Blog 5- Target audience of Artist/Band

The genre of our chosen band (Florence and the machine) is modern indie pop, therefore the target audience would be a wide range of people interested in indie music and also those that listen to popular music that is currently played on radio stations. This shows there is potentially two main target audiences that our video will be aimed at. We need to match the style of the music and the target audience to our music video. The style of music and the band is more feminine, therefore we also need to aim to make the video creative in a feminine style to match the sound of the music. We can do this by having an enchanted them using bright colours and bright floaty dresses to create a more feminine atmosphere.

Florence and the machine appeared on the cover of the UK's biggest music magazine- Q.

The NRS (National Readership Survey) website shows current and previous readership estimates for all magazines on the UK market.

Readership estimates over the last 12 months (July 2009-June 2010) for Q magazine shows that 582000 people (1.2% of the population) have bought the magazine, 406000 (1.7%) being male and 175000 (0.7%) being female. This shows that although the style of florence and the machines music is more female orientated the bands attraction and style may attracted by male's. This means in our music video we need to find factors that appeal to male and female to attract both genders to our video.
It is also important to establish which age group to target when creating a music video. Q magazine statistics show that 505000 (2.1%) of the people who buy the magazine are ages from 15-44 and only 77000 (0.3%) are 45 plus. This shows a very small amount of the people buying the magazine are over 45 showing we need to target younger generations in the production of our music video as a larger number of the population under 45 read the magazine. The NRS statistics also show that 416000 (1.5%) of people in the ABC1 catogory (upper and middle classes) buy the magazine and 165000 (0.7%) in the catogory C2DE (working and lower classes) buy the magazine. This again shows the large different between classes that buy the magazine meaning we need to aim our music video towards upper and working classes more than lower classes as lower classes may still have interest towards the artist however upper classes have more access to viewing and taking an interest in the artist/band, because of being able to regulary afford the magazines, watching music video's on sky etc... Therefore the video needs to be mainly aimed towards upper classes however we need to be careful not to completely block out lower class audiences.


Florence and the machine has also appeared numerous times on the cover of NME music magazine. The statistics from NME mag are on a smaller scale than Q magazine showing the popularity of NME is smaller. However, NME is a very well known brand with its own radio station, tv channel, charts list and life events and awards showing the wide variety of music coverage it produces.
Looking at these statisics, as well as Q, should hopefully show us a similarity between target audiences.
NRS readership statistics show that 325000 (0.7%) people have bought the magazine over the last 12 months, 241000 (1.0%) being male and 84000 (0.3%) being female. This again shows us that the style of the the band is mainly aimes towards men however the style of music is more appealling to women. The age group statistics of NME show a clear similarity to Q magazine. 294000 (1.2%) of NME buyers are between the ages of 15-44 and only a small number are over 45- 31000 (0.1%). In the catogory ABC1, 218000 (0.8%) are buyers of NME and 107000 (0.5%) are in the catogory C2DE. Again showing similar statistics to those of Q magazine.

Comparing the statistics we can see a clear divide in age groups, gender and classes. This helps us select the target audience for the band we have choosen- Florence and the machine. Our main target audience after looking at these statistics would be younger generations under 45, male and middle and upper class. We can work off these statistics to create a video that appeals to these main target audiences.

Although males show up to be the main target audience for our style of genre in magazines of the same genre, many videos of florence and the machine have a more feminin and natural look to them suggesting they are aimed more to females. This could suggest that florence is used on the cover of top selling music magazines as an iconic face and a symbol of sexualisation to appeal more to men for her look rather than the music itself. Therefore, we will be using a similar feminin style like existing florence and the machine videos but still making sure this feminism will also appeal to males.

Below is the NRS topline readership page where you will find current and previous demographs showing statistics of all magazines sold in the UK (iuncluding Q and NME).

http://www.nrs.co.uk/toplinereadership.html

Here you can compare differences between genders, classes and age groups that are buying various magazines. Looking at statistics from various magazines has helped me select the correct target audience for the music video that me and my group will be producing.

