song Atlas Hands received 1,322,917 views which is a fair amount less than Damien Rice but still more than Lewis Watson. Therefore this shows that he is an up and coming artist. His top locations in which he is popular in is United Kingdom, Jersey and Ireland. His top demographics are females aged between 13-24 and males between 18-24. These statistics are very similar if not exactly the same as both Damien Rice and Lewis Watson. However he differs from Damien Rice as he has only received 49,752 likes on Facebook which shows how he is less popular, as of present, than Damien. 

LISTENER PROFILES/RADIO STATIONS

For up and coming artists especially it's important for their music to be heard everywhere and anywhere and the radio is a key platform to succeeding in reaching out to lots of different people through the right radio stations to which the artists main target audience tunes into. Radio is probably the fastest way artists are able to get recognition in the music industry and as a result of their songs being played on major stations the popularity of them increases and the more successful they become because of this. 

Heart listeners are mainly female and aged between  25 and 44 years old.  They are fashion conscious yet family orientated and fun and make time for themselves despite juggling many roles as mothers, wives and professionals. They are able to make the most out of life and listen to heart to get tips on how to do so. 

Listeners of XFM are opinionated independent individuals with disposable income and a good social life. They tune into XFM as they trust the station to play the music they want to here, a mixture of todays hit music and old classics.  

Plays mainly chart music and popular hits throughout the day and the station is aimed mainly at the ages of 15-29 but the average age of the audience is actually 33. 

IDEAL AUDIENCE MEMBER

As our artist fits into the Indie acoustic genre, our typical ideal audience member will be a female aged 17 as, from looking at Lewis's and other Indie artists demographics, this fits the profile the best. They would have to have previous knowledge of what the conventions are regarding indie acoustic; so, emotional and personal lyrics, solo instrument which is usually a guitar or, on some occasions, piano. The girl would be able to relate to his lyrics in some form; most typically in a relationship situation. Also, the girl would be around a similar age to the artist and be able to relate her lifestyle or adapt her lifestyle around him.

PERMISSION

After we decided on the artist and song we had to get permission to use it so we used our twitter account to tweet Lewis Watson in order to be in direct contact with him, this proved to be a successful way of contacting the artist as it was the most direct as possible as he was able to get back to us straight away and said he would be honoured!

INTERVIEW 2

Michael/56/Illford

What music were you interested in when you were my age?
I listened to things like Waterloo Sunset, Icthy Coo Park, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeplin, Cream, Blind Faith, The Who, The Kinks,  The Small Faces, Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Faces. I was in a skiffle band was called Harry Monks Red Hot Jubilee band as well.

How did you access it?
I used to go to Camden to places such the Roundhouse, Dingwalls to see live bands and also went to the Lyceum to see loads of artists play. I also used to go to Universities, pubs and clubs to see people play. Used to go to record shops and go into a listening booth and listen to records. Listened to a lot of radio, pirate radio caroline and radio london. My dad used to work at the market so always used to bring home new singles as well which was a good way of hearing new music. I watched the Old Grey Whistle Test to hear music.

Looking back now do you think you followed a particular subculture and dressed a certain way in the sense that the choice of music reflected your lifestyle, friends and fashion?
Yes, I was more of a hippy type person with long hair and a long beard and often got mistaken for George Harrison which was heavily influenced by the music of the 60's with my favorite band of all time, The Beatles.  I wore three button t shirts and loons.

INTERVIEW 1

Denise/54/Grimsby

What popular music were you interested in when you were my age?
At parties we mostly listened to Rod Stewart, still the Moody Blues were about, Pink Floyd and some really obscure ones as well, like Tamla Motown. I used to go to folk clubs as well. Dylan and Leonard Cohen, they sang ballad type songs. A mixture of artists and singers, from Diana Ross to David Bowie.


How did you access it?
Well I didn't really listen to music very often, more of a treat. Most of the songs were well known and it would be people telling you about it but mostly I watched Top Of the Pops. Also still going to record shops to listen to songs with head phones and you'd ask if you could play it and we used to buy in my family, we'd take it in turns, 3 people put together, 7 and 6 a single, we'd get a single a week which was quite a lot really. That was my older sister and brother but I got to listen to the as well and I've even still got them they were treasured, you'd even go round to peoples houses and you'd take your record collections because not everybody had them. I listened to music mainly through records and not on the radio, as a family we did not have the radio on. In our house it was either top of the pops or the record player. Listening to older siblings, influenced by their tastes in music and saw many bands in my area because of my sister going. Sometimes I went to see live bands as I did travel to Liverpool to the cavern club to see bands there. Also I went to the Free trade hall in Manchester to see a famous guitarist called.. At parties there were duke boxes so we could choose what songs to play and and I did this at Blue Note which was a hippy 'to be seen' cafe place where I'd meet friends and not go with school friends as they had different tastes. Also read magasines to find out about new artists. We also did music appreciation in our music class at school where someone would bring in some music and say a bit of information about them and that's how I found out about Leonard Cohen.


Looking back now do you think you followed a particular subculture and dressed a certain way in the sense that the choice of music reflected your lifestyle, friends and fashion?
I think it did at the time, although I did go across to a folk club even though I dressed differently I didn't take to certain traditions there and when I went to parties all of the well known bands were played. I wore a lot of hippy style things, beads and glasses which was definitely reflective of the music I listened too. I was inspired by some artists and was able to see them from magasines pictures.

AUDIENCE THEORY

It has been said that there are two types of audiences on being active and the other, passive in relation to their involvement and choice of media consumed. An active audience member would be one who will chose to watch something because they know exactly what they want as they have high involvement within choices and a passive audience member would only watch that same something because it was on or just right in front of them as they tend to go with the flow and can't make their minds up.

People make this choices by searching on search enginges such as Google and going onto YouTube and clicking on the suggested videos at the end of the one they just watched or viewing one of the videos that are down the side of the page. They also make choices through social networking sites through their friends and adverts on the sites, TV adverts will also aid their decision process along side album releases, concerts, artists websites and the radio. Back in the 60's to the 80's past audiences made their choices through programs on TV such as Top of the Pops, by listening to radio stations, reading magasines, through work of mouth and by the trail and error method (going to gigs of bands they didn't know or heard of).

McQuails theory of uses and gratifications suggests that reasons for active choice by media audiences are:
-personal identity (who you are/your character)
-personal relationships (things in common such as music tastes/dress sense, peers who like the same)
-informations and updates (the news, mags, networks, tv and friends)
-escapism and diversion/entertainment (for fun, enjoyment)