Audience Research

For statistical data of what genre of music my intended target audience listens to and what their preferences are, I have devised an questionnaire.

1)This pie chart clearly shows that I have recieved more responses from Males then Females, however not by a large margin.

2)

From the results of the second question of my questionnaire, I have narrowed down the age of my target audience with the majority being aged 15-18 years old. However, I will take a slight focus on those aged 19-23 years old to expand the audience.

3)

The responses for the ethnicity question is not as wide as I intended, but show that the majority of the responses are from the white and black respondants. The results from this question would have been different if I had asked a more satifying number of respondants.

4)

Of the participants I asked, most of them listened to Rock, closely followed by RnB. This helps as Alternative Rock is genre that I am focusing on for my media prooduct.

5)

For this magazine question I could have put more thought into it and widen the options. Instead of using existing magazines in shops I could have included online magazines aswell. This might have made a difference in the results. However there are a few who don't read magazines at all.

6)

When it comes to distributing my music video, I know exactly where to do it. It isn't a surprise that a large majority of people watch music videos on TV and on YouTube, so this allows me to reach out to a larger audience.

7)

You could say that 1 or 2 of these options, maybe all, attract consumers to a music video, the storyline being one of the main option. With the right combination in my music video I intend to use most of these conventions to satisfy my target audience.

8)

For this last question I got varied responses, for example those who have never been to live concert or only go once every few years. This is down to the fact of not having time or money.

Now that I have completed my questionnaire I know what directions i'll be taking when creating my media product. For example what audience I am targeting and what conventions to use.

Institutional Research

For the institutional research I will be looking at different record companies that would be suitable for distributing my media product.
I'll will be looking at how they distribute their music products, the success of their artists/bands signed to them and what they stand for.


The first institution I am looking at is Fueled By Ramen Records. Fueled by Ramen is a record label based in New York City, whos primary genre is Pop Punk and Alternative Rock.
One of the record labels strengths is the number of successful albums they have released. For example a self-titled EP from the band Jimmy Eat World, which proved to be a breakthrough for them and label. This lead to increased disribution demands and a rise in radio play.

More success came to the label when Panic! at the Disco's debut album 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' , and Paramore's second album 'Riot!' gained platinum certified status for the amount of sales.

Fueled by Ramen also have a video streaming site for all bands signed to them ,called FBR+, which is way of distributing my music video.


Dangerbird Records is an independant record label, with a small roster of artists, located in Los Angeles, California, where they deal with music in the Alternative Rock and Indie Rock genre.

Dangerbird gained recognition when they released Silversun Pickups debut album Carnavas in 2006 with sales of over 300,000, and as the rocord label has only been around for 5 years, already they have helped the artists signed to them acheive international success.

On their website Dangerbirld make it a big priority to advertise their bands by posting new videos and live performances from the bands, which is an effective way of distributing new products to consumers.


EMI is one of the leading music companies in the world with the best known and successful recording artists, from a range of genres. EMI poses as an umbrella for a number of record labels including Virgin Records.

Virgin Records is a British records label founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson in 1972, to then be bought by EMI in 1992.

The record label has a whole of artists from up and coming to the successfully established bands like 30 Seconds to Mars, Gorillaz and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, just to name a few. Virgin's site also enables users to view music videos by the artists, mostly via Youtube, which is an example of web 2.0 that allows video sharing universally.

Another way in which Virgin Records advertise for their artists is through music festivals like the popularly known 'V Festival', which is a predominantly rock music festival.

Product Research

This video here is a promo video from the Dew Tour in Portland 07: Vans International.
This theme street skateboarding is the kind of idea I want to be using for my music video, as it gives me a chance to work with various camera angles, which will help develop my technique.
As i'm doing a skateboard music video the type of shot i'll be using are long shots, close-ups, high angle shots and low. Also a convention of this type of video is the speed in which the shots change, I would say depending on the music to make it more effective. As well as using skateboarding i want to show a narrative within the video.



Product Research The Kooks - Naive

This music video demonstrates genre characteristics by setting the video in a crowded club with a brief shot of a band performing on stage. This type of characteristic is typical of the alternative/indie genre.
Also in this video you notice a relationship between the lyrics and visual. The lyrics tell of a story of a man who is having trouble with his girlfriend and how she behaves, and so the visul aspect of the video amplifies this with the actors.
Also there are a lot of close-up shots of members of the band which shows the recurrence of conventions like clothing.

The Kooks - Naive

Product Research - Sum 41 - Fat Lip

This music video demonstrates the genre characteristics by showing a rock band performing at a skate park.
There is an obvious relation between the lyrical and visual aspects of the video. Firstly lyrics like "I don't wanna waste my time, become another victim of society". This is amplified by showing a qroup of people whose actions are not of the typical social norms.
A notable motif of this band are the crowds of followers that appear in their videos and disorderly behaviour.



As there is that stereotypical representation of skateboarders being of white ethnicity and listen to rock music, I have decided to explore different ethnicities who are into skateboarding, compared to those that are seen in rock videos.

Print screens from American recording artist Pharrell Williams.

Aswell as the Rap and Hip-Hop genre, Pharrell is also in a rock band called N.E.R.D.

Product Research - Music Video Analysis

Editors - Papillon



My interpretation of the video is its a journey of life, friends joining you along the way then disappear, and its then you make your own way.
This music video from the Editors demonstrates genre characteristics by presenting a low key , fairly low production value video that shows the artists' vision and individuality.
The video shows a relationship between the lyrics and video, as the song title 'Papillon' is french for Butterfly, which after it breaks out from it's cacoon becomes free. This is similar to the video as it shows a runner/runners free to roam around the streets.

Initial Brief

For my A2 Media Studies Advanced portfolio I will be doing music promotion.

The main products I will be creating is a Music Video , a CD cover of my product and a Music Magazine ad.

The genre of my main product will be Alternative Rock. The reason I have chosen this genre of music is because I wanted to choose a genre that is popular and listened to by a huge number of consumers, but also shows of how up and coming artists/bands go from independent to mainstream in the music industry.

Target Audience

Demographic: Aimed at male and females, and the age is aimed at roughly between 13 to 29 years old.

Psychographic: Followers of the rock genre, up and coming artists/bands (independant to mainstream)

Lifestyle: Skateboarding, garage bands

Similar Media Products: Artic Monkey, Jack's Mannequin, Sum 41

Justification for choice of brief

I have decided to choose this brief because I would like to target consumers who are more into this independant genre of music and how their influence can help progress it to a more mainstream audience.