Florence and the machine is currently 23 in the BBC radio 1 offical album charts and have been in the charts with the album lungs for 64 weeks!

I decided to put some further research into the target audience of florence and the machine by conducting a survey asking various questions to people on the subjects of musical interests and their awareness of the band. The questions I asked were:
(Genral information)
1. Age
2. Gender
3. Occupation
(Interest in music)
4. Favourite music genre
5. How many music magazines do you buy a month?
6. How many hours a week do you spend watching music videos?
7. Do you own a ipod or MP3?
(Questions related to Florence and the Machine)
8. Are you aware of the band?
9. Are you interested in their music?
10. If so, have you ever purchased a song, CD of music video of theirs?

I gave the surveys out to 12 people of various ages to come up with an outline of the target audience, therefore I can begin to make a generalisation.
Below are the 12 surveys I conducted:





















































































































Firstly we can see from the surveys in the first question that only 1 out of 12 people buys a music magazine in a month. However, 5 of the 11 people that do not buy a music magazine are all students therefore it could be argued that the reason they do not buy magazine is because of the expense of being a student. This can be argued further because all 5 of the students that said they do not buy a music magazine all watch music videos every week (which is free) and all own an ipod showing that they do take an interest in music. We can then see that out of the remaining 6 surveys, from people in full time work or retired, 4 of the applicants (who are all over 40) do not watch any music videos in a week and do not own an ipod, and the other two respondants are under 40 and do watch music videos and own an ipod. This shows that a younger population takes a larger interest in the music industry than an older generation who may not have been bought up into the same music orientated society as younger people are. Musical interest in general does not have an impact on gender.
Out of all the respondants, only 3 state that they are not aware of the band. All of these respondants are again over 40. 9 of the respondants are aware of the band despite gender. 2 respondants state that they are aware of the band however take no interest in them. 1 of these respondants is over 50 and does not own an ipod or spend any time watching music suggesting they may be aware of the band due to the band being forced onto society making many aware of them however may take no interest in them at all. The other respondant is under 16, however this respondant does take an interest in music but the band may not be in their taste. This could also suggest that Florence and the machine appeals more to a more sophisticated audience therefore in the age range of 18-24. Under 16's may be more interested in up to beat popular music which is not in the style of this band. 1 respondant stated that they were intersted in the band but had never purchased a song, CD or music video. However, this person is a student therefore purchasing music may be too much of an expense therefore they could resort to listening to music on TV or the radio which still shows their interest in music. Another alternative is downloading/sharing music where people are not physically buying the music but transferring it onto their ipods or mp3s which is a modern but illigal way of listening to music without having to pay for it. It is a problem well known within society that is very difficult to prevent.
This survey does not show a clear contrast between male and females interest in the band but more on age groups clearly showing how there is a big difference between generations.


I also joined a facebook Florence and the Machine fan page and posted a comment asking who agreed that florence and the machine only appeals to a younger age group.

Unfortunately I only recieved two comments back, however the first comment stated that the 36 year old person herself, her 41 year old boyfriend and her 13 year old son all love florence and the machine. And the second person states her opinion sayi9ng that she thinks florence appealls to all ages. Although this is only a very small minoroties opinion, it begins to open up the idea that florence can appeal to and age and gender therefore specifically aiming our video at a very small percentage of the population could lose us existing fans interest if they are outside of this target audience.

Through out my research into the target audience for Florence and the Machine, I have come to a conclusion that there is not one specific group we need to aim our video at therefore we can be very open minded when fliming because we have a broad target audience to cover. I will continue to follow a continuing theme that florence and the machine seem to have which is a modernised old fashioned style which looks very querky, new and individual. Although there is no specific audience, i have found in my research that younger people under around the age of 40 take a higher interest in music in general than older generations do, therefore, I need to assure that the video has a new modern look to it and isn't out of date which could start being aimed toward an older generation who are less likely to take an interest in the first place.