Tuesday 23 January 2018

AUDIENCE RESEARCH Smiths v Sheeran

This is a simple example of how you can quickly build up quality research evidence, and gather material to analyse, as part of your exploration of audience for your particular artist. This builds on previous posts - use the audience tags on both the GCSE and MusiVidz blogs for much, much more.

QUICK NOTE ON MEDIA TYPES
The basic idea here is that different media have different audiences. If your artist is featured in a particular media type, that is clear evidence of at least some match between that media's audience and the artist's - even if that is just a secondary audience.
Examples:
TABLOID NEWSPAPERS (The Sun is a good example) have mainly C1C2DE readerships, as they are quite simplistic, sensationalist, and dominated by huge headlines/pics with short stories using simple English. Their readership isn't young, but is much younger than broadsheets
BROADSHEET/QUALITY NEWSPAPERS (The Guardian, Times, Telegraph etc) are the opposite: their readership is mainly ABC1 reflecting their complex, literate writing style and lengthy articles
E-ZINES These depend on the particular zine. Examples: PopBitch a tabloid style zine aimed at 15-34s, quite downmarket (C1C2D) as 'trashy'. Louderthanwar has quite a political readership, older (core 35-44+, it has links to 1970s punk and early 80s pop), but quite upmarket because of its complexity (BC1C2). Blabbermouth is also rock-focused, but downmarket from Louderthanwar (more C1C2D). Both Blabbermouth and Louderthanwar have a more male audience while Popbitch is more attractive to a female (and gay) audience.
MAGAZINES As the print industry continues to migrate online, the distinction between the magazine and e-zine is blurring (TERMS: digitisation, convergence, web 2.0), but you can generally find audience profiles provided by magazine publishers to help target advertisers (who want to know who they're paying to reach - you wouldn't want to market Rolexes at C2DEs, or pensions to a teen/tween audience!). Examples: NME and Q both have a slightly more male audience for their pop and rock content. NME's core audience is 15-24+, while Q's is 24-44+, and Q is more BC1C2 while NME is closer to C1C2DE. Kerrang attracts primarily a young male, downmarket audience, but a very significant secondary older male (and younger female) audience too

THE SEARCH
Simply try (1) a Google and (2) a direct site search for The Smiths (and repeat for Morrissey) and then Sheeran.

I found Ed Sheeran is a true four quadrant artist, covered heavily in political, complex e-zines like Louderthanwar, a multiple-time cover star of Q, frequently featured in NME, Guardian, Sun...

The Smiths - I couldn't find any Sun articles from a simple search, though they are frequently referenced in the Guardian. They are often featured in the rock e-zines with older, more male audiences, and the NME.

Morrissey is heavily featured in most sources, but not those centred on slightly younger audiences. The Sun

Monday 15 January 2018

CSP M VID: 1D History

You have 2 music video CSPs, this and a contrasting Arctic Monkeys vid.
KC focus: INDUSTRY + AUDIENCE
(but there is generally some overlap with others!)

we will start on Audience by looking to link aspects of Andrew Goodwin's theory to what we think may be the target audience(s).

STARTER:
Apply the GA(W)PS format to an initial analysis of the possible audience. Give some precise textual detail to back up your points.

DEVELOPMENT:
Apply at least one of Goodwin's conventions to reinforce your audience analysis. Again, provide precise denotation to back up your analysis: timing, shot types, edits etc.

Here's the video:


...
An example of a fan-made video (web 2.0, UGC):



USEFUL HYPERLINKS:
UK chart position.
Billboard feature using numbers to highlight their success.
Deezer.
Spotify [link for track; look at artist listing].
Rolling Stone feature on the video.
MusicBusinessWorldWide.com on how tour revenue far exceeded music sales revenue.
Below is a summary of Goodwin's theory; there is more than you need here!!!


...
Here's a further range of theory that might be applied - again, this is MUCH more than you need, so you should be aiming to pick out and apply at least one of these, and at least one aspect of Goodwin:



(this post is ongoing as a hub for this CSP. I'll add a sub-heading list at the top when I've time)


Here's a ppt (which I'll add to at some stage...) providing a quick overview of the industry KC as it applies to music. You should see how audience/industry are overlapping, interconnected areas...



...

For interesting points on representation see this article about an unusual American 'boyband' art collective who compare themselves to 1D. NOTE: the article contains some strong language.
'We’re darker than other boybands – but we’re still very American': how Brockhampton broke the mould

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/26/brockhampton-14-boyband-men-colour-rap-sing-gay-pop?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

post-1D solo videos have also brought up interesting cases of less restricted representation (bisexual) than was the case with 1D's promos. See this post.

Monday 8 January 2018

KEY CONCEPT AUDIENCE reIntroduction

A NOTE ON USING THIS BLOG
I tag most posts so you can find similar/related content, or can simply use the tag cloud (look down the left-hand side) to find posts on a given topic. You can also do a blog search if you don't see a specific tag. You can read more on USES + GRATIFICATIONS by clicking on the tag... 

THE WORKSHEETS:




YOUR TASK: