Research into the potential target audience

Using a small group of participants, that were with the in the demographic 16-25years, in education and an aspirational demographic; I composed a questionnaire comprising of twelve questions, in order to find out how audiences consumer theire music, and how and where they find out about new artists. The focus group I used consisted of seven femalesand seven males, using the social networking site http://www.facebook.co.uk/ and was published October 2009.I had planned to have an equal number of male and females within the focus group answering the questionnaire in order to achieve a fair equilibrium between the genders; however only four females and three males answered the questionnaire - which alothought isn't too uneven doesn't necessarily give a fair view from the male sector of the audience especially. The questionnaires were filled out by friends on Facebook and then returned via comments at the bottom of the notes page.

The primary purpose of this research was to see how people purchased their music; whether it was using internet downloads or as hard copies from music retail stores. In addition, I wanted to find out how participants found out about new music and new artists. The research will assist my year 13 music video production as it has helped me understand the audience better and respond to their views appropriately and through the research it has assisted me on how to investigate different areas of the music industry. Through asking the focus group I can promote my artist in a way that is relevent and appropriate to the audience.

Evaluation

This graph represents the participants response when they answered "are you more likely to listen to the Radio or watch a music channel (mtv, kerrang, etc) or neither?" Although, this graph does show clear answers to the question, all it states is that five participants listen to the radio and two would rather watch a music video; it doesn't reveal who answered what (gender, race, etc) it just shows what the focus group answered.

I wanted to see if the choice was affected by gender; whether male participants preferred listening to the radio compared with the female participants or vice versa. In order to do this I created another graph that not only shows what was answered but who answered them. I though this would give more detail and a wider understanding about my focus group. I realised that although there is who answered the question and what their answer was, there isn't anything indicating why they answered what they did; to achieve very detailed information, that would've been a greater help, the question should've written with more depth - for instance: "Are you more liked to listen to the radio or watch a music video or neither? Why is this?" Some participants within the focus group did expand on their answer, for example: one female participant mentioned it is "easier to multitask" when listening to the radio.

Through my research I have found that female participants were more likely to listen to the radio, compared with the male participants, and that the male participants would prefer to watch a music video; for reasons such as "I like to see the band perform." This suggests that visuals help the male audience understand the music better - perhaps because the visuals may be linked to the song. I would have to research this in more detail in order to find whether this is true, also using a larger focus group would have achieved more definitive, detailed answers.

It can be seen from both graphs that music is a large aspect of people's lives; whether the audience consume through music channels, radio, personal music devices (iPod's, mp3 players) as none of the participants within the focus group responded to the question with "neither." Although it was a small focus group (as I didn't receive all the questionnaires back) music appears to influence the audience through some form of media text: perhaps if the focus groupd was larger, there would have been participants that aren't likely to do either; this would have created more comprehensive information. As I didn't include other forms of consuming music (iPod's, mp3 players) there was, perhaps, a lack of choice. I did choose to keep the options to a minimum as there appear to be the main ways in which music is broadcast publically; also applying the information to the production of my music video, I felt it was easier wth fewer options as the uses of personal devices didn't seem relevent to the question.

I also wanted to see whether the participants linked themselves to the music industry in other ways, for example through music magazines: "do you purchase music magazines and if so, why?" Compared with the previous question there is more detail and this enabled me to find out, not only what participants answered but why they answered what they did. Research into this particular area of the music industry will not only help me with the production of my music video, but also the planning of my print productions as I will be able to take into account whether there is a consumer area for music magazines (in which there would be advertisments) and therefore could research the types of texts that are seen within these magazines.

It can be seen from this graph that the female participants would regularly buy a music magazine or consider buying compared with the male participants.

Although this graph shows which gender buys the music magazines it doesn't show why the participants chose to show this; in order to have a more in-depth response, I created a new graph.

This graph shows the reasons why people purchase the magazines and from the graph it can be seen that the majority of participants purchase them to find out about bands - whether it is their favourite or new talent. I didn't include the participants' gender within this graph, because I didn't think it relevent; why they have brought the magazine didn't appear to have a link to a gender and seemed unnescessary data. Surprisingly only one participant uses the magazine to find out about tours and gig information; I expected this to be more, however since the rise of new technology there are easier and cheaper way to find out about gigs; for example by looking on http://www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk/ different gigs and a variety of venues across the city and the county can be found, for free, and as well as being to see when a band is playing the tickets can also be purchased online. I was suprised that more participants read the magazines to keep up with the music industry and the changes that happen, compared with participants finding out gig information. I didn't expect many participants in the focus group to have this response, however I realised which participants had the "industry" response: one female participant works on the radio and attends gigs more than once a month and the male participant and is heavily influenced by his band, plays an instrument and also attends gigs more than once a month - from their profiles their interest is in not only their favourite band's music but the industry as a whole; this correlates with their response.

This research was particularly aimed at a slightly alternative audience, although I did include participants that, perhaps, would listen to more mainstream music; this was done to have a broader variety of responses. From the research I have found that the participants are fairly involved with what is happening in the music industry, through magazines and the internet. This links well with our production because the band that we've chosen is a small, alternative band that are well known on the local norwich music scene.